Hello everyone, I have a Colombian bci and I’m worried about it getting to 8ft long. I would like the snake to stay relatively small; many people say they don’t get that big staying around 5ft long while others say they can get 7ft to 8ft long. I don’t want to starve or stunt it, I’ve seen many people suggest to feed sparingly but I don’t know how little to feed it. any advice would be great, thank you in advance!
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I’ll be the first to say purposely underfeeding any living thing is just cruel. Living things should be fed the appropriate quantity and quality. They will then grow to their full potential, whether that ends up being 5 feet or 10 feet. If you can’t handle an 8’ boa, then a boa is not for you. Don’t take it out on the animal. Find it a good home with someone that can appropriately care for it. There are many snake species that stay under 8’, perhaps one of those is for you.
That said, I’m not a boa person, but I believe many boa species are sexually dimorphic with the females getting significantly larger than the males. Someone else here will chime in to say how large Colombian BCIs average for each sex.
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If you’re worried about the size, you shouldn’t have gotten him.
Do NOT underfeed. This will not stop him growing, and that’s cruelty. He’s going to get as big as he gets, you can’t stop that. Males usually 6-8ft and females 7-9ft roughly.
Our female red tail is around 7ft. Shes a big girl, and lovely too, but if you can’t handle the size then find him a loving home that will.
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I’m going to echo what others have said and reiterate that you should NOT intentionally starve/stunt your snake. A boa is probably one of the worst species to get (aside from the true giants) if you’re worried about size, because they’re naturally heavy-bodied, strong snakes and size is extremely variable between different localities and the sex of your boa. Central American boas and boa longicaudas are typically on the smaller end (but can get up to 7ft for females), and true red-tails (Surinames, Guyana) can get up to 10ft for females. For a Columbian boa like you have, it’s entirely possible it gets 8ft.
If you get a boa from a breeder, you can ask about the size of its parents as an estimate for how big the baby will get, but again this is an estimate. I have a baby boa and the breeder I got her from said she should get to be 6-7ft, but I’m prepared for her to get larger. I’m currently working on tap training her, as well as getting her desensitized to all sorts of handling/touch before she’s large. I plan to build a huge enclosure for her once she’s full grown.
I’d recommend really doing some thinking about whether or not you’re willing and able to commit to caring for a large snake. I’m not trying to be mean, but the reality is, large snakes are not for everyone. Boas are absolutely amazing snakes and typically very docile. I adore my girl. But I also know I’m equipped to care for her as she grows. If there is any doubt in your mind about being able to care for a larger snake, I would consider rehoming.
You can also check out care guides here if interested:
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Guys, the OP did state that they didn’t want to starve it or anything…
I think they are just wanting to know what is a safe time to wait between feedings to make sure it’s not growing overly fast…
With that said, age can play a little into frequency of feeding. I.E babies can eat every 10 days and be ok.
Same for old adults, they can be fed every 3/4 weeks sometimes.
It is doubtful your guy will grow to that size, but the good news is that if he does, he will have grown with you and it won’t seem so bad. 
As for feeding, feed something appropriately sized (if you have questions on what that might mean feel free to ask), about every 14, to 21 days.
With out knowing more about your animal like age and size, that is just my loose suggestions.
Hope I answered everything, if I missed a point, sorry, feel free to ask.
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A BCI will get anywhere from 5-8 feet long. If you were worried about it getting too long then you should have gotten a dwarf locality like a hog island which will top out usually around 5 feet max. You made the commitment to a large snake. You either need to make room and be prepared for the potential need of a 6 foot long enclosure or rehome it.
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@cheygecko Can you tell us its sex, age and size?
And welcome to the community! Sorry if some of us were kind of harsh on you, we mean well for the health of the boa. This community aims to educate, not to attack.
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@taylor-s it’s mostly the issue of the size of wants is more akin to something like a ball python and not a larger species of snakes like this. Trying to force the animal to be a size it’s not is not a nice thing.
I totally get the want for a smaller version. Heck, I just purchased my SD Retics for that reason…but it’s because I found an older pair (7yrs) that are already small.
Babies can be unpredictable. My dog was the runt of her litter. Her parents were 4lbs and 8lbs. She’s 13lbs. Lol.
And the mention of ‘feeding sparingly’ falls into something like maintenance feeding, which can sometimes be very close to starvation of done poorly. It’s spreading the feedings out to only what they absolutely need and cut work/costs for the breeder. And that can cause stunted growth.
It’s one thing to offer a healthy feeding schedule. 14 days for a young snake, 21 for an older mature one … appropriate size meals. But to specify that you want feeding recommendations to keep them smaller than most of the lower size estimates for the species does pretty much come down to stunting growth.
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I agree, but IMO the OP already has the animal, so the best thing to do is explain that even snakes are very individual based. Just like humans ETC, the animal will grow to be it’s natural size, almost regardless of feedings.
(excluding non-ideal feedings obviously.)
With that being said, scare tactics of potential 8 FT males doesn’t really help, especially when it is pretty unlikely to even happen.
My observation was the OP used some terminology, and it seemed to have triggered some folks by the response.
For good, or the bad.
I’d just rather see MM communities a little less harsh, especially on a brand new person, that’s all.
The entire reason my first snake wasn’t a boa is because of the care guides that made all boas sound like they would grow to 8 FT and 30 LBS… not until talking to breeders, and making the jump did I realize things aren’t always what you read.
Sorry if anything I might have said came across wrong, just wanting to help everyone the best way I can.
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Firstly… Op never said the animal’s sex. Hopefully it’s male.
My very first BP is my 2600g male. Who was also a fussy eater for a long while. He’s larger than every other BP I own. XD
It does happen. Or I just have very strange luck…
This is fair. I think it’s mostly just that they’re being completely honest on thoughts and concerned for the animal. But I don’t think anyone is being overly aggressive or insulting. Sometimes the truth does sting.
Hopefully, Op will just learn to accept the size that the little one grows to. The difference honestly isn’t too bad until you really try to focus on it. 6-8 feet sounds like a big number until you really sit back and handle that animal.
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Hello, and thank you for the response. Yes, I’m not trying to starve it /: I feel absolutely horrible asking this, but I just got him and he’s freaking amazing but I don’t want to be one of those future owners who has a giant snake in a 120 gallon, and right now a 120 is all I can fit/afford. My place isn’t very big and I’ll prob never have a house. I get really attached and I was just curious if I could influence his length in ANY way in a way that wasn’t straight up abusive. I hear constantly how if you feed a snake less, it won’t be as big. I was also constantly told BCI are great starter snakes and they don’t get that big, fell in love with one, now I see everywhere online that they can get 8+ ft when a lot of the breeders I spoke to were like “most of my males aren’t even 5 ft” 5ft I can totally do, 5 feet is perfect. But I understand snakes are individuals and if you guys are telling me they will absolutely get to 8 then I will rehome. I was well aware of dwarves, but they were insanely expensive, was also told Hogs get as big as regular BCIs, and also that dwarf boas aren’t as calm or eat as well.
Thanks for any insight.
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I’m very concerned for the animal. He is male, and purposefully because I know they won’t get as big. All of you are fine, I dislike thoughtless pet owners too. I just wanted honest answers and maybe some estimations is all. As I said if he does get to 8ft and if that’s the general consensus, I will look into rehoming.
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That’s the thing, I was looking into Hog Island but everywhere I researched and asked, people said they get as big as BCI and aren’t a true dwarf, so I figured, if Hog is a dwarf and the difference is so negligible, I might as well get a regular.
He is male, according to the man he is 2 months, and around like 1ft?
Honestly… 120gal should be fine as long as you offer him time out to roam and exercise. Green room pythons has a good video on youtube about how they let their animals free roam.
You never know what the future holds. And it will take time to reach a size where you may need to consider rehoming. Since you did get a male, he hopefully will stay on the smaller side. (Not my luck but I hope it works out for you!)
Just space out your meals for him if he lets you. 10-14 days for a growing baby is still okay. Make sure you’re feeding appropriately sized meals. And leave the rest to him. The most important part is having a healthy animal. After that the relationship will be what you make of it. As long as his health is your main priority, you should be fine.
I’d rather give my snake as much room as possible even in the enclosure, and I don’t want to be one of those people who keep a massive snake in a tiny box. I’m planning on rehoming him, and looking into Crawl Cay/Cay Caulker dwarves, I’ll just have to dish out some money. The ease of mind will be nice though. It is a shame, because he seems so sweet.
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I appreciate everyone’s sentiment in worrying about the way the animal is fed but some of the comments here are obviously from people that have not owned any sizable quantity of boas for any large amount of time. Not all boas get big and a lot of the generic sizes listed for boas are from an era where people consistently over fed their animals.
@logar Hog Island boas are not true dwarfs and often get VERY big. Central American and most of the other insular boas are true dwarfs.
A pure south american BI can easily reach or exceed 8’ if fed heavily. Anything mixed with Central American localities (and most are these days) will be smaller. Most pure Central American localities stay quite small with adult females often not even reaching 5’.
That said I have an 8 year old female BI who is 5.5 feet long that’s currently gravid. They’re not all huge and most people exaggerate anyway when they give the size of their snakes. I’ve owned a lot of BIs and if fed conservatively most maxed out between 6 and 7’. None of my male boas have ever exceeded 6’ by much. It generally takes me 6-7 years before they even get there.
Feed your boa an appropriately sized meal every 10-14 days until it’s about 3 years old and then don’t feed anymore than every 14 days. This will keep it in a healthy body condition. It will reach the size it’s genetically programmed to reach but trust me most boas aren’t hitting 8’ unless they’re kept by a breeder who has to push them with excess calories to achieve breeding.
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Thank you for your response. I’m assuming the same applies to my supposed Colombian? I think they’re legitimately the ones that pop up when you search BI, and they’re absolutely massive. I’m not sure if those pictures are like 20 years old or anything and if things have changed.
Just because it’s a Columbian doesn’t mean it will be big. This is a pregnant 8 year old female that’s in a 4’ cage. She’s right about 5.5 feet long. When I say BI it means Boa Imperator which is what most people refer to as a Columbian Boa.
For anyone wondering about the substrate, I mix aspen in the coco for my larger boids to save on bedding cost and add a little more absorbency for the big presents they leave me.
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Wow, thanks so much. That’s very reassuring. I may have to reconsider rehoming… I also didn’t mean to imply that I wasn’t going to feed it lol I just wanted to make sure I didn’t make it obese and therefor like 500 times bigger. I was also nervous because the store person/breeder (I’m honestly not sure I got it online and I thought everyone on MM was a breeder) didn’t know about its parents at all, and that could’ve helped me determine it. He also just said Colombian, but I’m assuming most are mixed nowadays? As long as it isn’t BCC mixed, then I’d be real nervous. I’m assuming because it was just a ‘store’ they wouldn’t have as much details about what is actually in the snake as a breeder would.
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