Cool stuff.
I think you should open a plane 3d, polymesh it, sculpt about 9 alligator looking scales, grab doc to make it an alpha, and drag with the standard brush to add texture. Make some varying alphas that way, and just go to town with a sprinkle of freehand. Do it on a 3d layer at the highest division level so you can adjust the intensity.
There’s no way color textures alone will make 3d light bounce off the skin like sculpted textures. This is too smooth, with no reptilian look, and seems unfinished because of that. Just my opinion. Truly though, otherwise, great sculpt and animation, can’t wait to see the end result.