Unless my eyes are tricking me that's a belly burn not a burn on the dorsal skin of the snake so far more likely from a spiking, uncontrolled underbelly heat source than an overhead light. Sadly I can't believe that was just how it was. That looks far more like a burn occurred and the snake was simply left injured and untreated so that it progressed to that sorry state.
This is what a healed dorsal burn looks like (an adult we found in a pet store a couple of years back). Our herp vet surmises that this snake was allowed access to an unprotected hot bulb as likely her only source of heat. When a part of her spine was in direct contact the skin started to melt and stick to the bulb before her brain got the message to move. As Orlah pulled away, her skin would have simply ripped away leave this damage behind. Interesting to note that in our small town our vet was the only one that treated snakes and had never treated poor Orlah for what must have been a very painful and potentially fatal injury (due to stress and infection).
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