growth spurt

[sauce]

I've had a 2ft red tail for bout 16 months and am just curoius when do they hit their growth spurt? My 4fter has grown a couple inches in the 5 months of me acquiring it. they are in different tanks and have the same setup. Is this related to age or something else? Thank you in advance.

[BOAS_N_PYTHONS]

SAUCE:

Hmmmmm a redtail boa at 16 months and only 2 feet.

Got any pics of both boas and there cages?

This helps alot in helping you but the slow growth is not normal at all.

Tony

[sauce]

I'll be able to take pics and when I get off duty and post them later, I haven't had any problems feeding or shedding, took her to the vet 3 months ago and they didn't see anything wrong and just assured me they have their growth spruts which brought up the question, both have their own 50 gallon with water dish, hide box and sticks to climb, the temps a steady 85 basking and dropps to 77 in the cooler side of the tank. I use newspaper for the bottom for quick and cheap clean up.

[Linds]

That's definitely abnormal. Assuming you are talking about Colombian Boas (Bci, commonly called redtailed boas, but not 'true redtail' boas), they should be at least 3', if not larger, by their first birthday. 4'-6' is not uncommon by the time they reach their second. True redtailed boas (Bcc) have a somewhat slower growth rate, but should still be more than 2' at 16 months of age.

That being said, if you can give us some more details of how they are being kept and how often (and what) they are being fed, it would help us give you more insight in to your situation. Temperatures, how you are measuring them, prey type and size, frequency, cage size and setup, etc.

[Linds]

Oops didn't see that post... 85 is too cool for a basking spot. They should have a minimum of 88 degrees basking spot (I give my guys a basking spot in the low 90's). 77 is fine as long as they are provided with an adequate basking spot. I find my guys do well with an ambient temp of around 80 or so. They need those warmer temps to properly metabolize their food, cooler temps slow the entire process down. Just like people, some snakes will have their own individual susceptability to temperature ranges as within their species general range.

[sauce]

ok so I should try raising the temp 5 degress in both spots, I thought as long as they digest their food good and have no problems shedding that their enviroments are good, she eats an adult mouse 7-8 days

[HumphreyBoagart]

I agree with Linds. Too Cold.
I also think a 50g aquarium is too big for a 2' boa.
I have an 18 month old male surinam BCC that is 5 1/2 ft and already breeding as we speak, and BCC's grow slower than BCI's (as mentioned above). The last BCI I had was exactly 5ft on his 1st Birthday. Get those temps up, and feed them right after they deficate. It should be about 5-7 days with proper heat. Just my $0.02.

[beanersmysav]

I disagree if you've got the amount of stuff I have for my BCI 55 gal should be fine. of course I use a rubbermaid so that adds natural hiding. But I've got a 12x6 humid hide, as well as a large water dish for bathing which has a natural hide underneath it, and of course a hide on the warm end. This kind of makes it crowded I cant imagine having all these in a smaller tank there'd be very very little floor space.

[Linds]

I would definitely recommend increasing your temps and try switching her over to rats as soon as you can. I prefer to start them on rats from their first meal, and even if started on mice, they usually grow quick enough that they outgrow mice very soon. It might also be of interest to have a fecal done. Parasites eat up a lot of what the snake eats, which might also account for the sub-par growth rate.

The enclosure size if fine as long as you are able to maintain proper humidity and temperatures, and your snake is eating and shedding fine.

[MouseKilla]

Doesn't sound like enough food to me. Does the snake have a nice big bump after eating? Go with the 1 1/2 times girth guideline, up the temps as suggested and the snake will grow like mad for sure.

[sauce]

the food definately not the problem, I give her a hopper followed by a adult mouse. She got done shedding 2 days ago and the temperature has been adjust by placing a larger heat bulb and emitter, waiting on my temp gun to be returned to check all area temps.

[AZpythonDude]

Try switching over to rats.

[sauce]

problem with that is finding rats small enough

[hbwright]

There are pleanty of rats small enough. I just started my 6 month old female on what I'm calling barely fuzzies. I have some pinkies that are actually bigger then the fuzzies though that I'll clear out when the fuzzies I have are gone.

Call around to the stores around you and you might find some that sell them locally or you can order them online. Most places will seperate the order out between rat pinkies/fuzzies, etc.

Casie is 22" so I'm betting your snake could at least take fuzzies or possibly pups.

[sauce]

cool gonna have to hit the phone book since petco and petssmart don't carry them.

[hbwright]

I had to call around to all the pet stores around here and got lucky that the little Critterville Outlet less then a mile from my house has them. He has quite a few customers with snakes that he'll euthanize and freeze for us at the right sizes. He doesn't keep larger ones though so I found another store that carries them about 10 miles from my house. Hopefully you'll luck out too.

[AZpythonDude]

I just recieved my order for my 2 foot RTB from The Mouse Factory. I was very impressed, this was a first for me, ordering frozen rodents. I ordered pups and weanlings, the pups are the perfect size for here now, when those are gone I'll have the weaned rats. I think the pups were .60 a piece and the weaned were i think .80 a piece, I also got some small rats for my other snakes. All in all the shipping charge was 36 bucks. I broke down the shipping charges and each rats costed me .45 cents to ship. So for the pups they turned out to be $1.05 and $1.25 for the weanlings. Thats cheaper than I could find around the Phoenix area. I called Tues. morn. and recieved the completley frozen package Wed. afternoon! I highly recommened them.
Brad

[hbwright]

Brad, I too have a growing boa who is 22" now and has grown from 19" in 2 1/2 months. She has just moved to fuzzies so I'm wondering if they let you mix the order. Like if I got like 12 fuzzies and then like 12 the next size up or whatever so she can grow into them without having a lot left over after she grows out of them. Hard to tell how fast she'll grow you know? Would they let me do that? I kind of feel foolish going to the pet shop I go to know and pick through their rodents to find the perfect sizes. LOL, they'll probably start locking their doors when they see my truck pulling in the lot. "Quick, hide. It's that crazy rodent lady!!!".