Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just wondering if anyone knows roughly how long it takes a Dumeril's boa to reach breeding size (4-4 1/2 feet, right?)
I just got a beautiful little male, and have decided to get a girlfriend for him. He is only 5 months old, so of course I've got a lot of waiting to do, just wondering how much!!
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1.1 argentine b/w tegus
1.0 anery corn
0.1 western hog
0.1 leopard gecko
1.1 blue headed tree agama
0.0.1 ball python
0.0.1 western fox
And always looking for more!!

Generally 3-4 years for your females. Your male should be ready in 2 years, but females in my experience tend to take a year or two more.

I've fed my '99 pair as suggested (every 2 weeks for the first year or two and then every 3-4 weeks) and have very healthy dums - lean and muscular. The female is about 5' long, the male about 4' long. Needless to say, mine are no where near the size I've seen in a lot of dums because I didn't feed them heavily. I hadn't planned on breeding my girl until she reached 6' (as I do with my redtails), providing she ever gets that long (she seems to have stalled at 5' for now). What are your thoughts on this? Should I wait, or is it safe to try her for next season?

Raven

If they got the age I would go for it. I have females here that produce anywhere from 4-7ft. My dwarf female at 6yrs old is only 4ft and Ill get 12 out of her every time. As long as they got the age and have good weight for their size I wouldnt worry about. The adult size will depend on the lineage of your animals. Dumerils vary so much in size and growth rates its ahrd to judge a proper breeding size. As long as the female is 3 or 4yrs old with good weight for her size I say go for it.

Paul is the hypos Mom related to dad? I cant rember. Paul has the mother to my hypo dumerils and I have the father. Kevin Hanley brought the male I have and female Paul has in from Sweeden, breed them, produced the hypo then sold them all off, Paul got the mom and rest of the litter and I got the hypo and dad. How big is mom?? 8ft I think? Dad is bairly 5ft and not even as thick as a soda can. Their daughter the hypo is maybe 5.5ft and just slightly thicker then him. Paul how old are these, I think the hypo(daughter) and the rest of them you got are 6yrs correct? You keep better records then I do LOL. I was thinking about it last night, time juts flies by, my first male dumerils I bought as an adult, he was born in 88, 16yrs old and still popping the young ones. Not as agressive as he used to be but still gets the job done. Anyway hope that helps
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Jason & Danica
Well, I'm off my rocker, I fell out of my tree, I've been standin' on shaky ground, There's no helping me, yeah, I can't remember my number, I can't remember your name
I can't remember all the trouble I'm in, child....... Well, I'm insane(Ratt, Im Insane)
Classic Dums frozen feeders

Hi Jason. Thanks for the input. These have grown a lot slower than I had thought they would, even knowing that they can have slow growth rates, but I know it is in part because I have kept them considerably leaner than most keepers of dumerils. The appeal of the fat slugs never did do anything for me. lol They both grew pretty steadily up until the past year or so. The female has stalled around 5' and is maybe a couple of inches in diameter, the male slightly shorter at 4' and just a bit thinner (he has always been a very finicky eater from day one). These are the ones I told you about a couple of years ago (you probably don't remember) that I got from Larry Kenton. The female still shows lovely contrast and the male has the offset rosettes on his saddles causing a kind of zig-zag effect. I was thinking on trying them next year and see what happens.

Raven

Hey Jason, I'm not at the house right now, but from what I can recall off the top of my head, those were 98 or 99 animals(the hypo and siblings) I still have the original feed pages from Kevin at the house. I believe Dr. Schuette from the U. of Arizona originally imported them, did some studies and then sold them to Kevin(also living in AZ. at the time-now in Wisconsin). I don't recall Kevin mentioning if the father and mother of the hypo were related or not. The mother is in the 8' range though. The hypo siblings are all under 5' and have bred succesfully. I also had a litter last season from a BARELY 4' female bred to a 12 yr. old male at 4 1/2'. Like you said, if they have the age, and feeding schedule has been steady, by 4 years old your probably looking at their generalized adult size(so nobody nit picks, yeah they will probably keep growing a little-so it's GENERAL size! LOL) Raven, from what you said, it sounds like if you wait for her to hit 6' you may be waiting a long time, and it may never come. I would look at trying to breed them this coming season. Jason, let me know if you hear anymore about what we talked about the other day. Take care! Good luck Raven!

Paul

When I first bought the pair back in '99, I was told that they should get about the same size as my Colombian redtails...so I was expecting a 6-7' snake with some decent girth. Well, that isn't exactly what I've gotten, though I have seen examples of dumerils that look like what I was expecting. More recently I've started seeing more about dumerils that are smaller, like mine, and that they're actually quite variable in size. As I mentioned, my girl is around 5' and about the same diameter as my Colombian rainbow boa - in other words, she's proportionate but not the proportions I was expecting. I think you're right, too, in that it'll most likely be a VERY long wait for her to hit 6 feet. Seems I need to re-read the information I once had on breeding and plan on putting them together next year. Thanks again!

Raven

Hello, Ya i rember ya telling me they were from Larryif I rember correctly his were rather large animals. Hes sold a bunch the year I left PA for IL, its nice to see someone who feeds on a laid back schedule, I so hate seeing people refer to care as they do columbians, Id go for it this year, theyll continue to grow I have one female here I picked up in 2000 at hamburg she was maybe 5ft I bred her that year then the following and gave her the year after off, she sprouted in that year off shes now about 7.5ft, I almost think that alot of the size in Dumerils depends on where they are coming from I have a few here from out west and all are smaller with the same age. According to Bob clark there was only 25 unrelated pairs brought in legally in the early 80's from there I now hetfeild(something field im probally thinking of James from Metallica now) I think his name was, the big smauggler brought a ton in then weve seen some brought in from established colonies in other countrys throughout the 90's I know in there native home they do range in size Ive talked to several people who have been there and in the southern regions its more a desert like climate, alot harser and they tend to stay smaller then they do in the norhtern regions that are more tropical, so what I think it all boils down to is were the orig ones were collected and how those got devided up once they hit the states. It would make perfect sense to me the southern regions from what I have been told are alot like AZ, from what I have seen the smaller ones tend to be lighter in color mixing with the sand and what not while the larger ones tend to be darker mixing better with a darker enviro, Theres been talk of them cross breeding with the Mad grounds in the northern ranges which I think may explain some of the size as well. I had one female that I got with my orig male in the mid 90s, she was a yr older them him so shed be 17 now if she was still alive. The combination of the two I used to get 2 or 3 out of every litter that I could have passed off as Mad Ground boas, No pattern on the back, there heads had a closer shape to the grounds then did they did to the dumerils, more grey in them and the mother I was the first to breed her the guy I got her from had bought her as a male, for what ever reaon he never learned how to prob, raised her as a male and year after year through her in with other females and couldnt fingure out what he was doing wrong. till I got her shes was massive I had never seen a larger one, still to date I havnt, shes was already 11yrs when I got her, I had bought the pair in 97, the follwoing yr I weighed and messured her and she was 9.5ft and 35-40 pounds, first litter I got 17 second I got 27, sadly I lost her in the trip out here when I moved here 2 or 3yrs ago, I cant rember how Long I been here LOL, I try not to keep track because I cant stand IL, I miss the mountains. Anyway sorry for the rant.

Paul, I doubt shell call if she does Ill let ya know. I thought Kev brought the dum back with him from an over seas deployment and the Dr you spoke of owned them over there? Or maybe the Dr lived there and brought them when he moved. I thought they came in with someone who lived there and movd here and just assumed it was Kevin because he was in the military.
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Jason & Danica
Well, I'm off my rocker, I fell out of my tree, I've been standin' on shaky ground, There's no helping me, yeah, I can't remember my number, I can't remember your name
I can't remember all the trouble I'm in, child....... Well, I'm insane(Ratt, Im Insane)
Classic Dums frozen feeders

Yes, Larry did say his were fairly large animals...that's part of why I was expecting them to be considerably larger by now - perhaps it will just take time. Even so, I can't say I'm heartbroken they've stayed smaller because my female definitely has a personality disorder - I think she's Satan's daughter or maybe his sister! LOL She's real prone to strike and will even constrict when she's in the mood - regardless of the presense, or lack thereof, of thawing feeders. I did try feeding her more heavily once to see if she was just hungry but all she did was begin to plump up and still stayed bitey. The male is a complete angel though. Let's hope any offspring take after him.

Raven

ya your female sounds like the storys I hear about the hypo moms from Paul, he says shes a wild one to. The hypo is great, so Im sure theyll take after dad. Have you been up to larry show lately? I havnt been there in years just wondering how its doing. It was all was hit or miss when I was there one month it was a ghost town and next month it was full.
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Jason & Danica
Well, I'm off my rocker, I fell out of my tree, I've been standin' on shaky ground, There's no helping me, yeah, I can't remember my number, I can't remember your name
I can't remember all the trouble I'm in, child....... Well, I'm insane(Ratt, Im Insane)
Classic Dums frozen feeders

Is that the one in Havre de Grace, MD? If so, nope, I haven't been there in some time (probably a couple of years at least). It seemed pretty hit & miss when I went, too, so I haven't gone back (it's a 3-4 hour drive for me to get to Havre de Grace if the traffic is good). I've been going pretty regularly to the Northern Virginia Reptile Expo though (usually have a table there for the wire jewelry I make) - the selection is pretty good and I've really increased my collection over the last couple of years. I believe I've seen Larry there and I think I saw him at another show I went to, but I can't recall which one for sure (maybe the Richmond VA show?). I'm pretty much sticking with the more local shows except for the MARS show in Timonium. I'd like to check out the Raleigh NC show as well as the Hamburg PA show, but haven't had the time to go to either. One of these days, I guess.

Raven

yup harve de grace would be it, I didnt realize you were that far south I thought you were in MD I rember you talking about MARS, youll ave to drop by our tables this yr and say hi. I know larry does some of the VA shows, im not surew which ones though Ill talk to him about every 6 months or so, Id highly recomend Hambrug if you get the chance just a tad smaller then MARS with hots so its a good size show my favorite of allbut I havnt been able to get there in like 3yrs something else going on those weekends every time
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Jason & Danica
Well, I'm off my rocker, I fell out of my tree, I've been standin' on shaky ground, There's no helping me, yeah, I can't remember my number, I can't remember your name
I can't remember all the trouble I'm in, child....... Well, I'm insane(Ratt, Im Insane)
Classic Dums frozen feeders

I'm down here in VA, not far from Richmond, but try to make it to as many shows as I can within a reasonable driving distance. I do usually try to make MARS, in fact had planned on going last year but wasn't able to make it. I think we had mentioned trying to meet then, but I hadn't realized that my plans were going to fall through when we did. I'm hoping to make it this year but we'll see how things work out once I get a bit closer to it. If I actually make it this year, I'll be sure to drop by your booth. I also want to try to make the Hamburg show because I've heard that Candoia can be found there and I'm trying to build my breeding group (I currently have 2.3 but wouldn't mind a couple more animals to fill it out). They aren't real popular yet and the only show I've heard of that they seem to pop up fairly regularly at is the White Plains show...but that's a bit of a stretch for a day's drive. LOL

Raven