The raised scales are of "concern" to me, that does not sound normal. Have you doublechecked all your housing parameters? Baby is not too hot or cold, right? Even though your baby may appear to tolerate handling just fine, this is also a concern and may be causing him/her to be just a bit more shy about eating.

Can you get pics of the dark scale area? This could just be adult color change coming in and dark spots are not unusual. Buddy is pretty good about helping out whenever he can, have you contacted him recently? I know he's still hanging around the Morelia Viridis forum too.