Just because you're female doesn't necessarily mean you need a smaller snake! :P I'm on the petite side (5'4") and other than getting a mini-workout lifting her fat butt out of her enclosure (she likes to become dead-weight when she doesn't want to move) I've never had any trouble with my BCI girl. :) She's THE best behaved snake I've ever seen! She grew fast, but honestly, I never really noticed THAT much until I compared photos of her.
The day we brought her home in summer 2011:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psbac93d4d.jpg
And a year and 2-3 months later:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5.../Photo0604.jpg