Posted by:
DJDeron
at Thu Dec 11 10:31:28 2008 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by DJDeron ]
Anacondas are definitely not for novice keepers so your level of knowledge and experience should dictate whether it's time to get into them or not. Keep in mind that Burmese pythons are the easiest of the big Boids to keep and breed. Anacondas are not as tolerant in terms of either half-hearted husbandry or hap-hazard handling as the Burms. Breeding is much more challenging as well and it takes considerably longer for them to reach breedable age. There are even subtle differences in keeping yellows versus greens. That's certainly not to say you can't keep and breed them properly, since many of us do, there's just more to it.
I would suggest reading everything you can on the internet, including reading all of the forum posts here and on other boards to get a better understanding of the correct requirements for the anacondas. There are a number of good care sheets online as well, as you mentioned, and you should compare all of them to see what info is consistent and what is variable. Researching all of these different sources will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. There is also a pretty good book on anacondas available on Amazon.com written by two fellows in Europe.
Anacondas can be very rewarding to keep, but just make sure you fully understand what you are getting into for the good of the animals. I've rescued too many anacondas because they were harder to keep than expected or too "mean". On that note, while there are many wonderful tempered Eunectes out there, a fact of anaconda ownership is that you will get bit. Even my most laid back annies have nipped me from time to time. If you do not have experience handling somewhat "untrustworthy" snakes, then you may want to start off with a smaller species first. Good Luck!
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