Am I being paranoid? Should she be perfect?

[dkspftw]

So I've got two balls now, and I'm an admittedly n00b keeper (at least as far as snakes go--I'm pretty good with fish and turtles).

The new snake that came in is absolutely flawless, and I think my first one may have been when I first got it.

I've had some issues with humidity and resultant flooding from a crappy exoterra monsoon product in the cage of the first, and she's had a couple of rough sheds, although nothing worse than an eyecap that stayed on for more than an extra day or two. The thing is that she's not perfectly smooth like the other snake. I'm not 100% sure if she ever was, tbh, but I think I'm just noticing in contrast to the new pickup, which is positively glossy.

I don't think there are any major problems, just a few incredibly small spots (talking like, one or two scales) where it's not perfectly smooth, almost looks like tiny dry skin patches that seem like they could rub off in a shed. Again, these are tiny and only a couple. Like, the size of this ". I haven't noticed any discoloration or anything that would make me think scale rot, based on the descriptions and images I've seen up here. I keep her cage nice and clean! And before I got either of snake, I found a highly rated local herp vet. So I can bring her in if necessary (although I'd rather save the money if I don't need to, of course).

So is this just likely a bit of messiness from the imperfect sheds? Again, I'm not even sure I'd have noticed if the new girl wasn't so damn flawless! I'd post pics but I doubt it'd even be visible really.

[Archimedes]

I wouldn't worry just yet! =] With a couple of difficult sheds, there'll be a little roughness, but now that you have everything straight, she should be just fine. As long as you don't see any telltale signs of scale rot, and as long as your new female is QT'd, you'll be fine.

[dkspftw]

I wouldn't worry just yet! =] With a couple of difficult sheds, there'll be a little roughness, but now that you have everything straight, she should be just fine. As long as you don't see any telltale signs of scale rot, and as long as your new female is QT'd, you'll be fine.

QT'd = quarantined? They're in different enclosures and they're both coming from respectable breeders so I didn't even have a thought on this front.

[LLLReptile]

Always quarantine if you can!

However, with only two snakes in separate enclosures, you're limited on what you really would need to do. At this point since you haven't quarantined, kind of a moot point, but in the future it's not a bad idea to keep all new snakes (even from reputable breeders) separate from your established colony for at least a couple months.

Even the most respectable breeder can't protect against everything, and if they can't see a problem or aren't aware it exists (parasites, RI, who knows), they can't take care of it before shipping you your snake. A respectable breeder, once they find out you received a snake that has or may have a problem, will happily help you out - and it's only in both of your best interests if the snake was kept separate and quarantined once you first received it.

The rough scales don't sound like much of an issue to me. Just give her time and a few more sheds and I'm sure she'll be fine.

-Jen