First off, how slow or how fast a snake grows is not about commerical breeding or hobbyist or any other such thing. Its simply about the inherent growth capability of said snake.
Snakes as well as many other reptile species are a bit confusing because they are precocious. That is, they can and do reach sexual maturity at a much smaller age, then what is considered average size for that species. An example would be, cal kings average 3 1/2 ft. to 4 feet in length. Yet female can and do reproduce at 2ft in length. As they age, they continue to grow until they reach their size potential. So sexually mature adult cal kings range from 2FT to 4FT in length, give or take some inches. This does not have a dang thing to do with commerical breeding.
The speed as to which they reach sexual maturity is based on enviornmental support. I.E. food support and temperature support. In nature, if their is plenty of prey available, they grow fast and reach maturity quickly. If food is scarce, they grow slow or not at all and may never reach sexual maturity.
With all the reptiles I have worked with, varanids, colubrids snakes, boas and pythons, many iguanid lizards, etc. They reach sexual maturity at aprox. at 1/2 they average adult length.
Of course in captivity they are depended on us for the care and support. So the times and lengths are based entirely on how we take care of them.
Snakes have a genetic reproductive potential and a genetic growth potential. Which means, no matter what we do or nature does, they will not exceed a set genetic length or reproductive effort. Another poor example, no matter how much we feed a getula, a getula is not going to grow to 15 ft. ALso no matter how much we feed a female getula, she is not going to produce 100 eggs in a clutch. Its also true that they have a minimum reproductive size. Under a genetic limit and they will fail.
When i was young, baby snakes were released because the husbandry of the time did not support growth(or life for that matter). Most babies died or it took many years to reach adulthood. Rarely were they ever bred in captivity, particularly on a regular basis.
Then something happened to open my eyes. Actually two unrelated events opened my eyes. The first was, I did a lot of collecting when I was young, Like many here. I noticed that we found hatchlings, and young adults, and rarely any inbetweeners. So I went around to the local universities. UCLA, USC, CSF, etc etc. and asked, where are the inbetweeners? all I got was the run around, no one had an answer. (the answer here is, they grew quickly to young adult size)
Then I needed a job, so I got one at a nasty petshop, it was a DOcTors pets or something like that. Well we had a baby cal king and I sold it to a lady, this was in 1964 or 65. Well she asked me how to keep it, so I told her to keep in warm and feed it. hahahahahahahahahahahaha I was just a kid.
Well she brought it back about two or three months later and showed it to me. She said, she loved her kingsnake and was so glad about how good it was doing. She opened the box and the dang snake was THREE FEET LONG, when she purchased it a few months earlier, it was about 15 inches or so. I rearly had a heart attack. I could not believe what i was seeing.
I asked her, how the heck did you get it to grow so large and so fast. She said, I did what you said, I kept it warm and fed it. I said, fed it what? She said, mice. I fed it a mouse every day. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I forgot to tell her to only feed it once every two weeks. I asked, how did you keep in warm, she said, I put it next to the heater.
Well, it took me about two decades to figure out what that lady did and be able to reproduce her success on a regular basis. hahahahahahahahahaha and you folks think I think I am smart, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
So I became famous for raising snakes to adulthood in under two years. I started with all manner of colubrids then on to pythons, etc etc. All manner of snakes and lizards and even torts. My fastest for a king was 9 months from the egg to egg.
Since then, there have been several papers published that mentioned this occurring in nature. An example was Rick Shine, finding 9 month old gravid water pythons.
We also found that with wild montane rattlesnakes in our field study site.
Lizards hold the speed record, our local tree lizards can hatch in the spring and lay eggs in the fall. We have had several species of varanids(the smaller ones) go from egg to egg in four months. A number of species in under 9 months and many larger species in under a year.
So, without question, its nothing to do with commericalism, and a lot to do with genetic potential and support. In other words, if we do not support them, they will not reach their genetic potential. Which is also normal in nature.
So while we can choose to raise our charges slow, or fast, it can all be normal for that animal and money has nothing to do with it.
On the otherhand, if commerical breeders do not attempt to express the upper ends of genetic reproductive and growth potential with their stock, they will be out competed by other breeders who will.
So far, growth and reproduction with commerical snake breeders is achieved with food and temps. On the otherhand, the food we eat is created by hormones, antibotics, and gene splicing. So come on guys get off the commerical breeder kick. If really do not need to rationalize why your snakes do not grow fast or reproduce much. ITs your choice. But please let those that are interested in exploring the top end of their potential, do so. It really doesn't matter if its about money or not. Its about genetics. Cheers
