Wrinkly, Pruny, Rough Scales

[Bogertophis]

All my snakes are racked. Out of thirty breeding females, only 3 still have hides and those are out right now because they are getting ready to lay. There is no set rule for this other than it depends on the snake. If you have enough of them you learn to tell when they want/don't want the hide. If they are laying outside of it all the time, they don't want it. If they start hiding under the paper, go on an unpredicted hunger strike, or start to become defensive, they get a hide. If you are going to error though, error for having the hide.

Just to note, this fairly new (& unbred, I assume) snake's hide was removed for having a tiny wrinkled (damaged) scale on it's back...

[JodanOrNoDan]

Just to note, this fairly new (& unbred, I assume) snake's hide was removed for having a tiny wrinkled (damaged) scale on it's back...

Yeah, I know, I'm just trying to be clear about the hide thing. In a rack, in general, mine have hides up until a year old. Some start "moving out" at a year and most are out at 3. I have even had some babies that never use a hide even though it is provided (these usually end up being holdbacks). The caveat in my situation is that I do not provide a gradient or even use heat tape at all any more. I have an entire room set up on ambient heat between 84 and 86 degrees F. They are always "comfortable".

[Skyrivers]

Those look like "live" feeding scars. Speculation on my part. I have taken in a few rescues that had much worse that did really well in the end.