Lifted scales?

I checked all over to see if there were any mites (little black dots walking around or stuck underneath the scales) and I did not find any trace.
He does not soak in his water bowl, like normal pythons that have mites do.

What do you guys think this is?


http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...gurl28/8-1.jpg

Looks like the scales got a little bent when he was coiled up - i notice it on mine more just before they go into shed but it's not a sure sign.

It's nothing to worry about though. :)

Crinkled scales. Are his hides bordering to small? He may have been coiled up tightly to fit in them?

I've noticed my Spider ball has that recently too, only where she has been curled up all day and her body folds up on its self to conform to her hides. Doesn't bother her, pretty sure its just from them being curled up and their scales bending to the way their body is bending.
I do plan on getting my BP some bigger hides soon though, she has gotten chubby and almost pours out of one of hers.


Shifty

Yup, crinkled scales. My bp and garter don't get them, but my boa does (I'm going to try lowering the humidity to 60% and see if maybe I'm keeping the humidity too high). Crinkled scales can come from multiple reasons. Too high of humidity, too low, and too small of hides are examples.

thats the reason why a shed is so much longer than the snake that produced it (sometimes double length).

i would freak out if it would affect the whole body.

but if its localized to regions on one side, then i would say the reason is mechanical, so, natural wear and tear from trying to climb or something. totally natural, thats what the scales are for, humans may cling on to something with their fingernails (often figuratively, sometimes literally, and if our nails get damaged they grow back). snakes have hundreds of scales for that, and movement patterns to make it more efficient. BPs can get quite far on a vertical tree with a really big trunk, where they can only work with the roughness and structure of the bark. and shedding is the repair process that keeps these structures in top condition as the snake gets older.


another thing i noticed: its 4 lifted scales, then around 12 normal scales, then 4 lifted scales, then around 12 normal scales, then 4 lifted scales. now that is interesting. i guess it has to do with the movement pattern they use to go straight forward. anyway, the pattern is too ordered to be just a coincidence, it screams "look at me im not random", it proves that its a mechanical thing. no disease or pathogen would produce such a special pattern. but climbing, or going through a tight opening that has a rough spot on one side, totally explains the pattern.

also, a bend from coiling up is out, due to the weird 4-12-4-12-4 pattern. human analogy: kid came home from play with a broken fingernail.