Growth rate of a BCC?

Hi guys~:) I have a baby male Suriname boa. I heard that they grow very slow and should be fed pinky rat or fuzzy mouse for the first 6 months.I fed him around every 9 days since the seller said they fed him every 7 days... but should I change it to 14 days now? Will that be too long for now? And may I know for different grow stages, should I always fed him 10% of his weight every 14 days? Or change it a little bit based on his weight or age?
According some posts I saw the males will finally grow to around 6 feet. Is that correct? And how long will they reach that adult size? 2-3 years? Will they be much thinner than females? I saw some pictures of BCC are very wide like https://goo.gl/images/nc89HL or https://goo.gl/images/2rjZ4X...but some are pretty thin just normal rectangular shape like this:https://goo.gl/images/M6iKNg . May I know which ones would be the appropriate size of an adult BCC boa? Love to see your boa's pictures :D This is my baby. I hope he could have a more bright red tail in the future but looks like it may stay the same dark red color.https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../7/8/myboa.jpg

BCC should be thin and slow-grown. My guideline for feeding is:
- Up to 6 months old, weekly
- 6-12 months old, every 10-14 days
- Feed yearlings every 2 weeks
- Feed two year olds every 3 weeks
- Feed 3+ year olds every 4 weeks for females, and every 5-6 weeks for males.

Also once they get older their growth rate slows down so the whole "10-15% of body weight" guidelines goes out the window. My adults get a feeder that's about 3/4 of the girth of the snake, so the snake has little to no visible lump immediately after eating.

I kept a guyana bcc for about 15 years before gifting her to my a good friend who had always wanted a boa. When I got her she was close to neonate size, when I gave her to my friend she was 11ft 4in. Fed her weekly for the first 2 years, then once a month after that. Prey was about the thickness of her body. As an adult I was feeding her rabbits, not sure on the weight, back then I was not as precise as I am today.

I saw her last month and at 17 years she is looking pretty good. :D

Btw, anyone even know how long they live? I had heard about 15 years but apparently they can live much longer. Lol

I feed my suriname girl every 7-10 days up to a year old. Then every 14 days until they are up to medium rats. Then every 3-4 weeks when on medium and large rats. Males get fed less.

They do grow pretty slow except they do have bursts when you upsize them a little. My girl is 1.7 years old and she just graduated to weaned rats. She's almost 3 feet long.

And i never go by the body weight thing for food. All my boas are fed just by the thickness of them vs the prey. Once they are adults, even that goes out the window and i just feed them a large rat or baby rabbit every few weeks. My big boas are all girls so i am a little more relaxed about their feedings and i also tend to feed a little more in the summer and a little less in the winter. It also depends on the food item. Rabbits are very dense so a little goes farther where as something like a quail isnt that packed with meat so i feed a little sooner if i give them one of those.

You can also read the boas. When they get hungry enough, they will start patrolling around. It's 4 days from feeding day for the little boas and my BCL and hypo BCI boys are both out at night cruising around lol. My suriname girl is in shed so she is quiet or else i would probably expect to see her out there cruising around at night too.

As for growth, most boas have a slow down at around the 3 year mark but they constantly grow throughout their lives. As for adult size, thats hard to say. I mean if you are considering 6 feet as an adult, then your boa probably wont reach 'adult' size until probably around 5-6+ years.

And here is a pic of Gina. She is a pure Rio Bravo Pokigron from parents from Gus Rentfro's 2006 litter.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...9ac746ad_h.jpg

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

Btw, anyone even know how long they live? I had heard about 15 years but apparently they can live much longer. Lol

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Boas may live for an average of 20-30 years. My oldest Bi (BCi) was 28 when I had her euthanized. The oldest recorded Bc (BCc) that I am aware of was a Peruvian kept at a zoo that passed at 41 years.

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Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

Boas may live for an average of 20-30 years. My oldest Bi (BCi) was 28 when I had her euthanized. The oldest recorded Bc (BCc) that I am aware of was a Peruvian kept at a zoo that passed at 41 years.

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That's amazing.

I have known other snake keepers who were amazed that I managed to keep mine alive and thriving past 10 years old. I remember one guy who told me that his bcc grew to near 14 feet and died at 7 years old. After learning that he was feeding it jumbo rabbits twice a month I wasn't really surprised why it grew so large but died so quickly. Really sad.

Ah thank you soooo much! That's really really detailed! I'll take a note of this and follow this rule lol! So when they get older the 10-15% feeder would normally bigger than 3/4 of their girth right? Thank you so much!

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Originally Posted by bcr229

BCC should be thin and slow-grown. My guideline for feeding is:
- Up to 6 months old, weekly
- 6-12 months old, every 10-14 days
- Feed yearlings every 2 weeks
- Feed two year olds every 3 weeks
- Feed 3+ year olds every 4 weeks for females, and every 5-6 weeks for males.

Also once they get older their growth rate slows down so the whole "10-15% of body weight" guidelines goes out the window. My adults get a feeder that's about 3/4 of the girth of the snake, so the snake has little to no visible lump immediately after eating.

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Wow! 15 years! That must be your best friend so you would gift her to :)! And 11ft!!! Wow that's a very big girl! Does she have a steady growth rate and always grow in a slow rate in her all 15 years? So nice to know she's looking good after 17 years! Yeah I also saw some articles say they'll live 20-30years on average.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

I kept a guyana bcc for about 15 years before gifting her to my a good friend who had always wanted a boa. When I got her she was close to neonate size, when I gave her to my friend she was 11ft 4in. Fed her weekly for the first 2 years, then once a month after that. Prey was about the thickness of her body. As an adult I was feeding her rabbits, not sure on the weight, back then I was not as precise as I am today.

I saw her last month and at 17 years she is looking pretty good. :D

Btw, anyone even know how long they live? I had heard about 15 years but apparently they can live much longer. Lol

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Thank you soooooo much!!! So rabbits are much more nutrious than rat? Oh thank you for the way to read boas lol! Looks so useful! Recently I see he normally stays with his half body outside the hide and tails inside the hide. But just stay still. My ball pythons will often cruise after I sleep. I can tell by their substrate shape lol! I'll observe them more often!:)
Wow 5-6 years! They really grow so slow...lol! I'm curious how big will a 20-year old male BCC grow lol!
OMG!!!!!!!!!Your Gina is sooooooo gorgeous!!! So bright red!!! I just search Gus Rentfro but looks like he does not have these kind of babies available now... may I know how do you find the breeders and how do you know when some breeders have new babies? I wanted to get BCC for months but haven't find something on facebook group or just search BCC breeders. I went to a couple of reptile expo and finally get him. But he got mites and thanks for suggestions I get here with you guys I haven't seen mites for weeks. I'll keep treating him for another two months. But I just find some animals in reptile expo are not in good condition and hard to know what their parents look like... some of the sellers are not breeders I think. Wow I also want to buy snakes direcctly from breeders but not sure what's the best way to find them. Gina is really really stunning!!! I wish I could also have a snake like her!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

I feed my suriname girl every 7-10 days up to a year old. Then every 14 days until they are up to medium rats. Then every 3-4 weeks when on medium and large rats. Males get fed less.

They do grow pretty slow except they do have bursts when you upsize them a little. My girl is 1.7 years old and she just graduated to weaned rats. She's almost 3 feet long.

And i never go by the body weight thing for food. All my boas are fed just by the thickness of them vs the prey. Once they are adults, even that goes out the window and i just feed them a large rat or baby rabbit every few weeks. My big boas are all girls so i am a little more relaxed about their feedings and i also tend to feed a little more in the summer and a little less in the winter. It also depends on the food item. Rabbits are very dense so a little goes farther where as something like a quail isnt that packed with meat so i feed a little sooner if i give them one of those.

You can also read the boas. When they get hungry enough, they will start patrolling around. It's 4 days from feeding day for the little boas and my BCL and hypo BCI boys are both out at night cruising around lol. My suriname girl is in shed so she is quiet or else i would probably expect to see her out there cruising around at night too.

As for growth, most boas have a slow down at around the 3 year mark but they constantly grow throughout their lives. As for adult size, thats hard to say. I mean if you are considering 6 feet as an adult, then your boa probably wont reach 'adult' size until probably around 5-6+ years.

And here is a pic of Gina. She is a pure Rio Bravo Pokigron from parents from Gus Rentfro's 2006 litter.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...9ac746ad_h.jpg

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Oh that's sad. I also saw some blog say overfed snakes will die young. Is that because their digest system is overwork or some disease caused by fat?

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

That's amazing.

I have known other snake keepers who were amazed that I managed to keep mine alive and thriving past 10 years old. I remember one guy who told me that his bcc grew to near 14 feet and died at 7 years old. After learning that he was feeding it jumbo rabbits twice a month I wasn't really surprised why it grew so large but died so quickly. Really sad.

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Originally Posted by alice40604345

Wow! 15 years! That must be your best friend so you would gift her to :)! And 11ft!!! Wow that's a very big girl! Does she have a steady growth rate and always grow in a slow rate in her all 15 years? So nice to know she's looking good after 17 years! Yeah I also saw some articles say they'll live 20-30years on average.

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Yeah, I was put in a position where I had to move and didn't have the money to care for her for a while, so I handed her over to him and he cared for her so well and liked her so much I let him keep her. She is certainly huge, but I'd say she grew most of that length in the first 5 years, and after that grew much much slower. I'll have to see if I can find a pic of her sometime or take one when I have the chance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alice40604345

Oh that's sad. I also saw some blog say overfed snakes will die young. Is that because their digest system is overwork or some disease caused by fat?

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Both, for an animal designed to get the maximum amount of calories it can from anything it eats, constant big meals really takes a toll on their stomach, liver, kidneys, and everything else. They also end up storing so much unused fat that it starts getting stored In the liver and causes it to fail. They tend to grow very large when Fed this way, but overgrowth and muscle tend to be far less dense and poorly developed. I like it to building a house... you can build it faster, but the craftsmanship will be far better if you take your time and build it right.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alice40604345

Thank you soooooo much!!! So rabbits are much more nutrious than rat? Oh thank you for the way to read boas lol! Looks so useful! Recently I see he normally stays with his half body outside the hide and tails inside the hide. But just stay still. My ball pythons will often cruise after I sleep. I can tell by their substrate shape lol! I'll observe them more often!:)
Wow 5-6 years! They really grow so slow...lol! I'm curious how big will a 20-year old male BCC grow lol!
OMG!!!!!!!!!Your Gina is sooooooo gorgeous!!! So bright red!!! I just search Gus Rentfro but looks like he does not have these kind of babies available now... may I know how do you find the breeders and how do you know when some breeders have new babies? I wanted to get BCC for months but haven't find something on facebook group or just search BCC breeders. I went to a couple of reptile expo and finally get him. But he got mites and thanks for suggestions I get here with you guys I haven't seen mites for weeks. I'll keep treating him for another two months. But I just find some animals in reptile expo are not in good condition and hard to know what their parents look like... some of the sellers are not breeders I think. Wow I also want to buy snakes direcctly from breeders but not sure what's the best way to find them. Gina is really really stunning!!! I wish I could also have a snake like her!!!!

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Rabbits arent necessarily more nutritious. They are just a leaner meat with less fat plus they are more dense.

And yeah, most of my young boas sit with their front half outside the hide and the tail end in the hide lol.

Thanks and you wont find Gus Rentfro selling boas anymore. He retired a while ago. He was the godfather of boas and was one of the first to actually bring BCC to the states and start breeding them. He kept very precise records of what was collected where so if you get a boa from his stock that is said to be from Pokigron, you can bet your bottom dollar it was collected from there.

You can find is stock around though. Chris Wolf and Vin Russo both picked up a lot of Gus' stock. I got Gina from Chris Wolf who got the parents straight from Gus back in 2006 as babies.

If you are buying something like a BCC, my advice is buy from a breeder who keeps good records. Heck i got pics of Gina being born lol. I mean i dont see her exactly but i have pics of her and her siblings all in a big blob of goo on the cage floor lol.

I mean dont get me wrong, there are LOTS of really nice BCC that arent specific locals. Some breeders i would buy from would be Star Shaffer, Skip Frye, Russel Le Fleur, Chris Wolf, Vin Russo, Mike Luchessi, Brian Viullemenboa. There are lots of other good breeders out there. Just remember, if you are buying something that is marked as a local or something specific, make sure you buy from a reputable breeder as paperwork can be faked and means nothing imo. The only papers that would matter is CITES papers if you are buying an import like a specific Peruvian BCC or something.

Wow! That's really bad! I'll keep an eye on my snakes' weight and never fed my snakes too much.:O

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alter-Echo

Both, for an animal designed to get the maximum amount of calories it can from anything it eats, constant big meals really takes a toll on their stomach, liver, kidneys, and everything else. They also end up storing so much unused fat that it starts getting stored In the liver and causes it to fail. They tend to grow very large when Fed this way, but overgrowth and muscle tend to be far less dense and poorly developed. I like it to building a house... you can build it faster, but the craftsmanship will be far better if you take your time and build it right.

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Oh thank you so much!!!!! Let me take a note of all these names lol! You're so knowledgeable about them:)! Yeah I saw "Pokigron" and XX bloodline then with some terms which I don't quite understand. Thank you so much for your advice! May I know how do you find the famous breeders? I currently also want a Dumerils' boa. May I know what is a best way to find the reputable breeder and when they have babies?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Rabbits arent necessarily more nutritious. They are just a leaner meat with less fat plus they are more dense.
And yeah, most of my young boas sit with their front half outside the hide and the tail end in the hide lol.

Thanks and you wont find Gus Rentfro selling boas anymore. He retired a while ago. He was the godfather of boas and was one of the first to actually bring BCC to the states and start breeding them. He kept very precise records of what was collected where so if you get a boa from his stock that is said to be from Pokigron, you can bet your bottom dollar it was collected from there.

You can find is stock around though. Chris Wolf and Vin Russo both picked up a lot of Gus' stock. I got Gina from Chris Wolf who got the parents straight from Gus back in 2006 as babies.

If you are buying something like a BCC, my advice is buy from a breeder who keeps good records. Heck i got pics of Gina being born lol. I mean i dont see her exactly but i have pics of her and her siblings all in a big blob of goo on the cage floor lol.

I mean dont get me wrong, there are LOTS of really nice BCC that arent specific locals. Some breeders i would buy from would be Star Shaffer, Skip Frye, Russel Le Fleur, Chris Wolf, Vin Russo, Mike Luchessi, Brian Viullemenboa. There are lots of other good breeders out there. Just remember, if you are buying something that is marked as a local or something specific, make sure you buy from a reputable breeder as paperwork can be faked and means nothing imo. The only papers that would matter is CITES papers if you are buying an import like a specific Peruvian BCC or something.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by alice40604345

Oh thank you so much!!!!! Let me take a note of all these names lol! You're so knowledgeable about them:)! Yeah I saw "Pokigron" and XX bloodline then with some terms which I don't quite understand. Thank you so much for your advice! May I know how do you find the famous breeders? I currently also want a Dumerils' boa. May I know what is a best way to find the reputable breeder and when they have babies?

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Well, Gus Rentfro and Vin Russo have been around for ages. They have been importing boas back before people even kept reptiles lol. They are there with Tom Crutchfield but his methods were questionable at best lol. As for others like Star Shaffer, Chris Wolf and them, it just is mostly spread by word of mouth. The BCC community isnt really huge like BPs or geckos so you get to know the big hitters in the field and what they prefer to produces. Like Chris Wolf works with almost purely local stuff like Venezuelan BCC, Pokigron Surinames, Peruvians BCC(cant remember if it was Iquitos or Pucallpa, i would have to ask him again lol), BCLs, BCO and i think also BCA and North Brazilian stuff.

As for a dumerils, they dont come in locale or morph so you are safer there. Just make sure if you get a baby, you get one that is eating regularly as baby dumerils sometimes are problem feeders.

And i also got one of those. This is Luna, my 2016 dumerils who is TERRIFIED of rats lol. She is such a chicken around even FT ones but she goes gung ho for her mice. She's being antisocial as i havent fed her a couple mice yet since when it was feeding day, she was in shed and now that she is out, I'm making her wait until the next feeding day for all the little ones lol.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...f6bfc561_h.jpg

Thank you so much!! When my baby gets older I want to get the next BCC, I'll definitely check with these guys! Wow maybe the time they breed BCC is even longer than my age! :D Wow Luna is so beautiful! She looks so gold/pink. I also want a Dumeril like her! I saw some Dumerils are more brown and darker. May I know why there's this difference? Maybe I should also ask for parents' picture when I what to get one?
Oh I also saw some posts here say their Dumeril have won't eat problem....Oh this is like ball python:( Thank you so much I'll ask the seller about this when I want to get one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sauzo

Well, Gus Rentfro and Vin Russo have been around for ages. They have been importing boas back before people even kept reptiles lol. They are there with Tom Crutchfield but his methods were questionable at best lol. As for others like Star Shaffer, Chris Wolf and them, it just is mostly spread by word of mouth. The BCC community isnt really huge like BPs or geckos so you get to know the big hitters in the field and what they prefer to produces. Like Chris Wolf works with almost purely local stuff like Venezuelan BCC, Pokigron Surinames, Peruvians BCC(cant remember if it was Iquitos or Pucallpa, i would have to ask him again lol), BCLs, BCO and i think also BCA and North Brazilian stuff.

As for a dumerils, they dont come in locale or morph so you are safer there. Just make sure if you get a baby, you get one that is eating regularly as baby dumerils sometimes are problem feeders.

And i also got one of those. This is Luna, my 2016 dumerils who is TERRIFIED of rats lol. She is such a chicken around even FT ones but she goes gung ho for her mice. She's being antisocial as i havent fed her a couple mice yet since when it was feeding day, she was in shed and now that she is out, I'm making her wait until the next feeding day for all the little ones lol.
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...f6bfc561_h.jpg

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