2 year old male; How much growth to expect?

[Samong]

So I have a two year old male pet-only boa that I adopted as an adult from another keeper. He's very slender like a bullsnake (as opposed to my fatty fat ball pythons) and four....maybe four and a half feet long. I'm making the blueprints for caging and I'm trying to guess his "final" cage size. Right now he's in a 3x2x1 Boaphile Plastics cage for quarantine.

So here are my issues: 1) I have no idea how much more I should expect him to grow. 4-4.5 and 1.5 pounds at two. I figure he'll have two years to put on a lot of growth, but having never owned a boa I don't know if I should expect him to put on a lot more length. Ideas?

2) I keep hearing conflicting info regarding how to judge cage size. I'm striking a balance between the needs of my animals and my space needs, so while I have no interested in a minimum I also can't afford to give them excessively large cages. When it comes to a BCI I've been told: square footage should equal the length of the snake. I've also been told I should build an 18" or even a 24" high cage. Mine spends almost all his time in his hides and is most outgoing out of this cage, but I don't know if that's his personality or if he really would use a taller cage.

Help? I don't want to cramp anyone, but I also don't want to build space they don't use.

[Marissa@MKmorphs]

Most adult males can live their life in a 4x2 cage. But if you have space a 6x2 would be better. As far as height, I would go 18-24 inches over 12. They will use the space if you get one of the cages that has a basking shelf, like what AP offers. Also, taller cages make cleaning much easier!

If he is a typical BCI, most adult males I see are about the 5-6 foot range.

Do you have any photos of him?

[Samong]

Looks like I miss-measured. I measured my gopher snake, 10 year old female ball python, and Noel twice to double check. He's actually 42ish inches, so right around 3.5 feet. Makes a big difference. I can get my husband to take a photo of the two of us when he gets home; Noel's photos are hard to scale unless he's with a person.

[Samong]

[CloudtheBoa]

2 years is not an adult by any stretch of the imagination, although you should notice the most extreme growth spurts during their second year (the year between the time they turn 1 and the year they turn 2). 4' seems good for a 2 year old! As far as I know, boa constrictors reach max size around 5-6 years, unless overfed or power fed, or conversely, when underfed. Power feeding doesn't give you larger animals, just bigger animals sooner, while shortening their lifespan considerably. They can deal with being underfed easier than being overfed. My male is nearly 4 years old and is growing a noticeable amount when you put a tape to him, but is growing considerably slower than before. He only put on 3" in length over an 8 month period of time, where during his second year he was growing 2-3 inches a little less than every month. You should continue to notice "extreme"/very noticeable growth without actually measuring him for another year or so before his growth spurt slows down considerably.

[Samong]

OK! So they're more like big dogs or even my ball python female that way. I thought my ball python was "grown" at two, but at ten years old she's MUCH bigger than back then.

In that case I'm going to give Noel 12 square feet or so of cage space in my plans; I'm making two towers that will bolt together with a corner piece so I can divide off some units or double the size of others. I'll keep Noel in the 6 square foot unit for now, but when he grows I can open the other side unit for him.

Is it weird that I'm actually relieved my boa is nowhere close to adulthood? He has my absolute favorite personality of all my snakes and I'm glad he'll put on some more size. There's just something about holding a big heavy bodied snake in your lap while watching TV that I love. He's on the schedule his previous owner suggested for me of one rat just big enough to leave a lump every two weeks. Is this about right?

[artgecko]

I think that sounds right.. When he hits 3 years, most recommend slowing down to every 3 weeks for food. Some people use a sporadic (famine and fast) feeding schedule, but as a general rule, less is better with boas. As long as he maintains a nice "loaf of bread" body shape, you're doing good.

[JoshSloane]

Absolutely no need for a 6 foot cage. 4x2x2 is plenty big for 99% of boas. Only a small fraction of giant females will need something bigger than that. 4x2 is easier to clean and maintain proper temps and humidity. People go nuts providing giant enclosures unnecessarily. 6 foot cages are for giant pythons like burms and retics. Save your money.

[Samong]

Money isn't an issue; if the snake won't use the space then I'll keep it smaller. But if a boa WILL use the space then I'll give it. I like watching them display their natural behaviors. For ball pythons that means being a rock, but some of my other animals like to roam. May take some experimenting further down the line. Even if Noel never uses both sides of the bolted unit, I can wall off his half and use the other half for another creature. The reasons the two multi-unit tower cages will bolt together is that some snakes I'm planning on keeping WILL need that kind of space, like Vietnamese Blue Beauties.

[JoshSloane]

Bigger usually isn't ever better for large snakes. Just cause they move around in the space doesn't mean its correct for them. Snakes enjoy a sense of security that isn't found with larger enclosures.