growth question

[anneburns]

My two youngest bcc are just over a year old there parents are normal sized around 7-8 feet but these two are only around 30 in long they eat a rat pup once a week they shed about every month and a half but all the pictures I see of yearlings they seem to be about twice the size of mine. These are the first babies I've raised my others were sub adults and adults when I got them. Are they to small should I feed more to them what should I do

[steelnink]

Stop worrying, that would be the first suggestion.
If your concerned about their size/rate of growth, up the feedings.
Have you had them since hatching?
Alot of breeders will put neonates/hatchlings on a maintainence diet, to cut down the cost/rodents to feed large numbers of clutches.

I would up the feedings, maybe twice a week, or move up to rat weanlings or small mice.

[rrrrr]

How big a rat pup are we talking here? I would expect yearlings to be on larger prey than that.

[anneburns]

I have them since they were 4 weeks old the rat pup have there eys open, I think a small rat would be to big their heads are about the size of a nickle maybe a little bigger but not much when they eat they have a good size bulge in the middle when they are done. I was feeding adult mice till about 4 months ago and the reptile shop suggested rat pup he said they had more meat and would be better for them

[Linds]

I wouldn't feed more. IMHO people often overfeed boas in captivity, trying to grow them up too quickly. Bcc have a slower metabolism as well, than a Bci for example. Slow and steady feeding will produce healthier, longer-lived animals in my opinion. I've had well cared for subadults arrive to me as small as 3.5' and grow up to be normal size. My '04 holdback babies are a couple months short of a year old and are all under 3' in length still.

[hbwright]

Casey is a BCI but she is just now getting into weanling size rats at 31-32" and she is 11 months. I do think that her girth is working on growing now rather then her length. BCC do grow larger then BCI (usually) but they grow slower then BCI in the first couple of years. Do you see a bulge? If so then stay where you're at. If not then move up to weanlings. I would not feed any more frequently then once a week. I don't see anything wrong with a slower grower. If you are really concerned then maybe a parasite check (which is not a bad idea anyway) but I'm thinking this is perfectly normal growth.