Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive been looking at a suri female, comes from miller lines .... but Im a bit hesitant because she seems pretty small for her size. Im not sure if Im putting to much merrit into it but she really seems small to me for an animal thats going on 5 years old (shes a 2008 animal).

From the sounds of it shes been fed a maintenance type diet, owner states feeding frequency at once every 2 or 3 weeks. Which in my experience.. probably means a bit longer. Maybe even monthly.

Obviously I can up her caloric intake slowly but shes well past the first two years of age and Im worried about permanent stunting.

What do you guys think??

That isnt to small for a 2008 BCC... If you have ever raised BCC you will know that they grow really slow for the 1st year or 2.

I have a keeper 2008 suriname female that i produced and feed her the typical BCC time diet of every 7-21 days and she is about 5.5'ft or so and lately i have been really feeding her.

Also consider the actual boa, just like people there are big people and smaller people. Some boas get big and some just dont.
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Richard Ceniceros

We got a good deal on some Miller BCC in 07 and none of the males are 4' and the females are just a hair over 4'.
They are fed med rat prey every 3 weeks.
It would likely be best to study up on the species before
attempting to properly care for them on blind assumptions.

"It would likely be best to study up on the species before
attempting to properly care for them on blind assumptions."

Dont be rude. What do you call posting on a board of experts asking for informtation? Ild call that "studying up".

Please dont turn my post into another boa forum fight.

Im looking for info here. Thanks for your pertinant data and thanks to the others for the information. Thats good to know.

I agree with the other two posts. That length is absolutely normal for certain BCC individuals. I've got an '07 girl I produced that is probably right at the 5' mark. I've got an '08 girl (same mother, different father) that is about 3.5' long. Their mother is 11 years old and has only recently hit the 6' mark. The '07 sire is a 5 footer and the '08 sire is a 5.5 footer. There are a LOT of BCC bloodlines that don't get large. The literature on BCC has done a VERY poor job of providing realistic expectations for adult length. Yes, SOME are REALLY big. But the vast majority are easily managed by one person and quite a few are really rather small. I've heard of 4' females coming in from the wild, gravid and they go on to deliver perfectly healthy litters. In BCC, mature LEAN muscle mass is the judge of a healthy boa.

jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously

Jonathan Brady
DeviantConstrictors.com Site received a complete makeover! Check it out!

Thanks for the input. You know, about 10 years ago or so I was at Barry's and now that I think about it... I think he even said something about most of his adults being around 6' or a hair larger. He said something about prefering it that way (housing space, maintenance, etc, etc).

I bought 6 FLRT animals or so and a couple were his. Later on one of the females I sold was reported to end up around the 6' mark. I guess I just assumed those were exceptions, not the rule.

I had no idea 11 years at a 6' length is normal.

To be honest, thats not what I look for in a BCC. I realize (now) that there are lines that stay small like that, and Ive heard people speak of them in the past ... but I gotta say Ild be really disappointed to have an 11 year old animal top out at 6'.

Maybe its just me, but when I think of BCC or BCI for that matter... I think of a large (as in 7-9'/8' average), powerful constrictor... and of course look for certain physical traits that appeal to me as most do.

Can anyone point to any lines that are known to get to a larger size? Ive heard peruvians typically get in the 8' range but maybe this is misinformation as well.

I appreciate any input on this topic.

Thanks so much.

Hey!

I also personally like larger boas as well. I do BCI morphs, but only because BCI have always been my personal favorite-even when there were no morphs. I had a BUNCH of really nice BCC for a while. They're beautiful and I understand why other like them, but they're not my thing.

It's not hard to get boas to be larger with my males being 5-6 feet-some bigger and females probably 8-9 feet. Like others were saying though, just be careful about getting them obese.

I'm going to try upgrading them to 8 x 2 cages soon so a drawback would be that I'll be able to keep less boas in a fixed amount of space. As long as you don't mind that, I'd say BCI or BCC would fit what you're looking for.

Good luck.

Aaron
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Aaron Houts
www.voodoomagicboas.com

I agree. Thanks for the input.

This '08 produced by Mr. Damico is barely over four feet and very comfortable in a CB110 tub. Her mom is over ten years old and barely over six feet. I personally work with smaller boas and grow them quite slowly as I am limited on space. It has taken five years but an '07 pair of quite small Corn Island Boas are perfectly healthy afterwards and produced 7 perfect babies this year (except for a couple anery's)and no slugs or stillborns. A pair of 07 Caulker's Cay boas that I slowly raised produced five perfect babies, no slugs or stillborns from a female under 1000 grams. It's not a myth, it's not stunting or starving boas. If you have boas with the right genes, the time and the patience you can raise perfectly healthy smaller boas that may not produce as many boas their first few litters but are actually healthier and produce more offspring over the lifetime of the boas. That's what I'm told by the experts anyway. I'm sure you can find those who will disagree easily enough...

Here's that Damico gal...

TC

Thanks for the input thats a great looking animal. Im after a larger boa, however. Dont get me wrong Im not looking for myths of a 12' monster, but average female sizes in the 8-9' Ild be happy with.

As mentioned Ild really be disappointed with a 6' adult female. Ive had quite a few BCI in the past and several BCC but always ended up trading/selling them off rather then growing them up.

I recently purchased a new property and I have a FANTASTIC area in the den that I want to make into a large display area. Its not a heavy traffic area but its absolutely perfect. It could easily house a 12' animal... although I have no delusions of finding one.

Really Ild like to find a BCC female from bloodlines that do NOT stay small ... I realize theres no guarentees of course, but Ild like to at least have the shot of ending up with an 8' animal by picking the right genetics from the get go.

Thanks for all the comments.