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This is another boa I got around 2 months ago together with her mate from a lady which didn’t want to take care of her daughter’s pets anymore because she moved to Germany. They were roughly 4 feet long. Out of curiosity I asked her how old the animals were and she told me they have had them for 6 (SIX) years. They gave them 2 live mice every months or so. Well, this is the end result, a 6 year old 4 foot boa. Poor guys, this should NOT serve as an example to keep your boas small!!

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It will be interesting to see if they grow significantly longer at this point. It would help determine if boas' potential growth is determined by age or current size. In other words, will boas cease to grow significantly regardless of current size after a certain age?

>>It will be interesting to see if they grow significantly longer at this point. It would help determine if boas' potential growth is determined by age or current size. In other words, will boas cease to grow significantly regardless of current size after a certain age?

Unfortunately, I have limited space and can't keep them all. So this special "drawft" boas have been already released. I do adopt sometimes boas, pump them up, and release them in very isolated places. All this keeping in mind from where that specific animal came from, so they stay pure in their original locality (even for Hermann's "standard", LOL, whatever that means!!)

From the little time I had this small boas, I can tell you that I think they grow somewhat normally after a long period of limited food. Both shed twice at once (one shed after the other one) after their first rat in their lives. Sure, a medium rat and at the beginning they didn't know what to do with it. After that, they ate and shed, ond so on. So, I DO think that they could have a normal live after "starvation".

Space, time and money are the mayor limitations for keeping them all, but I do believe that they are better off in the wild than in someones poor hands, which unfortunately are way too many!!

Thanks,

>will boas cease to grow significantly regardless of current size after a certain age?

nope, boas can and will continue to grow their entire lives.
I adopted a boa that was 9yrs old, she was 5.5' and feeding
on one large rat a week, I have had her for 5 years now and
increased her feeding to either 2 jumbos every 2 weeks or
one small rabbit every 25 days... and in those past years
she has grown to over 7.5' and is now 14 yrs old... and as
far as I know, still growing!

Paf, nice work on your rescues! It must be nice to see
them in their natural environment!

So, are you saying that when books state that a boa's growth slows significantly after a certain amount of years (most say 3-4yrs. though Vosjoli states after only 2yrs.)that it is due to them reaching a certain size and not related to age?

>boa's growth slows significantly after a certain amount of years

I really don't have enough experience to say if the growth is
a factor of size or age... I assume after they reach
maturity the growth slows, but does each boa reach maturity
at the same age? that I couldn't answer either.. but I doubt it.
sorry I couldnt' be of more help, I just haven't raised enough
boas to have more comparisions. (yet)