BCI growth

hello. i haven't been able to find any information on WHEN they stop growing, only how big they usually end up. anyone know the average age they reach their full size? thank you!

Snakes never stop growing they significantly slow down at about 4 years of age. Although I’m not an expert on boas by any means. I got my first boa in January and have had similar questions. From the research I’ve done and by reaching out on here, it seems that there’s a wide range. Different localities grow to different sizes and age of sexual maturity may differ slightly between sub-species. Other than locality/genetics feeding is what controls their growth rate and overall size. Over feeding a boa can drastically increase their growth rate and size but has severe negative effects on health. Although to maybe answer your main question, they reach adult size in about 3-4 years but continue to grow throughout their lives. Again not an expert so if I’m wrong feel free to correct me guys.


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Boas never stop growing, it just slows *way* down once they reach maturity. I adopted a 9yr old and she was 5.5', by her death at 28yrs she was just about 8'.

Common boas will reach adults size by about 5-6 years old ideally, average 6-8', usually closer to 6. Heavier feeding (power feeding) can make them grow larger, faster but isn't really healthy for them.
Overall the larger the food, the larger they might get although genetics plays a factor as well. Most of my adult males stay in the 5' range because I give them medium rats and small rabbits instead of my females which get larges and jumbos and larger rabbits and are usually 6-6.5'

Hope this helps

I'll echo the same thing: all snakes grow their whole lives, but they slow way down, the older they get. They grow, so they shed...& those sheds get further & further
apart. I've had snakes that only shed about every year to year & a half, so obviously they didn't add much length. ;)

The BCI I had, I took in as a yearling, & it seemed to take "forever" for her to reach 6'. Actually it was about 7 years, and by the time she was 12-13 years old she was
7 1/2' long. She was about 8' when she passed at age 18. (she lived her last 5 years with friends of mine that were into bigger snakes)

There are different factors involved.

Breeding, feeding frequency, prey size, external/environmental factors also play a role.

If you caught April's post you may have noticed she had a 28 year old boa. Not only is that a wonderful, long life, it is a sign of an excellent keeper. I don't see many folks with truly old boas.

One quote I really like by Gus Rentfro goes like this. "In nature, the largest boas are the oldest boas."

His point was people can power feed a boa up to a certain large size and it will ultimately die early and never reach its true size potential but the successful boas in the wild eat infrequently, grow slowly and don't die early due to over eating. Those are the ones that end up big, depending on the subspecies.

This is a 7 year old, male locality BCI. A Barranquilla, Colombian that was bred by Gus Rentfro.
https://i.imgur.com/QoebCil.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/RCPbOMF.jpg

He is 7 feet long or just under. He's a good sized boa, but not huge.

He may be larger than the average male and that may be due to the fact he doesn't have any female boas to cue off of in the house.

I feed him monthly, or a little more frequently in the summers.

He does not eat from about mid to late October until late March or early April.

If you want to get an idea of what size your boa will end up, look at both parents and estimate from there.

Never be in a rush to have a big boa, they get there when they get there.

And I agree...I made a point of not over-feeding that BCI, & I feel bad but suspect my friends fed her more than I recommended...it was just out of my hands.
She was a rescue that I never planned to have & that no one else wanted...I only re-homed her because her size became more than I wanted to deal with...I had
hoped (to no avail) that she'd stay smaller.

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Originally Posted by Gio

There are different factors involved.

Breeding, feeding frequency, prey size, external/environmental factors also play a role.

If you caught April's post you may have noticed she had a 28 year old boa. Not only is that a wonderful, long life, it is a sign of an excellent keeper. I don't see many folks with truly old boas.

One quote I really like by Gus Rentfro goes like this. "In nature, the largest boas are the oldest boas."

His point was people can power feed a boa up to a certain large size and it will ultimately die early and never reach its true size potential but the successful boas in the wild eat infrequently, grow slowly and don't die early due to over eating. Those are the ones that end up big, depending on the subspecies.

This is a 7 year old, male locality BCI. A Barranquilla, Colombian that was bred by Gus Rentfro.
https://i.imgur.com/QoebCil.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/RCPbOMF.jpg

He is 7 feet long or just under. He's a good sized boa, but not huge.

He may be larger than the average male and that may be due to the fact he doesn't have any female boas to cue off of in the house.

I feed him monthly, or a little more frequently in the summers.

He does not eat from about mid to late October until late March or early April.

If you want to get an idea of what size your boa will end up, look at both parents and estimate from there.

Never be in a rush to have a big boa, they get there when they get there.

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Beautiful boa!! I was curious as to why you don’t feed in the winter if you’re not breeding him? I’m assuming you’re simulating a winter torpor but I’m wondering what are the benefits to doing that? If temps remain constant in the enclosure year round is that still needed? The sources I’ve read so far haven’t mentioned doing that.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkL1561

Beautiful boa!! I was curious as to why you don’t feed in the winter if you’re not breeding him? I’m assuming you’re simulating a winter torpor but I’m wondering what are the benefits to doing that? If temps remain constant in the enclosure year round is that still needed? The sources I’ve read so far haven’t mentioned doing that.


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I’m following what Gus does/did with his and what their natural habitat offers.
I actually do provide a seasonal temp drop, less hours of daylight and slightly less humidity.
Even without that, many boas will change their behavior in the winter months. The benefits are a long lived and healthy BC.
There certainly are other ways to do things however the 2 leading boa constrictor authorities in the world recommend following a seasonal change. One being Gus Rentfro and the other, his good friend Vincent Russo.

A friend of mine from this board who used to speak with Gus often also recommended a winter break.
He has 2 Pokigron Suri boas directly from Gus.
Thanks for the kind words about my boa.
His health and appearance are related to the care he gets here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gio

I’m following what Gus does/did with his and what their natural habitat offers.
I actually do provide a seasonal temp drop, less hours of daylight and slightly less humidity.
Even without that, many boas will change their behavior in the winter months. The benefits are a long lived and healthy BC.
There certainly are other ways to do things however the 2 leading boa constrictor authorities in the world recommend following a seasonal change. One being Gus Rentfro and the other, his good friend Vincent Russo.

A friend of mine from this board who used to speak with Gus often also recommended a winter break.
He has 2 Pokigron Suri boas directly from Gus.
Thanks for the kind words about my boa.
His health and appearance are related to the care he gets here.

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Very cool! I’ll definitely do some more digging into this. It looks to be working well with your boa!


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkL1561

Very cool! I’ll definitely do some more digging into this. It looks to be working well with your boa!


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Read the Complete Boa Constrictor by Vin Russo. He goes into some detail about how boas grow more when they are off food. He mentions Eugene Bassett and his work with boas.
If Morelia Radio is still around on YouTube, Vin and Nick Mutton also spend time on the subject.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gio

Read the Complete Boa Constrictor by Vin Russo. He goes into some detail about how boas grow more when they are off food. He mentions Eugene Bassett and his work with boas.
If Morelia Radio is still around on YouTube, Vin and Nick Mutton also spend time on the subject.

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That book is still SUPER expensive! Although I did hear that he’s writing an updated version that hopefully will be cheaper haha


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Rapid growth at least until 5-6 years, noticeable growth for 10+. As they get older, their ability to gain size dwindles. I don't really buy into the whole life thing, but boas are slow growers can grow a long time, and many die young. My ball python hasn't grown so much as a millimeter in 10 years, but my biggest male boa continues to grow at 8 years old (but only 2" in the past 3 years). My smaller, older male boa hasn't grown any measurable amount, but I've only had him 3 years come December, and I never did measure my oldest female boa when I got her. The breeder said she was 7', and she's right on the dot now - she's 11 years old. All my snakes, regardless of species (from garter snakes to boa constrictors), age, sex, feeding frequency, or growth rate shed every 1-3 months, except for my sunglow boa. lol She could double her weight and grow half a foot and still maybe shed a couple times a year. My absolute oldest snake is my 13 year old bp, and he sheds at the same frequency as everyone else despite zero growth. Shed =/= growth.

I assume they have a "predetermined" size. If they're power fed, they'll reach that sooner (and unless they have extremely good genes, they'll also die young), but you won't get them any bigger than their genes will allow. Some snakes also just don't grow no matter how much food you give them. On the other hand, if you feed less, they may eventually stop growing, it just takes a lot longer.

I also feed seasonally. I noticed slightly more growth in my juveniles, and better muscle tone in my adults doing so. I feed slightly bigger meals, and try to feed rabbits to large enough adults, right before and right after a fast. I notice maybe a few ounces of weight loss in the adults, and no weight loss in the juveniles - they were gaining more size, and thus weight. I don't straight up fast the youngest, though. Their second winter I feed half as often, and third winter I start fasting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkL1561

That book is still SUPER expensive! Although I did hear that he’s writing an updated version that hopefully will be cheaper haha


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Brian kusko interviewed Vin Russo not long ago on you tube and he said his new boa book will be out this autumn, can't wait

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to clarify: i am not in any hurry for him to get big! i actually would prefer him to stay smaller. he is my favorite snake to hang out with and don't want that to change. he is 2 years old now and still a nice small size. we don't power-feed or over-feed any of our snakes.

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Originally Posted by SilentHill

to clarify: i am not in any hurry for him to get big! i actually would prefer him to stay smaller. he is my favorite snake to hang out with and don't want that to change. he is 2 years old now and still a nice small size. we don't power-feed or over-feed any of our snakes.

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Then there is nothing to worry about.

Feed as you are and it will grow the way it is supposed to grow.

Size isn't always a factor. I'd take a 9-10 foot boa over a 7 foot retic when it comes to easy, relaxing handling.

Honestly, I'd estimate your boa will top out between 5-6.5 feet and that won't be tomorrow.

good. he's my buddy.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d9232b6286.jpg

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by SilentHill

good. he's my buddy.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d9232b6286.jpg

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Beautiful boy