Cloud, Colombian BCI

[Gio]

Thanks! He's right about 2.5 years old now. I'm not sure if it's because I was 2 weeks late on his feeding or not, but he seems to have severely slowed down his growth. During his growth spurt (after his first birthday - he didn't grow much his first year) he was growing 2-3 inches every other week until a month or two after his 2nd birthday and then he was growing 1in ~every 3 weeks, but he's only grown 1in since the beginning of December so he's probably about as big as he's going to get now. . I measured him at 5ft 11in, so still close enough to just call him 6ft. I'm not sure how long boas grow for because I get mixed reviews, so he could still have a year or two to grow a bit more.

Same here, but I was hoping to get a freezer so I could bulk order online so these were meant just to hold him over. I like to have food stocked up, that way I don't have to worry about food for awhile - and it's cheaper in the long run. lol

Boas grow their entire lives. Your boa is quite large for its age, and seems a little heavy in the lower half, maybe he recently ate or its just the picture. It's a nice looking boa none the less. This time of year you should lower the temps in the cage if ambient temps don't lower enough in your house to change/drop cage temps for a seasonal adjustment. Boas should be taking in less food during this part of the season. Some very experienced boa keepers will skip a month or two or more of feeding.


If your boa is already close to 6 feet, that is the normal range for a male BCI. 7 feet is considered quite large. Boas that are fed a lot and brought up too fast die much earlier than boas that are conservatively fed.

Gus Renfro, who is considered THE authority on boas stated "the biggest boas are the oldest boas". What he meant by that, is that boas that are brought up properly will live much longer lives and grow to their full potential.

There are some factors, outside of the obvious ones that will influence a male boa's growth. If you have no female boas in your home, and you never plan on breeding your male, it will likely become larger than a male boa that detects the scents of a female during breeding season or is actually used to breed. That process takes up an incredible amount of energy and male boas will often refuse food during breeding season.

You can also read where Vin Russo mentions in his book, THE COMPLETE BOA CONSTRICTOR, that he feels boas grow more when they are not in a constant state of feeding and digesting. Russo, who is a friend of Gus Rentfro's is also an authority on BC's.

Too many people feel these snakes require a constant supply of food, and it's just NOT true. Boa Constrictors are designed to be able to go long stretches without food. It's a hard fact to slam home, but if you want to have a long lived, healthy animal, drop the temps and let the snake take a break from the cycle of feeding and digesting and feeding again.

A snake that is pure muscle and lean is the ideal snake. There are no fat boas in the wild!