Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two 07 female Columbian boas. One is 7 feet long and easily over 20 pounds now. The other is barely 5 1/5 feet, and about 10 pounds. Is this normal? The small one was fed very well when we got her as a 12 inch baby(but not power fed)the other one we got as an adult, and we were told she wasn't overfed. Why such a size difference? And is it normal for a female Columbian to be only 5 1/5 feet at over 4 years old?

Also, I have held off on breeding the smaller one because of her size. She will be in her fifth year soon, would it be safe to breed her? here is a picture of her;

I think it just has to do with genetics.
I have two females that were both hatched sometime in '06(unrelated). My Circleback is 5'. Then my Albino girl is pushing 9'. Neither were powerfed or refrained from food. Its amazing to look at them and know they're the same age but have a 3'-4' length differance. I doubt there is anything wrong with your smaller girl, she just may be a smaller snake.

My guess is the small female is actually a male. the two sizes you described are about normal for mature male and female boas.

Steve - sdi

The Image cuts off the tail so I can't make an educated guess
to whether that is a male or a fem.

It could be a fem, some do stay smaller like that.

I have a smaller fem gravid right now.

If that does turn out to really be a fem you can breed it
in the upcoming season.

At 5 feet and 10 LBs it will be fine !

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz

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Thanks for the responses! She 100% a female(probed) and she is the same length as our male(only thicker)so I guess shes just a smaller snake. Now, if I found a smaller then average male, and bred it to her, what are the chances the offspring would retain there parents small size?

Probably a pretty good chance that many of the offspring would
take after the parents and stay smaller.

Some of the offspring could be like the grand parents or
great grand parents and earlier generations
how ever big they were etc . . .

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz

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