Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First off, I never post here, so go easy on me! I find this forum very intimidating for some reason - probably all the testosterone!

Anyways, I wanted a little advice from you boa experts about growth. I'm curious what you consider normal length/weight for 2 year old boas. I feed all of my boas 1 medium rat every 7 days and I'm curious if I might be underfeeding them? The largest 05 I have is a male (Suri) who is 5'. My female (albino) 05 is only 4 feet. Is that normal? My 04 female (Colombian) is also only 4 1/2 feet. It seems like everyone else's snakes are twice the size of mine by this age. Should I be feeding twice a week or maybe feeding 2 medium rats per feeding? And even more important, is it even possible to have an 04 female that is only 4 1/2 feet long??? I've only had her for a year and I'm wondering if the person I bought her from was completely honest about her age. What do you guys think?

Just on a side note, everyone appears healthy and happy, but they do always look ready for a meal...
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Amber

From the little info given I'd say you are fine. Too many people OVER feed, and you are by no means underfeeding.

Also keep in mind every animal has its own growth rate, some mature sooner than others, some get bigger than others, it's just what's wired into their DNA.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/

In '04 I got a pair of baby 66% het Bloods, siblings. The male seemed to have a slower metabolism and I kept altering his schedule away from the normal 7 day routine. By the time he was 6 months old he was eating every 3 weeks the same size meal his sister and another '04 female were eating every week.

He grew just fine on that, obviously prey size grew with him. Just last week that pair produced a nice litter. They will be 3 years old in June. The female was about 6ft. the male under 4ft. Meanwhile that other '04 female (I had got all 3 shipped in the same day, July 13, 2004) was not ready to breed. She will be this year though.
I got an '04 Colombian at the end of that year that was born in Sept. She was slow to start, by August of '05 I had her, an '04 Sonoran, and two '05 males. All were about the same size, despite two having a year ahead in age.

As of right now, without accelerating the girls, they've caught up to normal sizes for their age and locale. Up till last spring they were close in size then the females starting pulling away last summer.
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http://www.GilbertBoas.com/

Thank you for the reply Chris! I appreciate it!

>>In '04 I got a pair of baby 66% het Bloods, siblings. The male seemed to have a slower metabolism and I kept altering his schedule away from the normal 7 day routine. By the time he was 6 months old he was eating every 3 weeks the same size meal his sister and another '04 female were eating every week.
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>>He grew just fine on that, obviously prey size grew with him. Just last week that pair produced a nice litter. They will be 3 years old in June. The female was about 6ft. the male under 4ft. Meanwhile that other '04 female (I had got all 3 shipped in the same day, July 13, 2004) was not ready to breed. She will be this year though.
>>I got an '04 Colombian at the end of that year that was born in Sept. She was slow to start, by August of '05 I had her, an '04 Sonoran, and two '05 males. All were about the same size, despite two having a year ahead in age.
>>
>>As of right now, without accelerating the girls, they've caught up to normal sizes for their age and locale. Up till last spring they were close in size then the females starting pulling away last summer.
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>>http://www.GilbertBoas.com/
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Amber