Should I slow down his feedings?

Hmmm, now that it seems he was from a neglectful situation im changing my mind. I would bet that if anything he was completely underfed at his first home, and was actually a couple years old when you got him. Once you started feeding him regularly he likely had a massive increase in size to achieve the length that he should have been. To me this is the only explanation for such a rapid growth rate for a boa.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Hmmm, now that it seems he was from a neglectful situation im changing my mind. I would bet that if anything he was completely underfed at his first home, and was actually a couple years old when you got him. Once you started feeding him regularly he likely had a massive increase in size to achieve the length that he should have been. To me this is the only explanation for such a rapid growth rate for a boa.

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Are you sure? How can a 1' 3" boa be a couple years old? I could understand being maybe few months old and under weight but not a couple years old. Here is a picture of him when he was 127g (2 months old). This picture was taken August 27th 2014, three days after I bought him.

http://i869.photobucket.com/albums/a...iper202222.jpg

In his first home he could have just been fed the occasional mouse and was static in his growth. Like I said earlier a yearling male BCI is usually hovering in the 3 foot range if fed appropriately. Given that yours is almost two feet longer than that, and isn't a year yet, there was something drastic in his feeding schedule before you got him. Although individual boa genetics do play a role, there's always a direct correlation between food intake and growth. If he was kept cool and fed minimally, he very well could be a couple years old when you got him and still be that small size.

Its very usual for younger boas who have been underfed and neglected to go through major growth spurts once they are appropriately fed. Underfeeding can permanently stunt growth, but usually once properly fed they will balloon up and achieve close to their genetically determined maximal size.

I once had a boa baby from a lipstick albino litter that was a problematic and idiosyncratic feeder. She would only eat the occasional mouse, and was vastly undersized compared to her full feeding and genetically similar siblings. Almost over night she turned on a feeding response and began pounding rats. With regular eating she rocketed up to achieve usual size. Point being, snakes don't grow in even and continuous rates. What you thought was normal growth its first year, could have been a major growth spurt making up for 2 years of malnourishment. Or you just have a super freak mega boa that has insane genetics. :)

Hahaha. He eats really well. The only time he refuses food is when he is in the blue phase of shedding. He will eat soon as he can see again whether he has shed or not. He would probably eat daily if I let him. I have never had feeding issues with him. I feed F/T and always have with him. SPCA said he was a good eater with them too. He is the only snake I have gotten from the SPCA. He also came with mites which was no problem for me. I got a snake for a $20 fee and I know how to take care of mites quickly. I only had to bathe him once and the mites were gone. I was actually looking up dogs for my aunt when I found a listing about the boa. But maybe he is two years old? Maybe he has weird genetics? Either way. I will start feeding him less now then.

Wait I thought the boa was 4'+? That length would at guessing be about 2 years old. The problem with guessing age on length is it is inaccurate at best. BCI go through growth spurts and rats generally will cause them to grow faster. The only way to truly know the age is to talk to the breeder, otherwise it is just a guesstimate at best. I'm surprised ASPCA actually had a snake as they are one of the heavy hitters who are against all exotic animals as pets, snakes included. But bottom line, at 4'+, I would guess 2 years old if fed normal, maybe a little older if fed conservatively. So I would drop him to a small rat every 2 weeks. If you notice him starting to get fat, drop the feeding times down to maybe every 3 weeks. Remember you want your boa to have a nice bread loaf shape to him, not round like a python. Although I guess some hypo boas do get kind of a rounder appearance but are still healthy but general rule of thumb is boas should look like loaves of bread in shape and pythons are more of a round shape.

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Wait I thought the boa was 4'+? That length would at guessing be about 2 years old. The problem with guessing age on length is it is inaccurate at best. BCI go through growth spurts and rats generally will cause them to grow faster. The only way to truly know the age is to talk to the breeder, otherwise it is just a guesstimate at best. I'm surprised ASPCA actually had a snake as they are one of the heavy hitters who are against all exotic animals as pets, snakes included. But bottom line, at 4'+, I would guess 2 years old if fed normal, maybe a little older if fed conservatively. So I would drop him to a small rat every 2 weeks. If you notice him starting to get fat, drop the feeding times down to maybe every 3 weeks. Remember you want your boa to have a nice bread loaf shape to him, not round like a python. Although I guess some hypo boas do get kind of a rounder appearance but are still healthy but general rule of thumb is boas should look like loaves of bread in shape and pythons are more of a round shape.

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He has a squarish shape to him. But the problem with him being two years is he was 1'3" when I bought him in august 2014 and he has grown to 4'10" in the 8 months I have personally owned him. This is the issue. I am not going to fee him a small rat because it is too small. Like seriously small. I wont feed him a medium rat because that is too large, so I am giving him an in between size. This is the reason I wanted to know if I should feed him 10-14 days instead of every 7 days. But I am not feeding him a smaller rat. I do not want him super large but I do not want him skinny either.

Well snakes can go a long time without food and in the wild, I would guess a boa probably eats about once a month or more if he is lucky. As to growing that fast in such a short time, maybe it is just a growth spurt. My pied BP went from about 12" to 3' in just over 4 months but I fed her every 3-4 days as a baby and then backed her off to once a week once she hit 433g. This rule doesn't apply to boas as they are different than pythons but just using the growth as an example. Also as for size, different places sometimes sell rats different size labeled as different. Like the old place I used to buy rats from didn't have pups. Pups were just classified as large fuzzies. Now where I buy my rats from, a small rat is about 5" nose to butt, not counting the tail. Mediums are 6"+ and larges are LARGE. Like my 6' ate a large once and it left a huge lump in her and she went into a food coma for about 4 days. Was too big, that's why with mediums for her, it is perfect, it leaves a small lump for a day or 2. So you have to just use your judgment to rat size but rule of thumb for any boa is you just want a slight lump for a day or 2. You don't want them to have a huge bulge as it can lead to regurgitation in a boa which can screw them up for months. That is why BCC owners feed every 2 weeks even small guys and they feed smaller prey. In the case of boas, larger food is not better. And like I said, I've had my 6' BCI girl Rosey since she was about 22" and now after 2 years of owning her she is 6' and she is overweight. I fed her once a week for about 2 years. I have recently cut her back to once every 3-4 weeks as breeders and other people who have boas forever I've talked to have said she needs to be cut back to once every 3-4 weeks. Boas by nature are a slim snake, they aren't all fat and round like ball pythons or most pythons in general. And boas do better if underfed than overfed. The breeder I got my sunglow from was telling me about how his first boa died after 10 years because it was too fat and he fed it too much. He learned and told me also that he feeds even the little ones every 10 days and the big ones every 3-4 weeks. So bottom line is it is your snake and your decision but I am just telling you what I have been told and what I have learned from keeping boas and pythons. Oh also as for him growing big, he is a male? If you know he is a male, then he will top out at about 6' unless hes some mutant. The best way to know though is find out how large the parents were, that will give you an idea but if that's not possible, then I would guess 6' as that's the normal size for males and females are about 8'.

Read the COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR By Vincent Russo.

Every bit of info in there in relation to feeding is clear and easy to figure out.

It's the best advice related to feeding with the goal of attaining a long lived, healthy boa constrictor.

You've also been given some good advice by some people here.

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Originally Posted by lunasjy

He has a squarish shape to him. But the problem with him being two years is he was 1'3" when I bought him in august 2014 and he has grown to 4'10" in the 8 months I have personally owned him. This is the issue.

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I think that given your snake's background and growth spurt over the last 8 months that JoshSloan's hypothesis is correct, and your boy was underfed or maintenance fed by his prior owner - basically he got enough food to keep him alive, but not enough to grow. Snakes can live for a long time on minimal food. Once you started feeding him properly he grew into his age, so to speak.