it's nice to have all of this experienced input! I just looked at pictures of my lesser straight out of the egg, and what I thought was new pattern emerging has been there since she hatched. I remember too when I got my first normal, thinking that the blushing on his back were areas that new dorsal spots would emerge (obviously that didn't happen).
Is it true that snakes are born with a fixed number of scales that never changes? it would make sense since their patterns don't change, but that would be damned difficult to actually determine! nice topic!