I'm not sure if this is dangerous or not

[CactusRoommate]

Hello!
I bought my first ever cactus about a month ago and noticed about a week later that there were small brown-beige raised patches on it. I took these photos about two weeks ago and have not noticed any change in the patches, but I just wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with my cactus. I scraped one patch off and there was nothing underneath (no liquid, no slime, no different colour), so I'm hoping I'm just being very paranoid.
Thank you for your help, and sorry about the less-than-optimal lighting in the pictures!

IMG_20150126_143232.jpg (72.74 KiB) Viewed 1320 times

IMG_20150126_143147.jpg (84.58 KiB) Viewed 1320 times

[iann]

Not dangerous. Not perfect either, check for pests, make sure they don't spread, pay attention to good growing conditions, etc.

[CactusRoommate]

Thank you! If they're not perfect, do you know of any way I can make them better? And what sorts of pests should I be looking for?

[teo]

Looks like mechanical damage, possibly from spines of a neighboring cactus in transport or display.

[CactusRoommate]

Thank you! Will it heal itself?

[adetheproducer]

That brown scaring is it healed, it turns damages into woody material. Eventually it will go but it will be due to the growth pushing it down as it expands from the gowth tip at the top of the plant.

[KittieKAT]

Just old scar tissue from bumping up against other cacti in the nursery, mine have a few war scars of their own aswell.

[KittieKAT]

And no more scraping cactus skins! We are glad to roll ideas and thoughts as to what something may be or not be befor u panic
Just post it in a thread and if someone has an idea of what it is/Could be theyll let u kno and try to help u fix what u can. But no need on this guy just some pricked spots by Jealous cacti in the nursery

[greenknight]

Yep - and it should be added that, as the top of the cactus expands, the oldest part at the bottom shrinks up and becomes woody. The scars will be completely hidden eventually.

[CactusRoommate]

Great, thank you so much! That's definitely a load off my mind

[iann]

You're not Kittie Kat's Cactus room-mate, are you?

[KittieKAT]

Hahahaa hahahaa hahahaa iann you're sooo funny, if s/he was S/he'd just kill my cactus not ask if it could be saved ....grrr

[CactusRoommate]

Hahaha no! But you all seem like lovely people

[KittieKAT]

Hahaha we can be at times LOL