Growth relations between length/weight

[Codil7]

When I got Kaiya a month ago (guessing she is 1.5 years old), she was a little on the slim side and the owner had her eating one adult mouse per week which was very small for her size. I then switched her over to one small rat every 10-14 days and she’s starting to look much better.

One thing I’ve noticed in the last month is that her weight is steadily increasing but her length hasn’t budged at all. Im not expecting a massive length increase in a month but maybe an inch or less. I was just curious how the length and weight relate to one another in a BCI’s growth process?

Now if this trend continues over the next couple months (weight gain with minimal length increase), I’m guessing it would be smart to increase time between feedings even more in hopes of evening things out. Or will the length eventually start to catch up?


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[chip07]

They seem to grow length first without gaining too much width then all of a sudden a massive gain in width/mass before another length growth spurt. At least that’s the way it seems to go with mine. I start all mine off on mice every 2 weeks and keep them on that schedule until they are 2 years old. Then weaned-small rats every 3-4 weeks. Food has a lot to do with how they grow so just wanted to share my schedule.

My 2 year old she’s more like 2 1/2 now. She’s still on small rats every 3-4 weeks.


A dwarf at the same age compared to her. I just thought it was interesting. SHe actually ate slightly more often since pinkies/fuzzy mice aren’t that great nutrition wise until she was big enough for hoppers then it was every 2 weeks.



I would space your feedings more personally. At the very least I would stick to every 2-3 weeks.

[Codil7]

They seem to grow length first without gaining too much width then all of a sudden a massive gain in width/mass before another length growth spurt. At least that’s the way it seems to go with mine. I start all mine off on mice every 2 weeks and keep them on that schedule until they are 2 years old. Then weaned-small rats every 3-4 weeks. Food has a lot to do with how they grow so just wanted to share my schedule.

My 2 year old she’s more like 2 1/2 now. She’s still on small rats every 3-4 weeks.


A dwarf at the same age compared to her. I just thought it was interesting. SHe actually ate slightly more often since pinkies/fuzzy mice aren’t that great nutrition wise until she was big enough for hoppers then it was every 2 weeks.



I would space your feedings more personally. At the very least I would stick to every 2-3 weeks.

Gotcha, I appreciate the schedule. Coming from owning snakes that feed usually every 7-10 days it has been quite the learning experience with my first boa. I have zero intentions of breeding so I’m just trying to make sure she’s gaining size at a healthy level.

I know not many boa owners weigh their snakes but mine is currently 3 feet long and weighs 415 grams. Seems to be the right size all around. I’ll probably go ahead and extend time between feedings now that her weight is back up.


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[Zincubus]

That's a beautiful Boa ... SunGlow I'm guessing ??


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[chip07]

Gotcha, I appreciate the schedule. Coming from owning snakes that feed usually every 7-10 days it has been quite the learning experience with my first boa. I have zero intentions of breeding so I’m just trying to make sure she’s gaining size at a healthy level.

I know not many boa owners weigh their snakes but mine is currently 3 feet long and weighs 415 grams. Seems to be the right size all around. I’ll probably go ahead and extend time between feedings now that her weight is back up.


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I do plan on breeding almost all of mine at some point but I’m not in a rush to get there. I’m not sure on the weight on mine but I’ll check. Based on how they are growing they should be ready by the time they are 4-5 years old to breed.

Zincubus she’s a Sunglow. She’s been holding the color fairly well as she gets older!

[Sauzo]

I would feed a small rat every 14 days. Usually you will see quick growth when you switch them over from mice to rats. That is what i have noticed with all my boas when i switched them. Then after that, they taper off and grow like paint drying lol.

Chip feeds on an even more conservative schedule than me lol. I do mice every 7-14 days depending on the size and age of the snake. Then weaned/small rats every 14 days. Mediums every 21-30 days. Larges every 30-37 days.

As for growth vs weight, they dont grow exectly the same 24/7. Sometimes they will have growth spurts and other times they will stall on growth. I've seen my big girl and my sunglow both shed in a couple months, then nothing for 4 months. Other times I've seen them shed fairly quickly back to back usually when i slow food down on them. It seems the less you feed them, the more they put towards growth if that makes sense.

My almost 16 month old suriname has shed for me maybe twice in the past 9 months and my salmon DH snowglow boy has shed maybe 3 times in the past 11 months i've had him. Boas grow fairly slow so on average you wont see tons of sheds like from say a retic or other python which grow much faster than boas.

[chip07]

Weighed them and measured them even though there’s probably a few inches longer than these measurements. There was a lot of squirming going on lol

They are all around 2 - 2 1/2 years old on small rats every 3-4 weeks.

Sunglow Female is 888g and 43in.
Hypo Male is 914g and 46in.
Hypo Jungle Female is 660g and 36in.

[chip07]

I would feed a small rat every 14 days. Usually you will see quick growth when you switch them over from mice to rats. That is what i have noticed with all my boas when i switched them. Then after that, they taper off and grow like paint drying lol.

Chip feeds on an even more conservative schedule than me lol. I do mice every 7-14 days depending on the size and age of the snake. Then weaned/small rats every 14 days. Mediums every 21-30 days. Larges every 30-37 days.

As for growth vs weight, they dont grow exectly the same 24/7. Sometimes they will have growth spurts and other times they will stall on growth. I've seen my big girl and my sunglow both shed in a couple months, then nothing for 4 months. Other times I've seen them shed fairly quickly back to back usually when i slow food down on them. It seems the less you feed them, the more they put towards growth if that makes sense.

My almost 16 month old suriname has shed for me maybe twice in the past 9 months and my salmon DH snowglow boy has shed maybe 3 times in the past 11 months i've had him. Boas grow fairly slow so on average you wont see tons of sheds like from say a retic or other python which grow much faster than boas.

I’m definitely one of the more conservative schedules I’ve seen used by people haha. You definitely see a lot of growth when you switch feeder size. I swear the Hypo jungle female seemed twice as big once I switched her to the small rats.

[Codil7]

I would feed a small rat every 14 days. Usually you will see quick growth when you switch them over from mice to rats. That is what i have noticed with all my boas when i switched them. Then after that, they taper off and grow like paint drying lol.

Chip feeds on an even more conservative schedule than me lol. I do mice every 7-14 days depending on the size and age of the snake. Then weaned/small rats every 14 days. Mediums every 21-30 days. Larges every 30-37 days.

As for growth vs weight, they dont grow exectly the same 24/7. Sometimes they will have growth spurts and other times they will stall on growth. I've seen my big girl and my sunglow both shed in a couple months, then nothing for 4 months. Other times I've seen them shed fairly quickly back to back usually when i slow food down on them. It seems the less you feed them, the more they put towards growth if that makes sense.

My almost 16 month old suriname has shed for me maybe twice in the past 9 months and my salmon DH snowglow boy has shed maybe 3 times in the past 11 months i've had him. Boas grow fairly slow so on average you wont see tons of sheds like from say a retic or other python which grow much faster than boas.

Yeah I think a small rat every 2 weeks is going to be the move for me. And that’s funny that you say that about shedding. I was worried something was up since she hasn’t shown any signs of shedding yet but I guess that’s normal! Only a couple sheds a year is crazy to think about haha.


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[Codil7]

Weighed them and measured them even though there’s probably a few inches longer than these measurements. There was a lot of squirming going on lol

They are all around 2 - 2 1/2 years old on small rats every 3-4 weeks.

Sunglow Female is 888g and 43in.
Hypo Male is 914g and 46in.
Hypo Jungle Female is 660g and 36in.

Yours definitely have a lot more girth to them but if you’ve had them since they were hatchlings, that would make perfect sense since you have controlled their feeding schedule since birth. Like I said before I’ll switch to a small rat every 14 days and just let nature take its course! Thanks for posting pics as well. I love seeing other people’s snakes


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