Is my BCI too small for her age?

[kath_]

Hello everyone!

This is Tina, my Colombian BCI. She's 2 years and 9 months old and I was wondering if she looks too short or thin for her age. I've been feeding her one medium rat every four weeks. I unfortunately don't have a pet scale so I'm not sure how much she weights, but I think she's just short of 3'5".
I know boas are slow growers, but Tina is my first one so I'm not sure exactly what kind of growth I should be expecting by now. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I can post more about her enclosure or other husbandry if needed.

[Bogertophis]

She looks fine to me- not thin, & she also looks longer than 3.5'- she's very pretty too. Personally I rarely weigh my snakes- but if you do, it's important to really know the accurate length if you're trying to go by growth charts. I put a lot more stock in how a snake behaves- their appetite, muscle tone, & other activity tells you how good they feel.

[kath_]

Boger, you are always SO helpful and kind. Thank you so so much! Good to know she’s looking good. Thank you for calling her pretty! She’s my pride and joy and such a sweet girl. I believe she’s a het kahl albino (with some possible jungle and super hypo).
I’m terrible at measuring my snakes so you’re absolutely right, she’s longer than 3’5”. She’s always pretty active when I handle her so it’s hard to get an exact measurement lol. As far as behavioral factors go, she’s always eager to eat, she’s very strong, and she spends most of the day sleeping and climbs all over her enclosure branches at night. Hopefully these are good signs!

[dakski]

Not small at all. Here's a link to Behira's thread: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...rst-BCI/page82

Behira is my 5 1/2 year old female BI. She's about 5.5-6FT and about 2.5kg. People grow them differently and she's still on medium rats (110-130G). I'll move her to Large rats soon, but right now she's also eating every two weeks, and doing great. I've seen Boas bigger and smaller at Behira's age, but I would say she's smallish-average. That's probably good for her longevity, but not great for bragging rights (many people seem to care about that for some reason - or getting them to breed quickly to their detriment).

What are you feeding Tina and how often?

I also agree with Boger - she looks more like 5+ FT to me. Behira is in a 6FT long tank and stretched out might just reach tail to nose, but I think she's a little short. I think Tina looks closer to Behira's size than you think. They are heavy bodied snakes so they can proportionally play tricks on our eyes and seem shorter than they are.

Having said all that, I think Tina looks pretty good. Remember, you want your boa(s) to have a lean/muscular squarish look. You don't want them to be rounded on the sides.

Let us know what she's eating and how often and that can help determine what to do long-term with her.

[kath_]

Hi Dakski!
So good to hear from you and beautiful Behira again! I hope you guys are doing well!

Tina is currently on one medium rat every four weeks. In comparison to Behira’s schedule maybe I’m not feeding Tina enough? I get paranoid about over feeding her. Do you think I should bump her up to every two weeks?

[dakski]

Hi Dakski!
So good to hear from you and beautiful Behira again! I hope you guys are doing well!

Tina is currently on one medium rat every four weeks. In comparison to Behira’s schedule maybe I’m not feeding Tina enough? I get paranoid about over feeding her. Do you think I should bump her up to every two weeks?

Thank you Kath! Everyone is good here. Hoping the same for you and yours.

Tina looks good and giving an appropriate sized meal every 4 weeks won't hurt and will only slow her growth. People have different weights associated with rats but I consider a medium 100-150G and a large 170-220G +/-. If you are feeding mediums as stated, moving to every 3 weeks makes a lot of sense to me. Behira was eating every 3 weeks, but a) the mediums were getting a little small for her (while expecting noticeable growth) and b) she had a shedding issue I documented on her thread and wanted to keep her strong. Therefore I moved from feeding every 3 weeks to every 2 weeks.

I will point out that bigger than large rats get fatty for boas (boas do not handle fat as well as other large constructors like some pythons). I plan to feed Behira large rats and adjust spacing to keep her growing slow and then maintaining ultimately (which doesn't take much for a boa). Right now she's eating 100G every two weeks, or 2.5% of her body weight and still growing. A large rat may not sound like much for 5-7kg animal, but that's proportional and I would want her to stay lean and muscular even as an adult.

Anyway, every 3 weeks should be perfect for Tina right now.

A few other things.

1. Tina definitely looks hypo to me. She's got great color. I am not a breeder, but think she looks great.

2. Boas are always hungry and great eaters.

3. Less is more with boas. At her age at size, it would be difficult to starve her at this point feeding anything reasonably sized even monthly. Again, it's how fast you want her to grow. It's good you are concerned about overfeeding, which is a much bigger issue for boas and in captivity. I think the fact that you are being cognizant and cautious means moving up the feeding to every 3 weeks makes all the sense. Keep an eye on her and look from the top and sides. Again, you want that muscular square look.

Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

Good luck!

[kath_]

Dakski, you are fantastic! This was so incredibly helpful. Thank you so so much. You’ve been here from the beginning of my boa journey since I first started doing research several years ago and it’s so great I can still turn to these forums and awesome people like you for help.

I will absolutely bump her up to 3 weeks.

I really should start a thread for her and my ball python, Buddy at some point! Yes! I think she is hypo too. I’m excited to see how her color deepens or changes with age. She is an absolute sweetheart of a boa. Always so good during handling and eats like a champ.

thank you again for the help. Stay posted for a Tina and Buddy thread hopefully in the near future!

[Bogertophis]

I was thinking she looks at least 5.5' long to me as well. And from what I can see, your current feeding schedule is working well for her.

Are you having any trouble with her being overly-hungry (feisty) having to wait so long (4 weeks) for a meal? I agree you might want to adjust that- some snakes feel better eating more often (every 2-3 weeks) but you'd most likely want to feed smaller rats in that case, so she doesn't pack on too much- too quickly. When I had a large BCI, I fed her every 2-3 weeks, small or medium rats at the most.

Feeding "schedules" are really for humans anyway- snakes in the wild eat when they can find food & it "fits". Right now she's young & growing fairly fast- I would re-visit the idea of feeding her every 4 weeks when she's very mature- in 10-15 years, maybe. I really do think she looks quite nice- I think your "instincts" are serving you (& her) pretty well so far.

[kath_]

Oh goodness, I really undershot that length estimate. Oops!

It’s so hard to gauge her behavior sometimes since I don’t have another boa’s to compare it to. But the way I would describe is that she is definitely eager to eat once I bring her food out, but is neutral otherwise. She’s not active at all when the sun is still out. At night she’ll slither between a few of her branches but it’s not like she’s constantly moving around. Sorry if that answer is super vague!

I totally agree with you and Dakski and plan to bump her up to 3 weeks.

Thank you so much for the feedback, Boger! I’m a super paranoid pet parent and appreciate the advice a lot!

[Bogertophis]

It's not "paranoia"...it's "caring".