Healthy looking youngsters there Bob! Adult size is tied closely to heredity and growth rates to quality of forage and how well they feed. My local Sonorans for example go on and off feed throughout the year. Extended non-feeding periods equate to lower and slower growth rates.



Ahnuld was the largest neonate bull I've seen so far. He was 17 inches long at hatching and about 19 inches by the time I got him. Stayed up the first winter feeding regularly and topped out at five and a half feet in his first year.



Now he is off feed for about two months in the spring and then again for the season after August. When he is in an active feeding phase though, there is no rat too large and he puts the fear of Saint Peter into rabbits...
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“You could have a snake for 30 years and the second you leave his cage door cracked, he’s gone, and they’ll never come to you unless you’re holding a mouse in your teeth.” (Bill Haast, 1997).

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