size info

[spikes666]

i am sorta new to boas, ive only had ball pythons all my life and i have a couple questions about size. first is when will my columbian and central american boas hit full size? the central american is almost exactly 3 feet and i believe it is about a year old now, and the columbian is i think 18 inches and is only about 5 months or around that. my second question is how can i get them to grow REAL big, cuz iv heard of people who manipulate the snakes envirnment to keep them smalled in size but i would like mine to get as big as possible and i was just wondering if there are any methods to increase the end result size?

[hip]

Congrats on getting into boas way cool snakes. Boas will grow the most in the first 5 years of life(they continue to grow in small amounts for the rest of thier life) You will probably find growth will be constant untill about 2-1/2 to 3 years of age (there are exceptions though) normally in the third and fourth year you will see a growth explosion as they become sexually mature ( some males can breed at 18 months) If getting the proper enviroment and feeding schedule your boas should reach thier genetic potential by year five. Genetics are the limiting factor with size (unless you are trying to keep them small) for the first two years of life feeding every 7 days or so then switching to every 2 weeks(remembering to increase prey size as the boa increases in size) Males should be switched to every 3 weeks at 3 years of age (captive males will become obese if fed to often and will be less interested in breeding, sperm counts will also be lower. Keep females to the two week cycle, unless you are planning to breed then every 8-10 days for the last 2 to 2-1/2 months before putting her with a male.

The bottom line with snakes (just like people) is genetics, genes are the limiting factor in size. Keep the temps and humidity right feed properly and wait to see what happens. Your central could end up being larger than your colombian you just can't tell till all the "chips are down"




Smoke em if you got em !!!!!!!



Hip

[spikes666]

thanks for the info man, thats alot of stuff i didnt know

[BOAS_N_PYTHONS]

HIP:

That was good solid info there.

Cya...

Tony

[ScreamingMisfit]

Hip you must have read my mind...lol j/k awsome tidbit of info for our for our neubi


good luck with the boas Spikes666


caio
Jay