how big is should a yearling boa be?

[Reticsrule]

i have a colombian red tail boa that is around a year old. it is 27 inches long and i am feeding it 1 medium to large mouse a week. ive always thought that i should have been feeding it more and then today i went to the pittsburgh reptile show and a guy from RJ's Exotics was there. he had a red tail that was one year old and it must have been 6 foot and as round as a pop can! he said that he was feeding it 3 times a week so that it would be able to breed but it was still so much bigger than mine. i definetly think that i should up the feeding on mine. what do you think?

[Derrick]

3 times a week is excessive. Yours seems a little small but the feeding scheduele is fine so it may just be genetics. My hog was 4+ feet at a year. Is it a male? The will be smaller and if you have no plant to breed it I wouldn't worry at all.

edit: it thought it said med-large rat. you should feed a boa prey 1.5x the thickest part of its body. My 04 hog is on small rats and my 03 is on large. Time to get yours switched over

[Reticsrule]

i will definetly switch it over when i run out of mice. is it ok to feed my boa 2 of the mice i have now every week?

[beardieguy]

I feed my 6 month old boas jumbo mice. My male actually ate 2 of them tonight. My 6 month old corns are eating weanling now. I think it is time to step it up. Yes feeding 2 mice will not hurt him. If he does not want it he will not t ake it.

[ssscales]

3X a week seems too much, if you feed them too much you could end up with a pinhead. I've seen this mainly on powerfed boids. 24" is small for a year old BCI. Normally I feed my snakes one prey item per week during the first 2-3 years. If your not in a rush to breed, take your time. I prefer a slow steady growth rather than push size and maturity.

Once they reach about 6FT I adjust food accordingly. Males will usually be fed one prey item every 2-3 weeks, females every 1-2 weeks. As Derrick mentioned prey items should leave a slight buldge in their body.

A prey item 1.5x your snake's thickness once a week should be perfect.

[ssscales]

To answer your question, your yearling BCI should be a healthy 3-4FT on average the first year. I would suggest feeding it rats instead of mice. Most of the neo BCI's I have kept reach on average about 3-1/2-4FT that first year. The second year about 5-1/2FT, third year over 6FT. Around and after the third year they add girth and muscle up.

[Derrick]

ya if you have mice to get rid of try feeding it 2 every 5 days. I doubt it will pass up a meal

[lostwithin]

That’s sounds a bit small, but keep in mind allot of captive animals grow much faster then "normal" because of over feeding. It is proven that faster growth rate leads to shorter life. The important thing is if the animal is healthy. If the animal is healthy a slow growth rate is nothing to worry about. The rate that some animals in captivity grow is unhealthy. Everybody is just in a rush to breed rather then allow animals to mature at a healthy normal rate.

Devon

[Reticsrule]

ok thx for the info everyone i will move him up

[varanus69]

i have a trio of yearlingish boas and i just switched them over to big fuzzy rabbits and they love them. they are the size of small to medium rats and much healtier and cheaper. these guys have grown about 7 inches since i got them in august. like derrik said 2 mice every 5 days will be fine

[JAdkins2451]

My bci is about the same size but is just over 6month old, When I bought him the had him on a feeding sched of F/T mouse and F/T rat fuzzie every 8-10 days. Mind you I bumped it up so that he was eating every week.

[jjnnbns]

My albino was 45g in June, now, in December. he's 660 grams...
and a little over 3 feet

[Reticsrule]

well after hearing all of these i will definetly switch him over