Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was wandering if it is a good idea to stunt a boas growth i have a common boa and am hoping it doesnt get too big i need to get rid of her she is in a 4x2x2 right now.is it safe to stunt its growth,and how do you do it

Why don't you give it away, instead of trying to change the boa's natural form? I'm sure there is somebody who would take it. All pet owners should know what they are getting into when they buy an animal....

BA

.. I would say that just the term STUNT or STUNTING is offensive to most caring keepers of Boas and other animals. That implies that the animal is not getting the nutrients to develop properly and completely..

Assuming that this is just a case of semantics and your goal is not to actually deprive your pet of a full life I can offer this observation.. There is a big gradient between power-feeding and starving. Somewhere in between is a happy compromise where the animal, boa in this case, is not harmed or stunted, but does grow more slowly and perhaps after a long life remain measureably shorter and attain a smaller overall mass.

There is nothing wrong with not feeding your boas as much as they will eat, in fact more conservative feeding seems to have long-term benefit aside from simply managing size. many advanced keepers note this..

Stunting or dwarfing a boa or other animal by withholding food it needs to grow and be healthy is wrong..

These are only my opinions!
-----
Gus
A. Rentfro
RioBravoReptiles.com
www.riobravoreptiles.com

"Quality is not an accident. Perfectly healthy animals are a minimum requirement.. everything else is just salesmanship" gus

this is taken from another forum i posted this same question on and i would like to add i wont just give my boa away as i lover her too much it was simply a question--

I'm sorry but alot of professional breeders stunt Boas growth. I my self stunt my females growth to 6'3" and my males to 4'5". Both passed away but not cause of health they died in a fire last year. I would never have stunt their growth if it wasn't safe. Breeders stunt Boas growth cause a 6 foot female is a better breeder than say a 8 foot female or a 4 foot male compared to a 6 male. Trust me I've talked to alot of breeders that are known.

You are describing an hypocritical situation.. wherein a so called stunted (or harmed) animal is the best breeder, ergo the most healthy. The ability to repeatedly produce healthy young is the pentultimate expression of vigor in Nature.

Again, I don't equate mangaing an animal's feeding with stunting.

I admit my first reply was a little blunt, but my opinion was not aimed at you, rather at the concept of purposely stunting an animal.. now we are even I guess in that you atttack breeders, presumably to include me! Good, even means the scuffle is over!

To conclude: STUNTING is a bad thing, feeding conservatively is a good thing..

Thank you!

Gus

It is really great to hear from a well respected breeder that a conservative feeding regemin is what you recommend. I personally feed my collection (30 boas) along the same guidelines as the care sheet on your website and have had ZERO health problems in the past several years resulting from this schedule.

~Denny

I mean, I REALLY want to know, because when I'm done laughing at the premise of being able to INTENTIONALLY stop a snake growing specifically at 6'3" and 4'5". I will be sure to never buy anything they may offer for sale. I love how people back up what they say with things like...Trust me, I've talked to well known breeders blah blah blah-BUT they will never say WHICH "well known" breeder. If they're so well known and well respected why is their name not mentioned. I mean, it may help seal the arguement if you could atleast provide a name to back up the claim. Here's a quick question. What does he/she do with the females that stay UNDER 6'3"? Does he sell them since they won't be optimal breeders? That must be a serious problem. Is there a weight they stop the females at as well? Like 6'3" and 22 1/8 pound? I would think weight had a little to do with breeding, but I haven't been secretly told anything by a well known breeder about that specifically, so I'm in the dark on that one I guess. Here's my humble opinion. Just feed the snake-don't under feed it, don't power feed it-Just take care of it. If you want a small snake, buy a small snake. If you want a non venomous snake, buy a non venomous snake-don't do surgery on one, what is the point in that? If I don't like my lizard running away, should I cut off his legs? I like lizards and all, I just don't like how fast they run....sound like a good solution? I'm done!

Paul

` I believe that stunting a snake by withholding food is injuring that animal. Since they are most healthy, and grow well, when fed much less often than most captive snakes are, you would have to feed them very little to stunt them. That would be inhumane, period.
` You should get yourself a snake that is going to grow to the size you want to keep. Planning ahead is much easier on the critters!

-----

i wasnt planning to stunt my boas growth i just heard you can do this and was wandering if this was true so i get the point it would be cruel so dont worry i wont be doing it i love my snakes more than anything but if you could help me with my last question====

i have my female boa in a 4x2x2 tank can you tell me what size i can keep her in this tank until it exeeds the legal requirments
thank you for your time

To answer the tank question, we would have to know... how big is your girl?

What legal requirements are you asking about? If you have certain requirements in your area, read them and figure it out. The last I've read as close to a requirement was Fish and Game stating the length and depth of the cage should be equal to the overall length of the snake-ie a 4'x2'x2' cage would house a 6' animal according to their recommendations(4' long 2' deep = 6'). I've never heard of this being enforced in the private sector. You should have no problem keeping your boa in that size cage. Take care!

Many breeders/keepers often overfeed their captive snakes (in my opinion) in order to maximize the size of their snakes and ultimately their litter and/or neonate sizes. This is also often done in order to push the snakes to reach sexual maturity faster so the breeder can try to make quicker/bigger returns on their initial "investments".

Personally, I do not practise or promote this methodology. As Gus pointed out, this can result in shorter life spans, obesity, difficulty breeding, and other related health problems in the snakes. Instead, I prefer to grow my snakes more slowly which results in smaller, thinner, but not starving animals. My snakes may not breed at 18 months of age, or tip the scales at record-breaking sizes, but they all breed throughout their long lives and have healthy babies.

Like many of the other comments you received, I would recommend that you get rid of the female common boa and get something that would be more suited to your specific requirements. You might consider a male boa constrictor of a locality that doesn't reach the larger sizes (i.e., hogg islands, sonorans, Cancuns, Nicaraguans, etc.). Males generally don't get as big and fat as females. You might also consider a different species that doesn't get quite as large (i.e, Ball Pythons, Rosy Boas, Sand Boas, Childrens Pythons, Spotted Pythons, etc.). Many colubrids (i.e, Kings, Rats, Gophers, Hognose) would also do fine in the cage dimensions you described and can be just as fascinating, beautiful, and rewarding as any boa.

Purposely "stunting" any animal through starvation is inhumane, illegal, immoral, and just plain wrong. Don't do it. Get an animal you can enjoy, be proud of, and be proud of yourself while doing so.

Good luck!

SSSammy

My head has grown two hat sizes from your compliments.. but back at you.. I wish I had written this!!

Purposely "stunting" any animal through starvation is inhumane, illegal, immoral, and just plain wrong. Don't do it. Get an animal you can enjoy, be proud of, and be proud of yourself while doing so.

WOW

This is the most misunderstood and confusing topic on Boa husbandry! Everyone is very vague about how exactly they feed and how often, but yet when everyone hears the two words "stunting" or "power-feeding," they are quick to condemn without actually hearing details.For example, I have two young boas, one 1 1/2 years and the other approximately 2 years old. I feed them each a rat that produces a slight bulge (you can tell they ate, but it's not like a billiard ball in a garden hose) every 15th and 30th of each month. They seem to be very healthy animals, and they are my pets so my goal is for them to live long, healthy lives. I believe I'm doing right for now, but I may cut back to three weeks for the male when he gets older.