Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What is the growth rate?

It does depend on the type of snake but for straight columbians i would say about 2-3.5 feet in a year and full grown by like 2.5 years... but it just depends males can be breed at 18-24 months at the earliest, although people have done earlier, and females should be 10 lbs and 2 years... anyways i hope this helps... Let me know if you need more specific questions.

Sincerley,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com

Thanks fo rthe info

The question is how long does a boa take to reach full size. You answered about breeding age.
I have a 8' female Columbian. You really think it reached that size at 2.5 years old? That is what you would think by the answer in your post.

I would answer the growth rate (as the original questions asks) like this.
Growth rates of snakes vary on too many things.
1. How often it is fed.
2. What size food is being fed.
3. How many items at each feeding.
4. What the temps are kept at.

There is no way a snake is full grown at 2.5 years old. Snakes grown at times for up to 10 years.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@cox.net

actually brian, snakes never stop growing, although their growth rate may slow substantialy, snakes never altogether stop growing.
eliot stone
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1.0 Hypo Corn Het. for Amber
0.1 Spotted Python
and always looking for more!

I understand that, but it makes more sense to call a 10 year old boa "full grown" than it would to say a 2.5 eyar old is full grown. Yes, I understand he might have been talking about age to reproduce.
So my statement is quite fair. A 10 year old boa would be in the realm of 'full grown'.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@cox.net

Perhaps a fair comment, however, in the realm of captive snakes, "full grown" is a term that doesn't apply. Even though we feel that in most circumstances we are giving our snakes ample room for living quarters, small caging doesn't allow them to reach their full potential. In fact, according to John M. Mehrtens "Living Snakes of the World" the largest boa constictor was a boa found in Trinidad that measured eighteen and one half feet. Another captive B.c. ortonii was taped at thirteen feet and seven inches (Mehrtens, 19). So ten feet would not necessarily be a full grown snake as proven in these examples. Of course these examples are of animals that are a bit large for their species, but given the proper conditions many boas could reach these porportions. So, yes, in captivity, a ten foot specimen may be what you term "full grown" however, given proper conditions boas could attain lengths that far exceed 10 feet.

Work Cited
Mehrtens, John M. "Peruvian Boa Constrictor; Red-Tailed Boa".
Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1987.
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1.0 Hypo Corn Het. for Amber
0.1 Spotted Python
and always looking for more!

That 18 foot Boa constrictor was an andaconda.

Works Cited: Boas of the World, Jerry G. Walls
(if memory serves, I can't actually find the book right now)
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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convient pocket size!

The point is still made that there are many boa constrictors that get over 10 feet, and applying the term "full grown" is incorrect. If we are going to be scientific about our topics of conversation we may as well use the proper terminology.
Eliot Stone
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1.0 Hypo Corn Het. for Amber
0.1 Spotted Python
and always looking for more!

I was well prepared to leave it all alone even though it is apparent to me that we were talking in captivity rather than the wild. I also did not have the info you apparently did, even though youa re talking about a completely different type of boa. You know as well as I do that when someone wants to know about a BOA they say BOA and when someone is talking about an anaconda they say anaconda. BIG difference there.
SO< yes I would agree that boas continue to grow for most, if not all their life, my statement is VERY accurate as far as the "norm".
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@cox.net

While I agree that boas do continue to grow throughout their lives, they are generally at a maximum size by the time they are between 7-10 years old. My 11 year old female pretty much maxed out by the time she was 7 years old and hasn't gotten any longer; my 13 year old male has been the same length since he was 5-6 years old; my 9 year old male hasn't gotten any longer in the two years I've had him...all are fed well and all are healthy. None of these animals will turn into 14' monsters no matter how much I feed them, they'll just become obese. Proper diet will still produce a full size animal regardless of the size cage it is in...snakes are not stunted by their cage size, only by their nutritional intake. If you starve the boa, it won't grow; but if you feed it, it will grow. Yes they continue to shed and yes they continue to grow for their whole lives, but from my personal experience it is a negligible amount after a certain number of years.

I guess you and I (and BCI Joe) are the only ones with boas that are short changed in their life regarding growing.
I have never seen a snake have 'stunted' growth due to the enclosure either.......just tired of arguing with people.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@cox.net

full grown is not something to be coined when talking about snakes.
eliot stone
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0.1 Columbian Boa
0.1 Spotted Python
and always looking for more!

nm

I'm sorry if I upset any of you, I'm just a stickler for proper usage. Chalk one up for the grammar police.
eliot stone
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0.1 Columbian Boa
0.1 Spotted Python
and always looking for more!

Not offended here, but you were being a tad anal. I would say according to your thoughts on this, an animal could not be termed full grown until a millisecond prior to it's death. But, we all know what the intent of the question was. At what point does a boa NEAR it's FULL growth potential. That would be a little more specific to the question as boas do NEAR their full growth potential well within 10 years. To quarrel over what would probably end up being an inch or two over the next 10 years is just silly. This is the sort of topic that could be argued for a long time. Your definitely not "wrong", and neither are the other people realistically. Two opinions on what the question was asking brought about two right answers it seems. LOL, take it easy!

Paul

I think full gron in 2.5 years is DEFFINATELY way too much and can only be the result of powerfeeding if it even can happen.

colombian boas fed a good consistent diet woould usually reach 2-3 feet within a year or so, maybe around the 6 foot mark at about 3-4 years of age, and not full grown until well over 7-10 years!
I have an 11 year old female that is 8' and still growing...
my 2.5 year animals are only about 4-5 feet.

Just my $.02
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

I understood what he was saying. He was saying that is the breeding age.

I figured they wouldnot be 8 foot by then.

Thanks for the information

Im sorry if my post was confusing to anyone, I was just stating the breeding sizes because I felt that the questions was more about the way a normal snake would grow to breeding size, and all snakes have different growth rates and growth potentials, Due to these issues you will never be able to claim that your snake is full grown, you will only be able to say my snake has reached a sexually mature weight and length, not its full capacity. I was just trying to answer a general question with a general answer and im sorry if it was unclear to anyone or if it was due to this that the long thread was started.

Sincerley,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com