any idea what's up with his scales?

[tttaylorrr]

i've been noticing these for over a month now...he just shed and they're still here, so now i'm wondering what these could be. they're less than 5in away from his head any no where else. any ideas? sorry they're just phone pictures. thanks! (:





first pic without flash, next pic is with flash

[lunasjy]

It could be two reasons that come to mind. Bad, dry sheds will pull out scales. This is quite common and find this will happen at least once with all my snakes. However, if this is the case, you may want to start raising your snake humidity a little more while it is shedding.

Second is live feeding. If you feed live, the best places for your snake to receive damage is around the head and neck area. The mouse/rate can bite and scratch scales off.

[kitedemon]

These scales are bent. It happens when a snake has a tight fitting hide and tends to lay with a turn the same direction often. It is normal and no issue at all. They will straighten on their own or after a shed. It is not a scar or a humidity issue. It is just a bent scale. Similar to people whom abrade hair due to repetitive action. (like the top of my leg rubbing against my pants all day in front of the computer.)

[Reinz]

When I saw that the first thing I thought of was is what Kitedemon said.

I recently bought a new pet store hide. I had to spend 15-20 minutes with a Dremel tool grinding away all of the sharp edges on the inside and in the doorway.
And it!s a good thing I did. She is tucked in tight!

[Albert Clark]

When I first looked at it , I felt it was from a live rat or mouse fighting back from within the bp's coils. I see it on my albino girl and my pied girl. Thanks for clarifying other possibilities in what it might be. Peace.

[tttaylorrr]

thanks for all your replies! i feed F/T so injuries were never a worry. i thought about a humidity issue but i'm always running above 65 F. during his shed he was always above* 70 F so idk if that makes a difference.
i DID look in his hides and i see a few pointy spots i'm not too fond of. he's getting snug in his hides now so i might need to start sanding them down.

now that i look at these pictures, the longer mark on him matches a long bump in his hide where his head usually is. looks like i'll have to do some work on these hides.

again, thanks everyone!

[kitedemon]

I always take these as a sign that it is time for a larger hide. The snake is bent at too tight a curve, a bigger hide will allow the curve to loosen some.

[tttaylorrr]

well idk that he's too big for them so much as he really likes to shove himself in the smallest/lowest part of the hide. he's 175 grams and he's in a 20 gal tank with the Large Exo Terra hides. but i guess if any part of his hides are too small, then they're too small, yes? (:

[kitedemon]

I wouldn't worry about it really. It is hard to tell from the photo but if you look at the scales are they bent? I have it loads of times, snakes seem to prefer to coil in one direction. Sitting long periods of time coiled the same way in the same hide seems to cause the scales to bend. I have always figured the point where this happens to be the inside of the tightest turn. It isn't serious or even a problem, Even changing the hide to a different shape may change them, of adding a ball of paper stuffed into the corner may change the way the position the snake hides. I also dislike it, my snakes are important to me but I find them ecstatically wonderful as well. The bent scales offer no physical distress but ascetically I find them to bother me.

[tttaylorrr]

they bother me too because i know they shouldn't be there. ):<

i'll try changing his husbandry around inside the hides and see about shaving some of the pointy spots down. thanks again for the replies!