Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my first question is do just the males have spurs or do females have them too. if males just have them, why not just look for the spurs when sexing babies? or do they not show up until sometime later in life?
my second question is how big do columbian BCI get? i've heard 5 feet, and i've heard 7-10'. i know about a maintanance diet so i know you can keep them 5-5 1/2 but is this harmful? would your breeding boas get any longer if you tried to feed them a little more for breeding? any input would be apreciated. also about those scams, i think everyone that posted replies are saying the right stuff. i like the idea saying to stop at the police station but most of them are overseas arent they?
cheers
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1.3 leopard geckos
1.0 jungle carpet python
1.0 columbian BCI

Both males and females have spurs, males will stick out allot more but they are hard to see when they are young, it is common for babies to be miss-sexed. I have bought females that ended up being male and males that ended up being females. As far as size goes females will be larger 7 to 10 feet is possible but most will top out at 8 feet and some will get over 10, males will be smaller 6 to 8 feet and sometimes larger depending on the animal and how much it was pushed with feeding.

I always feed my females more food a few months before breeding because breeding takes allot from females and sometimes they will not eat while gravid. My last litter I decided to feed my babies 1 average sized meal every 14 days since birth without any problems. The 2 I kept are over 2 years old and doing great, I no longer own them. I'm not sure what you mean by maintanance feeding but if you mean feeding every 2 to 3 weeks for adults, that is ok thats what I do and they still will grow to be a large boa and be healthy. Feeding too much can make you boa grow very fast and cause serious health issues and even death as I'm sure you already know. Later

-Dylan Keays
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True Redtails

I have never used a set of probes, ever. I sex by spurs and I can count on one hand how many times I have been wrong on sexing babies to adults, as far as B.C.C and B.C.I. Females can definately have spurs, but they are smaller in diameter and more clear in coloration and usually go into a straight tip. Males spurs will be larger and more course and usually darker and come to a pronounce hook at the tip. It takes practice to know what you are looking at and like most anything else, you get better at it in time. I usually will use a magnifying glass when it comes to babies, to make sure. As far as your question on the size of B.C.I. When it comes to size, girth and length, wether it is B.C.I. or any other constrictor, there are two main factors, genetics and food intake. There has been many bebates on what the largest Locality Boa is; Surianme or Peruvian or Guyana or Columbian B.C.I. ect.ect. Like in humans, it is all about the bloodline. If you come from tall parents, chances are you will be a tall person. If you come from a family of husky folk, chances are, you will also be husky. Depending on the bloodline of the animal that is in question, your offerings of food will be the biggest contributing factor to how large the animal will get. Feed it moderately and it will grow moderately and stay a manageable size. When genetics are playing the key role, sometimes they grow large despite our food offerings. I have had two boas that were the exact same age and ate the exact same prey at the exact same intervals and one grew twice as fast as the other. One was from a bloodline of Surinames that were old and never got over 8ft long and the other was from a pair of Surinames that the father was 9ft and the mother was 12ft. This, of course is an example of genetics and out of your hands. Try to find out as much as you can about the animal you want and track its bloodline back as far as possible and this will give you a good indication on how big that particular animal will get. If bloodline info is not possible, then feed it moderately and it will help it to live longer anyway. In my opinion and experiance, locality of an animal is a very small indication of how big it will get. To say that Peruvians are bigger than Surinames or Guyanas or Columbians or visa-versa is rediculous. It all depends on the genetics and food intake of the individual animal in question.........Johnson Herp

If you know what to look for, boa constrictors can be 100% accurately sexed by spur structure alone. This will work with neonates as well as it does with adults. Additionally, some type of magnification can help when sexing newborns.

Kelly