Effects of food and thermal regimes on body condition indices and skin colouration in corn snakes

What is it about?

We modified feeding frequency and ambient temperature to see if elevated environmental stress alters skin coloration in conspicuously colored corn snakes. Pigmentary based coloration was not altered by our experiment, but non-pigmentary based (structural) coloration was less showy in snakes that were fed less often and were not allowed to thermoregulate freely.

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Why is it important?

We demonstrate that higher environmental stress may result in sub-optimal development of animal integuments, which can be inadvertently signaled to other organisms through a specific visual channel.