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I just purchased a baby green anaconda (3 Weeks ago)and it has yet fed on its' own. Tried mice and rat pups both live and dead...but it shows no interest...I tried in its' cage and in smaller containers, but still nothing! I have had yellows in the past and never had this problem, anyone can offer any good advice?

a very good friend of mine has 20 anacondas. Some of which are the pickiest eaters Ive ever heard of or even wanted to deal with. He has an anery green anaconda that he has to force feed. A few tricks he has tried along the way, provide hide boxes, perhaps try feeding it in water, try small chicks or quail. be patient and if needed, see a vet. Or, what else seems to work, you will probably need a friend to help, force the snakes mouth open, put the food in its mouth. Sometimes the taste will get them going on their own. However, you do need to be careful, if not done carefully the snake can be seriously injured, so take caution if it comes down to that. Anacondas and ball pythons seem to be the most difficult eaters out there.

I take it , it is an import baby????
If so , put it in MUD, forget about him/her for about a week, not even looking at the snake.....use a scented mouse with chicken broth.....usually does the trick...

I've heard of a few anaconda keepers having great success with feeding stubborn eaters while they were in water. It's a bit more aligned with their wild practices.

It is most likely a wild caught green and for this you may need to wait anywhere from several weeks to several months before it becomes acclimated. The first thing would be to determine that the snake is healthy and the environmental conditions are correct (temps, hide box, humidity, etc.) We have started more than 60 young greens over the years and the ultimate key to getting young greens to start feeding is to be patient, and offer the right food items. I think the number one cause of new young greens not feeding is that the owner tries too hard and stresses them out. Greens only appear difficult to start because most boid keepers are not accustomed to having to wait so long for results. Try to keep disturbances and handling to a minimum. If they won’t take straight rodents, chicken broth scenting will work with some greens, but for many it will not. It is the cheapest and easiest, so it should be tried first. It is best to broth scent small rats, as a majority of young greens don't care for the strong scent of mice. The second best item is chicks, as probably 80% of young greens will take these as a first food source. By far the first food of choice by young greens would be ducklings. I would say 90 to 95% of young greens will take these as a first food source. If they don't take it on the first offering, wait and offer again in about a week. If a month or two goes by without success, re-evaluate your environment to make sure you are not missing something. It is also best to feed just after lights out in the evening, as they are the most willing to feed at this time. Also, it will usually go better if you do not move them to a separate feeding enclosure, as greens are shy and this usually inhibits their feeding response. Once feeding well on birds, scent switching to rats is usually not a problem.

But again the key is patience. Never force feed a green for any reason, as it is not necessary. The chance of causing permanent damage is too great, and at the least, you could cause them so much stress that they will never take food voluntarily. I have never had to resort to force feeding with any green, you just need to give them time to acclimate. A young healthy green can easily go 4 to 6 months without eating with no problems whatsoever. Good luck.

Kelly

With both anacondas and African Roc Python imports is they rarely feed in the winter time when they come in. You usually just have to wait until march or april and then they start feeding. Although with one really picky yellow anaconda I started feeding it goldfish and the little bugger loved those things! But its not recommeded since fish from the pet store are fairly dirty. The best advice is make sure the animal is as healthy as possible. Import greens can have some nasty intestinal things. Make sure the husbandry is great and wait it out. It should come around in time. Dont know if that helps and I dont know if its an import but let us know how things come along!

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