My first little big boa

[ghoti]

So I got a red tailed boa today. This took some serious negotiations with my wife

He is an absolute beut. Im pretty such he just a normal morph (or a pavement special).

I was reading that if you feed them mice instead of rats, they dont grow as big?

http://redtailboafaq.com/feeding.php

Say you dont want to have the 3m big version, would feeding mice instead of rats give you a smaller but still healthy version?

What do you recommend?

[Reynard]

Beautiful!

And yes. You would have a smaller healthy version. But don't feed it mice. Mice are just skin and bones. Instead feed the guideline size food every second week once it has reached about 1m.

I personally do not like the idea of underfeeding it for it to remain smaller as I believe if you want the snake you should be prepared for the "3m version".

There are dwarf sp. out there.

[jhbhc]

Congrats on your boa. That's a boa constrictor imperator. If its a female it will probably get to around 2.5 metres or less. True red tail boa constrictor constrictor can get to around 3 metres but it takes a long time. I wouldn't worry about your little guy becoming massive.

[Bushviper]

We feed our boas all mice when they are young just because rat pups are too fatty and dont have enough calcium. Once they can eat a large mouse we switch them to rats (weaners) and then later they get other foods as well as and when we get pigs and rabbits.