I have a female Suriname around 6months old now. I don't want her to get huge, and was under the impression that slowing down the feeding schedule would reduce their overall adult size. I would prefer her not get over 8ft, as over that she sorta becomes a two person animal. I also want to make sure she is not underfed. I have been feeding her an appropriately sized meal every 10days or so. Sometimes only a week between, sometimes two weeks, but 10 days on average (rats only). Is this correct?

Does feeding her less and/or less often have an impact on her final size? Does it hurt their health? Should I step it up to once a week? I don't plan on ever feeding her anything bigger than XL rats, I've heard that they really don't need the step up to rabbits. And as of now I have no plans on breeding her, she has always just been a personal pet as I have always loved true red tails, and when I saw this girl I fell in love.

Thanks for the advice.

I feed all my yearling suris every 2 week. I feed them small meals. I have 3 that are about 1.5 years old and they get weened or vary small rats. Once they get to about 2.5 i push there feeding back to 3-4 weeks, females every 3. Some of my adult males get maybe 12 meals a year and they are still healthy, so if you push her feeding back she shouldn't have a health problem. With Bcc's its better to grow slow. She most likely wont get much bigger than 8 ft. Hope this helps.

I feed my Suriname's every two weeks too. They are a year and a half. It takes a good bit of time for them to grow to be 8 feet long (years). Suri's are known to get larger than BCI's, but 8 feet is still on the upper side of the scale. While they are growing at a young age you can "stunt" their growth by extending feeding schedules and reducing prey size with out the compromise of their health.

Sounds like you are doing well with feeding for now. You could scale her down to every two weeks and still be safe. Boas can go a long time without food. I wouldn't worry about under feeding her at every two weeks.

If the snake has it in their genes to grow ever 8 feet... they will.... feeding can determine how fast they get there... but you can't "Stunt" their growth by giving them less food at any juncture.... that is a pet store myth....

I feed all of my BCC under a year every 12-16 days... and adults I vary feeding seasonally... every 2-3 weeks in the summer and every 3-4 weeks in the winter

even with this schedule.... I have boas that seem to grow rather quickly... I have a 2008 that is over 4 feet... I have her sibling male that is about 2 feet.... same feeding..... it's all genetics...

WIth that being said.... not all BCC get large.... I have a 6 year old that is still 4 feet(female)..... all of that blooline is tiny(produced by Rob Tudehope)////

they are highly variable in max size....

You need to be prepared for the maximum... males do stay quite a bit smaller on average.... but there are always exceptions...

If the snake has it in their genes to grow ever 8 feet... they will.... feeding can determine how fast they get there... but you can't "Stunt" their growth by giving them less food at any juncture.... that is a pet store myth....

I do not agree with what you are saying here. It IS possible to stunt their growth. I get my information from a book called "The Boa Constrictor Manual" By Philippe de Vosjoli, Roger Klingenberg, DVM, and Jeff Ronne (AKA the Boaphile). Last paragraph on page 14 through the first paragraph on page 15.

However, I do agree with what you said about Locality and the exceptional male getting very large.

If the snake has it in their genes to grow ever 8 feet... they will.... feeding can determine how fast they get there... but you can't "Stunt" their growth by giving them less food at any juncture.... that is a pet store myth....

I feed all of my BCC under a year every 12-16 days... and adults I vary feeding seasonally... every 2-3 weeks in the summer and every 3-4 weeks in the winter

even with this schedule.... I have boas that seem to grow rather quickly... I have a 2008 that is over 4 feet... I have her sibling male that is about 2 feet.... same feeding..... it's all genetics...

WIth that being said.... not all BCC get large.... I have a 6 year old that is still 4 feet(female)..... all of that blooline is tiny(produced by Rob Tudehope)////

they are highly variable in max size....

You need to be prepared for the maximum... males do stay quite a bit smaller on average.... but there are always exceptions...

You need to do more research!!!!:nono: