My guyana boa is small?

[CamStatic]

Hi!
in Feb 2009 I bought this wonderful guyana girl. She's born somewhere in the summer 2008 and was super tiny when I brought her home. (a little bigger than a newborn)
I know the breeder hadn't been feeding her all that much, but overall she and her siblings were in good shape. I got to see their parents as well, the female was as far as I can remember a normal sized boa c, while the male was relatively small. About the size that my girl is now.

Now, I've had Shea for nearly 5 years now. She's never been difficult when it comes to food. Was fed on mice the first year or so until I switched to rats, and right now she's eating large rats about every second week. Sometimes I feed her more often than that (when my ball pythons refuses a meal, she usually get one extra rat per feeding too), sometimes I feed her less than that. I like to vary.


But.. she's 5 years old.. I'm thinking she should maybe be bigger? She's about 5 feet, and a little over 2000g / 2kg. She's always been very healthy, never had any troubles with her whatsoever. She's also just as tame as your regular ball python.

And just to throw it out there,
Temps are 77 in cold, and a little over 93 on the hot side. I spray the cage about once a week, and she has a large tub to swim in if she wants.

So is this normal? Or what am I doing wrong?

Here's a picture of her as well.





Thank you for any input you may have!

[Crazymonkee]

Wow! I have no idea on boa care but she's very nice looking!!

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[Daybreaker]

She looks fine to me and the frequency of your feeding schedule sounds good too. As long as she's on appropriate sized feeders I wouldn't worry: not all BCCs grow to monster sizes. Maybe she is actually a male too.

[CamStatic]

Hm... Maybe I should get her probed just to be sure. Funny, I never even thought about that possibility.. I have just trusted the breeder all these years, and since I don't really have any breeding plans for her until she's big enough anyways I haven't really stressed about what gender she is.

[Gio]

She looks fine to me and the frequency of your feeding schedule sounds good too. As long as she's on appropriate sized feeders I wouldn't worry: not all BCCs grow to monster sizes. Maybe she is actually a male too.

Yep, could be a male and could just be a small snake. It looks healthy, your feeding schedule and temps are fine. If it eats, sheds and defecates, you are doing something right.

BCC's mature slowly and they grow slower than the BCI's. Usually they get bigger but there are huge BCI's (even males) and smaller BCC's.

What size were the parents? Did the breeder stunt the growth of the snake by really holding back food?

Just a few questions, but you have a nice looking boa there.


Edit: I saw you said the sire was small and the rest were in decent shape.

I think you should look and see how big the spurs are and get it probed. Sounds like you may have a male!

[CamStatic]

All right, thanks for your help! I'll get her probed asap and then we'll know..

If it turns out to be a female though, is there still a possibility she will grow more? I do wish to breed some pure guyanas in the future, but I'm I don't think I should breed her if she's just gonna stay 2000grams.. :|


Another photo of her btw, taken today. Here you can really see that gorgeous tail.

[Gio]

She is pretty, and I do think 2000 grams is small even for a male. I think there are others that may be better able to answer that question, but I know BCC mature very slow compared to BCI.

[treeboa]

All my older boas, including my Guyana hit a second growth spurt around 7-8 years. My Guyana was about 5.5-6ft,then ended up about 7.5-8ft at 10 years. My het albino Colombian did the same thing, about 7ft at 7-8 years, then just short of 9ft at 10 years. Yours isn't done growing, especially if she is a female.

[CamStatic]

All my older boas, including my Guyana hit a second growth spurt around 7-8 years. My Guyana was about 5.5-6ft,then ended up about 7.5-8ft at 10 years. My het albino Colombian did the same thing, about 7ft at 7-8 years, then just short of 9ft at 10 years. Yours isn't done growing, especially if she is a female.

Thank you for clearing up my mystery! Then it makes sense, she had a growth spurt about 2 years ago, but since then it feels like she kinda stopped regardless what I feed her.
I'm not as big into boas as I am with pythons, so I guess I was comparing growth with ball pythons, corns and burmese. You learn something new everyday!

[Evenstar]

She looks fine to me and the frequency of your feeding schedule sounds good too. As long as she's on appropriate sized feeders I wouldn't worry: not all BCCs grow to monster sizes. Maybe she is actually a male too.

Just now saw this thread.

This would be my guess. Sounds like you're doing everything right. I'm betting she is actually a he.

But if she is in fact a she, yes, she could grow more. BCCs tend to hit another growth spurt later on. They mature much more slowly than other boas.

Beautiful snake! I love Guyanas.....