Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everybody,

I'm considering getting a BRB and I was wondering if someone could give me and idea of their growth rate? I was thinking that I would start with a baby and enjoy it's development. However, I'm concerned that they might grow very slowly and I wanted a medium sized snake in a relatively short period of time.

Thanks in advance,
Dave

well they dont grow that fastes nor the slowest man that doesnt make sence but honestly if you want a larger snake that doesnt get to large and fast (dont shoot me guys from forum) get a columbian red tail boa there are alot of them in shelters that need homes bad you would have your larger snake and helping out there has been to many times where i have both recieved a rescue red tail and rehomed it for next to nothing others may tell you diff but i would go with a rescued red tail boa you want them and they need you

I mean weeds you can achieve an inch a month until the four foot mark where it slows up a bit but they sprout pretty quickly and you can have them shedding every month easily for awhile while not pushing the feeding schedule and I'm sure some people have had 3 weeks every once in awhile between sheds but they do grow quickly
Bob

There are still some 06 babies out there for sale. This way you would get a smaller animal that you can watch grow, but not start with a baby. They do seem to grow fairly quickly, as my baby that was born in March has grown significantly.

The growth rate depends on how much you feed them. Over-feeding is not good for the animal. A brb will grow at a good rate with normal feeding.
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Mike

6.7 BRB
1.2 Spotted Python
1.0 Cal. King

Let me try to put it a different way,

My babies are born about 14 - 20 inches and about the thickness of a good size pen. At that size they fit very well into a small shoe box size tub (about 14" x 8" x 5" give or take).

For my keepers, at about 9 months old they've outgrown the shoe box and have moved into a sweaterbox sized tub (about 17" x 11" x 6". By 12 - 18 months, they've outgrown the sweaterbox and are moved into either a blanket box (23" x 16" x 6" or into a full size cage. By 2 1/2 years old they are mostly grown, kind of like a teenager, pretty much full size but have some filling in to do. At that age, most are ready to breed but there are some that are just not quite ready and take one more year to mature and fill out enough for breeding.

Of course, individual growth rates will vary.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thank you. Everyone has been very helpful and I got a lot out of this topic. It sounds like the growth rate is acceptable for what I'm looking for. I have a tendency to keep a lot of animals, but this is planned to be my one and only snake and I want to make sure I make the right move.

The sweaterbox stuff doesn't thrill me, as I'm very into constructing nature inspired habitats that can be viewed into. Would there be any problem keeping one of these guys in a small planted vivarium and just working my way up to larger quarters as I go?

A planted vivarium will work fine. The issue most of us have is the time it takes to maintain such a nice enclosure. The main two items in keeping BRB's is temps and humidity.
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Mike

6.7 BRB
1.2 Spotted Python
1.0 Cal. King

And many of us have more than one BRB, some WAY more!
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

nothing to stop you if you have the time to put in ther maintenance on a natural vivarium.

However do keep those growth rates. I had mine for less then a year before they were ready for their adult 60 gallon enclosures and they were both 5 feet long by the time they were 2 years old.

The only concern I would have in terms of vivariums is that by the time you get the vivarium established fully I expect you may be moving the snake out to a adult vivarium. Of course there is no drawback once they are ready for an adult enclosure. Also I may be completely over estimating the time it would take for the vivarium to get established as I really have next to no experience keeping naturalistic vivariums.

If you do set up a naturalistic vivarium then please post pictures and let us know how it is working. Would be great to see.

Sean.

Thanks for the advice. Since I'll be trying to get my BRB as a baby I won't be building multiple, complicated, planted vivariums as that would be unrealistic. The plan is to start out small and simplistic, but with natural decor, and start work on an sub-adult/adult size planted vivarium.

It will be good for me to have a little time with the snake to fully understand it's needs and then apply those finding to the final habitat. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on my progress.