I got a Female sub adult albino Bullsnake a couple months ago. I don’t know her age as I bought her from a third party but judging from her small size I am quite sure she’s relatively young. I just noticed the fact that about three sections of her belly scutes are split and even some of her other scales seem to have some splitting. I heard from snake discovery in one of their videos that it can be an indication of excessive line breeding or “ inbreeding”. I also noticed that despite being what I assume to be a young snake she doesn’t seem to be able to hold her body up very well and her spine is a little bit pronounced but I will be sizing her up in meals soon so she might just have too small of meals for her. I was just wondering if I could get some help from experienced breeders or other who just know a lot about this of thing. More pictures to come soon as it is currently 9 pm.
I doubt that as it’s not just this one spot but in a couple other places where there should not be any split in scutes and she’s at least a year or two old judging from her size so way too old to still have a belly button
Cleft scutes are not solely a sign of excessive inbreeding. They can also be genetic, caused by incubation issues, or just occur at random. I’ll also note that size is not necessarily a good indicator of age. I know you said you plan to take more photos, that may help in assessing her overall condition.
On this note, snakes have belly buttons their whole lives. On most, it’s a nearly imperceptible linear scar not too far north of the cloaca. However, others may have cleft scutes or even visible belly skin. Think of it a bit like an innie versus an outie in human navels.
