Is my ball python getting dark?

[pastellesser]

Is my 1.5year old pastel Lesser getting dull/dark when growing older?

[armiyana]

Yup.
Ball pythons are almost always marketed for color as hatchlings. There are very few that don’t dull down or brown out as they age.

This is one of my girls and two of her offspring that should look almost identical when they’re older.

[t_h_wyman]

The term for this is “ontogenetic colour change” and, as Christina notes, it is well known in balls