Average boa size?

[Dutti]

My 10 Months old male Boa Constrictor imperator is 1,10 meter long(3,60 feet - 43,30 inches). weighs 820 gramms(1,80 lbs). Is this the average size for his age?

[AbsoluteApril]

Boa sizes vary depending on many factors, mostly locality, genetics and the amount of feeding. A healthy boa is more about having a good body structure and head size (over fed boas can get either pin heads or the jaws get large/puffy looking from eating oversized items).
In my opinion over 3' for a snake under a year old seems like it's getting pushed a bit too fast but again, they do vary even in one litter some will grow faster/slower than others.

[bcr229]

That seems big. My 12-16 month old BCI's were about 500-700 grams last summer/fall. I remember because my daughter was tracking the weights of many of your juvenile snakes over several months as part of a science fair project, to determine what percentage of feeder ultimately became snake.

[Gio]

There was a similar thread earlier. OP I suggest looking at past threads for many answers you may seek.

Many things have been covered by very knowledgeable people in the past, and obviously there are qualified folks here now as well.

I wrote this response a few days ago, and though its not directly related to your question, it echoes what Absolutely April said here.


Everything is really a snake to snake situation. There are plenty of HUGE BCI boas.

In the wild the largest boas are the oldest boas. It has been found, GENERALLY that BCC boas tend to be larger as adults than the other boas.

Many BCI "common" boas are not common at all. There is mixing in captivity and also natural intergrades that have both BCI and BCC traits.

I would consider a big boa to be 8 feet and over.

Boas are supposed to grow slow. In nature they eat infrequently and have evolved over millions of years to be able to sustain themselves on very little food.

Boas in captivity that are fed large quantities of high fat, captive raised prey will almost always grow quickly and die early.

The focus of any passionate boa keeper should be on health and longevity VS size.

A healthy, long lived boa will grow to a respectful size as it ages.

There should never be a rush to create a large snake of any type.

If you want to own something that will ultimately end up on the bigger end in the boa world, a BCC with Peruvian or Amazon basin roots will generally get there.

Pokigron, Suriname boas tend to be a smaller locality than the Basin Guyana and Suriname BCC.

A nice 6-7 foot boa is a lot of snake. Impressive, handleable and not overly imposing.

There are specimens that can hit 10-11 feet and weigh 80 plus pounds.


What you should take away from the above is this.

Feed a boa like it eats in the wild. Seasonality, which includes light changes, temp changes, feeding frequency and other subtle habitat change is the key to long term success.

Vincent Russo wrote THE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR, it is a book I highly recommend.

Your boa will grow, but let it grow at its own pace.

Even if your snake may be a little larger than average now, you can still keep your snake healthy by making adjustments in feeding.

Good luck.

[Sauzo]

Dang, 3.5' for a 10 month old is huge lol. My sunglow was 3.5' at like 1.5-2 years old. My 1 year old guy is about 30" and eating adult mice every week. But every snake is going to be a bit different but there will still be averages. My 3 year old sunglow girl is about 5' and my 4+ year old normal girl is 6-7' probably pushing towards the 7'.

I don't have weights for them except my big girl who at last vet visit weighed in a 12.7 lbs.

Basically it boils down to feed boas conservatively. I feed once week while they are on mice. Then once they graduate to weaned/small rats, they eat every 2 weeks. Then once they are up to medium to large rats, it's every 3-4 weeks. This is for my females. My male gets the same schedule but at medium to large rats, he will eat every 4 weeks.

And remember, anything 'jumbo' is probably not good as that usually means retired breeders which are usually high in fat content. Also boas should not eat guinea pigs. They are high in fat too. I feed mine rats, rabbits and quails.

[chip07]

That sounds big to me too. Just did a weight on a few of mine out of curiosity and my 10 month old is 162g and if he's 20in I'd be surprised. He also just ate a hopper so he's probably a little lighter than the 162g. Granted I feed less but still a major difference in size! My guy eats a hopper every two weeks.

My hypo and sunglow that are around a year and 8 months are around 3ft or less and 3.5ft. My hypo male being the larger one since he won't stop growing no matter how little he is fed. The hypo male is 626g after just eating and the sunglow female is 484g after just eating. The male hypo just got moved to weaned-small rats every 3 weeks and the sunglow just had her first rat but she will be getting an adult mouse the next few meals again. I can't tell either one ate a rat but I still think the rat is a little much for my sunglow right now.

[Dutti]

I have decided to post an update about the growth level of my 14 months old male BCI. I just measured him, he is now 130 cm long (4,26 feet, 51 inch). and he weighs 1358 gramms (2,99 lbs). He is growing 5 cm(1,96 inch) every month on average. If this growth level continues, he will reach 2,40 meter (8 feet) when he is 3 years old. To my knowledge, snakes grow rapidly until they reach 3 years old. The growth level would slow a bit between the third and fourth year. And it will be very slow after the fourth year.

[ShaneSilva]

My yearling male BI is about 15 months and no where near that size

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[Dutti]

My yearling male BI is about 15 months and no where near that size

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Maybe this is hard to believe.. The parents of my BCI were 13 years old when he was born. The father was at that age 1,60 meter (63 inches, 5,20 feet) and the mother was 1,70 meter (67 inches, 5,60 feet) long. So snakes are different. And snake keepers are also different. I saw a BCI for sale who was 7 years old and only 1,05 meter (41 inches, 3,40 feet) long.

[Zincubus]

I have decided to post an update about the growth level of my 14 months old male BCI. I just measured him, he is now 130 cm long (4,26 feet, 51 inch). and he weighs 1358 gramms (2,99 lbs). He is growing 5 cm(1,96 inch) every month on average. If this growth level continues, he will reach 2,40 meter (8 feet) when he is 3 years old. To my knowledge, snakes grow rapidly until they reach 3 years old. The growth level would slow a bit between the third and fourth year. And it will be very slow after the fourth year.

Maybe you have a Burm

Seriously though that's pretty fast growth I'd say .

My adult Snow Boa is about 6years old and around 7' ...


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