How quickly do they grow?

[Mitch]

Hi

I am just wondering if anyone can give me some advice on roughly how quickly a baby boa will grow?

I am due to pick mine up in a couple of days and need to buy a suitable viv, I don't want to buy one and then have to replace it again in 2 months.

I have been looking at one that is roughly 2.5ft by 1.5ft any ideas on how long that might last?

The boa will obviously be well looked after and well fed.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Paul

[Mitch]

Hi

Sorry I should've mentioned this is a Common Boa.

Cheers
Paul

[LdyDrgn]

The growth rate of any snake depends on how often and what you feed it. Studies have shown that snakes seem to grow faster when fed rats. The viv you are looking at buying should last one year for a female, maybe 1.5 years for a male. That is if you plan on the regular feeding schedule of one appropriately sized rat once a week. Please do not adjust the schedule to slow down or speed up the growth rate :)

[Edwin]

Hi Paul,

How long it would last you would probably depend on how fast the snake grows. My female columbian bci is about 1-1/2 years old, and she is roughly about 5.5 to 6 feet.

My guesstimate is that the viv would probably last you for about a year or so before you would need to upgrade to a larger one. This is also dependent on how much stuff you put into the viv as well.

If possible, I would recommend starting out with a 4' length x 2' depth, that would last you for your boa's entire life, unless it grows really huge.

Hope this helps.

[Darren Hamill]

Originally posted by LdyDrgn
The growth rate of any snake depends on how often and what you feed it. Studies have shown that snakes seem to grow faster when fed rats. The viv you are looking at buying should last one year for a female, maybe 1.5 years for a male. That is if you plan on the regular feeding schedule of one appropriately sized rat once a week. Please do not adjust the schedule to slow down or speed up the growth rate :)


Sounds like good advice to me....... :)

[Linds]

Snakes are like people in that they all have varying rates of growth unique to them, in addition to the other factors that influence their growth such as feeding and temperatures. If the concern of upgrading is cost, rubbermaids are very cost effective (not to mention perfect at maintaining the perfect environment). I house all my snakes up to 6' in length in these enclosures. You can try putting your snake into an adult sized enclosure, however you must be sure that it is heavily planted with many hides (you may not be able to find a small snake easily in this setup), as small snakes can become highly stressed in open spaces, which is why most people choose to start off with smaller enclosures. How old and what size is the baby you are getting?

[killaclown]

I only want the best for my snakes so i would say a hundred gallon and get a custome made cage late. I dont use rubermades so i woul only keep him in there for 6-8 months

[Chris F.]

here's my male at six weeks and about 20 inches

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/508/656loki5.jpg

here he is again at about 8 months and four feet

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/508/656lokihand.jpg

he's gonna be a freak, his mom was 10 ft, his dad 11ft.