Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a male burm, that is getting close to two years old, and is around 5 1/2 ' . He seems very healthy, his setup is optimum, with good humidity, he is growing but very slowly, compared to some of the giant growth rates that I have heard of. He gets two rats every six days to eat. I am not trying to rush his growth, but I am kind of worried. Anyone else have similar slow growth, or have any ideas of why he could be growing slow. Sorry this is kind of long, thanks in advance for the response. Aaron

How big are the rats? Maybe you should go up a size?
Parasites? Have you checked for internal parasites? Enviornment...size, heat, humidity...are they just right to maintain a Burm?
And then maybe it's just a matter of genetics. Your burm just may be a slow grower.
I have a male albino, that is at the opposite end of the spectrum. He is very very active, and always hungry.
He is 7ft, and eats 2 jumbo rats. And a few days later is looking for food again. He is just under a year and a half old.
And as I typed that, I realized that 5 1/2 ft at a year is not so small.

I dont really think you have anything to worry about, but I would check the parasites. And maybe move up the size of the rats a bit? I have a burm that is about a year old, and is about 3 1/2 feet right now. I got him at 9 months and 3 feet. I have stepped up his feeding schedule a bit, but he still hasnt made the leaps and bounds I expected him to. I guess some of them just grow a little slower.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

3.5 feet at one year old? That doesnt sound right since they are already 2 feet when they are hatched. Even if he ate a few times the entire year it sounds off.

Well, I got him from Bob clark at 9 months, and he was just a touch under 3 ft. He was the biggest out of his clutch as well. So I dont really think im going to say he was underfed, but he was just fed to slow grow. And I dont think I will argue with the breeder either. It ok for them to grow slower, and many will argue that growing them quickly is more harmful. This one that I have got is just a little smaller than the rest.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

As a general rule I give my burm prey items the same size around as he is. If it's a rat, I give him 2. If it's a rabbit I give him one. At 9' I give him about 4 pounds every 2 weeks. When I got him last October he was 17 lbs, 8'3". Now he's close to 30 lbs, 9'. The guy who had him before me kept him on medium rats and he didn't grow that big either. He's now 3 years old and I think a good thickness for his length.

DZ