Looking for weights of other Bluefields boas

[SteveJor]

I weighed my pair of '05's tonight and wanted to see what the Bluefields weigh that others have.

The male is weighs 181 grams.
The female weighs 158 grams.

	1.1 One Male and One Female

[pituophislady]

Ok Steve...that's tiny!!!! I'll weigh mine today (I already have to clean at least two of the cages today...) But I do know that the two females that I got from Ron a few months ago were over 250 grams then...they're bigger now. My Male was about 380 grams back in dec.

I'll get back to you on this....

Amie

[X-Factor]

My 8month old BP is 174g at last check....

[pituophislady]

My 05 male weighs 556 grams, one 05 female is 330 grams, and the other 05 female is 280 grams. I'm leaving the 06's alone for now.

Amie

[SteveJor]

Then why are mine so small?!

They eat but they have only put on about 80 grams since I got them. They get longer but the girth hasn't changed much. A large mouse leaves a lump.

Why won't these get any bigger?

[snake_guy]

It could be the size of the prey item, and the frequency that they are offered.

I just started my Caulkers on adult mice a few feedings ago. They are still fed every 8-10 days. If in blue, is is closer to 14-16 days. I've been using a fairly conservative feeding plan.

Are all 11 year olds the same height and/or weight? Enjoy them!

[snake_guy]

Are all 11 year old kids the same weight and height?

It could be the size and frequency of the prey items that have been offered?

I just started feeding my Caulkers adult mice. They had been doing fuzzies for a while. Depending on how the larger prey items impact their growth, the next step will be on pinkie/fuzzy rats. I probably have a couple of months to make this jump.

[danktat]

If your line stays that small that could be a selling point within itself. Imagine the market you could corner for females that are "adults" at, say, Three feet. Alot of the smaller locale boas are being rapidly increased in overall size from breeding the first ones to go (which are generally the ones who reached their breeding size the fastest and get the largest). Perhaps yours are truer to the original locale size and growth rate.

[SoberGuy]

I'd check the bloodlines, too, Steve.

[pituophislady]

Originally Posted by danktat

If your line stays that small that could be a selling point within itself. Imagine the market you could corner for females that are "adults" at, say, Three feet. Alot of the smaller locale boas are being rapidly increased in overall size from breeding the first ones to go (which are generally the ones who reached their breeding size the fastest and get the largest). Perhaps yours are truer to the original locale size and growth rate.

I doubt that they are truer to locale size for a few reasons. According to Tremper's website the breeder adults are 5.5 feet for males and 6.5 feet for females...normal for nicaraguan boas (doesn't matter if they are east coast or west coast...).

They also could have Costa Rican influence...they most resemble CR's by looks, but CR's can be 7-9 feet. My CR male was huge compared to my Bluefields nic male. I feed mine like they are normal nicaraguans and their growth rate shows that.

There is also the possibility of parasite load in them, which could keep them from gaining weight despite good appetites.

I have noticed (by personal observation) that nics that only eat live mice/rats seem to gain weight much slower. I don't know if they are metabolizing them faster or are working harder to get them and burning calories faster doing so...

As a side note, I think too much stress is be placed on the "dwarf" part in some of these responses. You can starve anything to make it smaller...

To Danktat, my Bluefieds are related to Steve's and after talking to other people with Bluefields nics...so far Steve's are the smallest.

Amie

[SteveJor]

I really think I am doing something wrong since a gain of about 80 grams in a year is too small for these.
They are eating live mice. Refuse rats completely and as far as f/t goes, they will strike, coil, drop it and ignore it once they realize it is not alive.

I had a fecal done when they first arrived that came back clear but none since. Maybe I need to have another one done.

I don't know if I am doing things right with these guys and it is really frustrating to see others that are growing nicely while mine show minimal growth.

	Frozen/Thawed A rodent or other prey item that is frozen and then thawed to be fed to a reptile or other animal.