Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have an anaconda that i have had for about 6 months and she will not eat i have tried to feed: mouse,rats,quial, and baby chickens both live and frozen. she is still very active. someone said to try druckling but i can't get any this time of year. anyone know what else to try?

thank you
Brandon
-----
0.0.4 Nile Mointor
0.0.3 Savanah Monitor 0.0.1 Argus Monitor
0.0.1 Timor Monitor

Thank You For All Your Help

Try putting mouse urine on her food, or misting with swamp muck

I would not use anything with the prickly spine but try fish. Not cooked fish. A fresh whole fish. Good luck!
-----
Boaphile Home
All Original/Boaphile Plastics
The Boa Network

Brandon,
I will assume you are talking about a green anaconda, but yellows preferences are very similar. My first question would be in regards to your comment about her being active. If she is active in the cage very frequently then she is stressed, as they are typically very sedentary when acclimated. Frequent movement around the cage and vibrations can stress un-acclimated anacondas, as they are more easily disturbed than other boids. I would be curious about her cage setup, as in temps, hide box, substrate, etc. If the captive environment issue has been covered and is sufficient, then food type can be addressed. Probably 90% of healthy, acclimated greens will take live and/or thawed chicks without hesitation. When this fails, about 99% will take a duckling immediately when offered. If this doesn't work, you need to consider health issues or cage environment again that could be causing the problem. Is this a young anaconda or an older wild caught? If this is a young snake, usually only about 25% of them will take mice or rats in the beginning. It would be extremely unlikely for a green to eat fish, but you could try it. Contrary to popular thought, fish are very rarely eaten by greens in the wild. Another idea is to feed within the first 30 to 60 minutes after lights out, as later in the night greens sleep and are easily startled. Greens are known for extended fasting, especially when very young or with wild caught specimens. You just need to get the conditions right and keep offering food on a regular basis and wait them out. I have never seen a healthy green starve itself to death when in the proper setup. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Kelly

she is a green.she is about 5 feet and she is wild caught for a hide box i put a rubbermade box with a hole cut out and filled it with damp moss. she has a water bowl that she can comepletely submerge in. witha blak light over to keep the water a little warmer. the temp in the cage is 92 degree day/and about 80 degree night
-----
0.0.4 Nile Mointor
0.0.3 Savanah Monitor 0.0.1 Argus Monitor
0.0.1 Timor Monitor

Thank You For All Your Help

I have done a lot of research on condas and have a good friend who has a large male green. First thing you should of NEVER bought a wild green. Always go for captive bred there very hard to convert from what they are eating in the wild to mice and rats.....try senting a ducking onto a large rat. at about 5' thats what he or she should be eating. The temps should be 90 on hot aide about 78 on the cool side. Good job with water dish make sure they can always completely soak in it. COndas also want very high humidity meaning if you have a heat lamp its hard to keep it high bloods adn condas aften wont eat if humidity is too low...try getting ur ambient room temp to about 78 that the conda is in and then getting a heat mat to reach about 90.keep this 24/7. hope this helps
MIke

I see two possible problems that could be an issue with getting her to feed. The first is the cage temp. A day temp of 92 is way too warm for a green and will severely stress her. They actually require cooler temps than most other boids. I usually have a spot of about 25% of the cage floor at 88 to 90 for neonate greens and the rest of the substrate temp in the low 80’s. When they get about the size of yours, I usually run 86 to 88 on the warm side with a gradient to about 80 on the cool side both day and night, except during breeding trials with large adults. Below substrate heating is always best as interior cage heating lowers humidity.

However, humidity is not as critical as most people think with greens. I have been keeping neonates and adults with a humidity of 60% to 70% for over 10 years now and have never had feeding or health problems whatsoever. Additionally, I never have anything but a small drinking bowl in the cages of any of my greens. If raised this way from birth, they never require a soaking pool. They do not appear to miss it, as they feed, breed, and produce healthy young with no problem. Yours being a wild caught green however, you will probably need to use a pool as she is already acclimated to submergence in water. The rest of your setup sounds good.

The second issue could be related to health. If wild caught, you will need to get a fecal sample checked for parasites when possible. This is obviously difficult if she is not feeding, but if you can’t get her to feed, she will still produce an occasional small amount of material. Ducklings will probably be your best bet for a first feeding, and then try to switch her over to rats as soon as possible by scenting. I think if you lower the temps she will be less stressed and much more likely to feed. Also, Mike is correct in that captive bred and born greens are very much easier to get going than wild caught, as many wild caught greens never acclimate and end up dying. Yours is still young however and there is a good chance that she will come around if you are willing to spend the effort. Good luck.

Kelly