Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do you see anything wrong with this boa?

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Jaremy Douglas

The boa pictured is one I sold to a close friend and was born in March of 2003. His name is Jelly Bean. He is a dwarf. I have seen him at least every 3 or four days since he was sold. He has ate every week for the last year and a half. He was started on pinky rats and now eats one fuzzy rat. He is kept the same way as all of our other boas but is only 140 grams. He was taken to the vet after we noticed that he wasn't growing. The vet checked his stool and looked him over and found nothing wrong with him. He was given a round of Flagyl to see if that would boost his absorbtion but as you can see it didn't do much. He seems healthy and strong, just small. He was purchased from the treasurer of the St Louis Herp society so I contacted her and she said they still had a few siblings but all were at least a couple pounds now and hadn't heard of this from any others that had purchased siblings. He is pictured with another boa that was also born in early 2003 that has been kept in the exact same cage set up and same feeding schedule.

Does anyone else think this is odd?
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Jaremy Douglas

I have the same problem with a 03 albino. I feed her once a week. She sheds all the time, but never seems to grow. Marshall

Was he the same size as the others at birth?
Have you considered feeding LESS often? I know it sounds counter-intuitive (if you want your animal to grow, you feed it), but maybe he's being overfed and not absorbing what he needs and is only passing it through his system. Maybe the 7 day feeding schedule is just TOO often for his system and he should be slowed to 10-14 days. Hey, never hurts to give it a shot for a couple of months.
Other than that, if everything else is normal, I'd just say he's a dwarf that may eventually catch up w/ his siblings in the future. Some boas grow slower than others, but it may not necessarily mean anything is actually wrong...
Best of luck w/ him, jb
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Jonathan Brady
"Sarcasm is angers ugly cousin" -Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in "Anger Management".

We had actually thought the same thing. Thinking that maybe if we fed him less his digestion would slow down and recuperate. We stopped feeding for a few weeks and he began losing weight so we started feeding him again but fed him less, feeding one small pinky rat instead of two pinkies. He stayed around 78 grams for a long time eating one pinky. Then we moved him to two and he grew a little bit. Two pinkies left a nice sized bulge. We recently switched him to one fuzzy rat. Its just weird that he ways about 1/3 of a pound and the other boas his age weigh three pounds. I have seen some 04 hatchings that are bigger than he is.
He has a really bold pattern and a nice colored tail for a runt!

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Jaremy Douglas

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Jaremy Douglas

I've had a hard time getting others to believe what Jonathan stated, but it is 100% correct.
Some boas just are this way.

Specifically, i've had two groups of 10 boas each, and 2-3 of each group did this.

In one case, 3 females of one group just didn't grow! AT ALL! So I doubled their intake. Feeding weekly.
Their siblings took off and went from 1' to 3' the first year and then reaching 5' or so the second year, the 'non-growers' only got thicker but didn't grow more than 3 inches in the first year more!
When I first heard this theory, I then applied it to the females. I continued to feed them the same prey item, if not, a bit larger, I just gave them more time to digest. Instead of weekly, they were fed every 12-14 days or so.
They shot up in size and almost reached their siblings in about 6 months!!!!
At the end of 3 years, 2 of the 3 SURPASSED their previously 'giant' siblings in length AND weight!
By the second to third year, once they were well established, I did increase from 12-14 days to more like 7-10 days.

Similar situation with a group of 10 Harlequins I had.
3 of them seemed to 'regurge' after 2 days or so, but it was dry and didn't smell as bad. Turns out they were pooping way too early. They weren't absorbing hardly any nutrients from their food!
I tried feeding smaller prey but it didn't change a thing! Same behavior!
Once I started feeding the same prey or larger, every 2 weeks instead of weekly, they shot up and started growing magnificently.
They are only about 15-16 months old now but they have had a dramatic growth change and are now on their way to reaching their siblings.

Thanks much, Joe Rollo - BciJoe
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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 have a 2000 female Albino That seems too have the same problem. She eats every week, her stool is also normal. I took her to the vet too and he checked her over and says she's healthy as a horse, but she jsut doesnt grow???? I purchesed my albino for breeding purposses but this kind of killed my plans....anyone with any ideas of what is wrong or if they are still capable of breeding??
Jesse-