Adult Size and Age

[reptileexperts]

I put a turtle in a 10 gallon aquarium and it never outgrew it. True story, on its 10th birthday it was still the size of a quarter, and happy and healthy!

OK OK, Boelens are a rare thing in this hobby, they are expensive, extremely slow to age, and people have constantly been unsuccessful breeding them in captivity, but that's beyond the point. Your question raises a point that needs to be answered: Growth potential does not result in a guarantee. The retic world is well aware of this with the vast majority never meeting there true potential, and some being over achievers. I'd say at 4 years old, your Boelen's will likely still grow given it has food and heat to increase its metabolism. As a general rule with Morelia, you can increase the food size, without much hurt, but if your snake begins to grow outwardly instead of in length, its a good time to cut back the food intake. My Irian Jaya pair are incredibly slow growers despite being fed large prey items their entire life, just some do not grow that fast. My male just turned 4 and is only about 4 ft in length, but healthy, and just gave me a perfect shed. The female is about 5' and the same age. She's starting to add girth, so her food will slow down a little bit. . . the take home message from this ramble is quite simple. Some snakes will get big, some will stay small. Just like in humans the rate at which they metabolize will vary and with that variation will come growth variation.

On a side note, truly jealous of a 4 year old Boelen's. Please post pictures, they are a true gem in this hobby!

*side bar* If I was in your case wanting that size range of snake, I would've went Black-headed Python personally.