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My 8ft burm has these verticle lines/creases in his skin about 2 inches apart on both sides of his body. they run down about halfway to his tail, any idea what this could be? the guy at the pet store sd its caused by dehydration but i see him drinking all the time and his cage temp and humidity are perfect! please if anyone can tell me what this is and how to correct it, it would be much appreciated!

It might be a couple different things, do you have a pic of the animal with these "creases"?

Chris
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no, i don't...that would make it much easier huh! what are a few of the things that could cause this?

No way to come up with any ideas just based on a vague description.

Is your snake underweight and "indented" hence the creases?

Are the scales deformed in anyway? If they run through the scale pattern, they might be scares. If not, maybe it's a shed that did not come all the way off. Try soaking if it's not a scare. Hope that helps.

If its the same thing I'm thinking of, what reptileboss is talking about aren't scars, indentions or puffiness, its an irregular lay of scales (sort of roughed up) which are almost perfectly straight in line, on the sides, from belly to just below the top of the back. I saw a large (12 - 14 ft) albino burmese at the Atlanta show last weekend with the same thing. This snake was healthy looking other than the lines.

Unfortunately, I don't know for sure what causes it. Maybe the above description will give a better visual.

Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

This sounds like what I was thinking when I heard the first description. I've seen it in a few burmese, but it was most obvious in a green burm I had, probably just because of the color. I can't be sure, but I came to the conclusion that it was simply scales being bent at natural creases that formed as the snake lay coiled up. This snake was also fairly heavy, so maybe the extra width tended to make it more pronounced. They didn't seem to cause a problem and were not permanent. I did think they were scars the first time I saw them...

thanks for all the input! what you're describing is def what my burm has on it...i think it might be from him coiling up. thanks again

That's the first thing I thought of when I saw that one at the Atlanta show. I thought maybe it was being housed in too small of a cage. The cage it was in was borderline in size.

For some reason or another, I got to thinking later on that it had something to do with humidity and then I read your post & what the pet shop thought. Maybe I read something about it many years ago or maybe its just something that popped into my mind, I don't know. I'm getting old, you know.

At any rate, there's got to be more to it than it being due to just coiling up. I've got a 10-footer & a 7 1/2-footer and they've never had those lines.

LarryF could be onto something about weight. The one I saw was a bit on the heavy side. I don't power feed mine and they're what some would call slender but they're not underweight.

Keep checking back here, maybe someone that knows will come by & fill us all in.

Take care!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

I was talking to someone with a lot of experience with these snakes and one thing that they mentioned, which I should've already mentioned, is if the snake's health is affected in any way you should see a veterinarian.

The one that I saw didn't appear to have any health problems, the lines didn't appear to affect its health. That's why I assumed the same for your's, which was wrong for me to do so. Please don't be offended by this, without pictures and/or actually seeing the snake, its best to safe than sorry.

Now then, on to some possiblities. The person I talked with in essence said that creases can become more defined or severe in overweight snakes and sometimes even in severely underweighted ones.

I suppose that its more of a stretching of the skin by body fat due to coiling. The lines usually remain for a period of time even though the snake's body is in a different position.

Unfortunately, overweight burmese pythons are very common. A lot of people think they're supposed to have really large diameter bodies. While they are a heavy body snake, they're not to be fat. This can greatly reduce their lifespan and cause other health problems. It can be hard for the average person to distinguish between an obese burmese python and a normal size one.

Take care!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

On second thought, I think they are called "fish"scales. Scales that are bent the oppisite direction of the way they are suppose to be. From what I know, it happens at birth and does not affect the animals health in any way. Maybe, maybe not what your talking about...