Dent in mussurana's scales?

[Blackyote]

I've owned my mussurana for over a year now and figured I should probably get around to asking the forum about this... My mussurana has dents/dimples in a lot of his scales and I'm not sure why. I noticed John Michel's adults have the same scale damage(?) and asked him what causes it, but he wasn't sure himself. Could it be a humidity issue? Is this possibly normal for the species? I know mussuranas are relatively new to the pet industry so not a whole lot is known about them, but if anyone can help me out I'd really appreciate it. I've attached a picture that clearly shows the dents.

[lmtrej]

I'm curious to know what the cause of the dimples is as well. Have they been present on the scales since you first received your Mussurana or are they a recent development? After closely looking over my 30g Mussurana I noticed similar indentations on a few of the dorsal scales on the first 1/3 of the body, but not as numerous or as significant as yours.

As you said, my guess would be that it is humidity related. I'm keeping mine at 50-60% humidity and have not provided a humid hide.

After doing some searching I did come across a picture of a fresh Mussurana hatchling with the same dimples.

http://www.sareptiles.co.za/forum/vi...hp?t=28503&f=4

The dimples being present on a hatchling make me wonder if this might just be the norm for Mussurana...

Hopefully someone with more experience can chime in.

[Capray]

I just started noticing dents like that one mine's scales, her setup's been the same for about 4 months. I don't know what it is. I know blood pythons have some really interesting dimple/dent patterns in their scales though..

[lmtrej]

Capray, I'm glad you mentioned other species.

Here are similar indentations on my Black milksnake


On my Blacktail Cribo


And on my Borneo Short tail


It's possible that the indentations/dimples are humidity related but these three give me complete sheds each and every time...which makes me think otherwise. Perhaps it is due to some deficiency in their diet or maybe they are just natural deformities in the scale structure.

I'm sure someone much wiser than myself knows the answer.

[ghost-trap]

My MBK has the same little dimples. I thought it was humidity issues too, but then saw his scales dent when he had squeezed through a too-small spot, or coiled too tightly.
I'm not an expert in any sense, but I think it's pretty normal.

(Your snakes are all beautiful, btw. )

[Blackyote]

A contact of mine who's started to breed mussuranas says keepers can't agree on whether it's related to low or high humidity. If anything I'd expect my tank's on the dry side, but I'll start offering a humidity hide around the clock so he has the variation. The dents do seem to come and go with mussies, so I'm trying to not worry too much about it. I was told that as long as they don't become raised bumps/pimple like things (related to too high of a humidity) it's okay.

[catzeye21138]

I don't know about mussuranas, but my short tail has also always had dimples. It's definitely not a humidity thing for her, as her's has always been on the wet side of the acceptable range.

I guess just watch to be sure her eye caps don't dimple.

[bigfoot90]

Anyone have any updates on this issue? I have some blacktail cribos experiencing this same wrinkling/denting on their scales. Trying to figure out where it's from too low humidity or too high humidity...

They do spend quite a lot of time in their humid hides..

Thanks,

B

[John1982]

Looks like typical wear and tear on scales to me.