Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 10 ft. green that i bought about 3 years ago. The guy I got it from said it ate F/T Rats. In the 3 years I've had it, it has probably only eaten a dozen times. Now she wont eat at all and is losing weight bad. She has not ate in about 7 or 8 months. She appears to be healthy and alert other than the weight loss. I've tried scenting her rats with chicken but it did'nt work. She just smells it and goes on. She is caged with a male yellow and a small female yellow and they both eat fine. Does anyone have any suggestions?

>>I have a 10 ft. green that i bought about 3 years ago. The guy I got it from said it ate F/T Rats. In the 3 years I've had it, it has probably only eaten a dozen times. Now she wont eat at all and is losing weight bad. She has not ate in about 7 or 8 months. She appears to be healthy and alert other than the weight loss. I've tried scenting her rats with chicken but it did'nt work. She just smells it and goes on. She is caged with a male yellow and a small female yellow and they both eat fine. Does anyone have any suggestions?

` I keep several Anacondas and other Boas in a community. If one stopped eating, or showed other signs of stress, and the environment was right ( you didn't describe yours, so it could be that ), I would suspect stress. Some individuals don't like to be housed in a community. Some of them get aggressive, others just waste away.
` I would give that snake its own cage, and give it a long while to recover.

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If you think education is expensive, consider the cost of ignorance.

RL,
I completely agree with DFR that this snake should be separated from the rest and placed in it's own cage. If this anaconda is 10 feet and has the feeding record you described, I think I could say with 99% certainty that it is a wild caught animal. Adult and sub-adult wild caught greens are notoriously difficult to acclimate. I speak not only from my own experiences in the late 70's and early 80's, but from other's who have also worked with them. The vast majority of them fail to feed at all or feed so sporadically that they hang on for years, but ultimately never make it. In my opinion, wild caught adult greens should never be imported due to this high mortality rate. Wild caught newborns, on the other hand, have a much better survival record, with most of them acclimating quite well if setup properly. It is not impossible to pull this snake out of it, however, and I would be interested as to your caging conditions, (temperature, humidity, cage setup and size, etc). In general, I have noticed that green anacondas seem to be more easily stressed by outside disturbances than other boids. I would never keep more than one in a cage unless you are making a breeding attempt, or if the cage is so huge that they can put a good distance between themselves and the others. If you place yours in a separate cage under proper temperature and humidity, with minimal interaction with it, regular feeding could resume. Lastly, you could consider a fecal examine for parasites, as you might want to eliminate this as a possible issue. Let us know how it turns out.

Kelly

Her cage 5x2x2 glass with sides and back tinted black. It has a hinged lid made from 1x2s and 1/2 x 1/2 inch coated wire. I have most of the top covered with plastic to hold in heat and humidity. I have a large U.T.H. and a red basking light at one end with her hidebox and a large sterlite box at the other end with water heated to 80 degrees for soaking. I'm using newspaper for the bottom. The cage is kept in a very low traffic area of the house that is very dark exept for the red light. I have removed the yellows so she has the cage to herself. She is very tame and never tries to bite when I pick her up, would'nt a wild caught import be more aggressive? Are there any other food items I should try?

Her cage 5x2x2 glass with sides and back tinted black. It has a hinged lid made from 1x2s and 1/2 x 1/2 inch coated wire. I have most of the top covered with plastic to hold in heat and humidity. I have a large U.T.H. and a red basking light at one end with her hidebox and a large sterlite box at the other end with water heated to 80 degrees for soaking. I'm using newspaper for the bottom. The cage is kept in a very low traffic area of the house that is very dark exept for the red light. I have removed the yellows so she has the cage to herself. She is very tame and never tries to bite when I pick her up, would'nt a wild caught import be more aggressive? Are there any other food items I should try?

` For all my Boids, I never use a cage that is opened, or vented, at the top. My vents are 6 inches above floor level, boosted with small computer fans, from the outside, and the tops are sealed with silicone. I measure the humidity 5 to 6 inches above floor level, with a hygrometer ( and not a cheap one, as I learned that they are junk ). If there is no circulation, the atmosphere in the cage will stratify, leaving the lower part low in humidity. I use only floor heat, which will lower humidity at the floor level, without circulation. I heat the whole floor, from 75, to 90 degrees. Their water is over a hot spot. 80 degree water provides lots of humidity, IF it can't quickly escape out the top edges. I keep it between 75 and 90%.
` Even though Boids don't need sunlight for metabolizing vitamins and minerals, they do need a stable photoperiod. I use fluorescent lights on a timer, at the current, local photoperiod. I don't think you need to create the same photoperiod as their home latitude, just stable.
` My experience is that, when they are healthy, and happy in their environment, the traffic around their habitat is not stressful to them, within reason. When mine are hungry, they watch me. They'll follow my movements anytime I'm near. When they're digesting, they will ignore a roomful of people.
` I've known of many wild-caught Anacondas that were not aggressive at all. I've also known of many captive bred that were terrors.
` Radio Shack has an excellent non-contact IR thermometer, cheap. It is an indispensable tool to check floor temperatures, and critter temperature when away from heat.
` Also, I hope you're not heating the water with an aquarium heater. That can cause burns. The snake's nervous system doesn't tell it it's being burned, like ours does.
` I don't use non-food grade plastic containers for water containers in the cage. That cheaper plastic, especially when exposed to heat, and the snakes metabolites in the water, gives off chemicals, into the water. The snake drinks it. Their slow metabolism, between feedings, can't eliminate those chemicals. That's why the red dye in dog food fed to rodents will eventually kill the snake. It gets eliminated more quickly by mammals, but there sure a lot of dogs getting cancer, these days. I get my soaking containers from a wholesale, restaurant supply store.
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Think education is expensive? Consider the cost of ignorance.

RL,
I would probably replace the wire mesh top as that could be a problem at some point. If the sheds have been coming off good, then the humidity is more than likely in an acceptable range. If not, follow some of DFR's suggestions for raising it. As far as food items, she was eating rats in the past, so I would just stick with them. Even when she is caged singly and kept under the proper ambient conditions, it could take weeks for her to start to adjust. I would offer rats weekly the way she was feeding on them before, and leave them in over night. As far as her temperament being mild, that is not unusual for a highly stressed wild caught green. As I stated in my previous post, you might also consider a parasite scan. Good luck.

Kelly

` I sure would take Kelly's advice about the parasite scan. That can be a long, slow death. If that is the problem, it has to be addressed first. If you don't know whether you have a wild-caught, or not, the parasite scan is a must.

` Unfortunately, even though there are many folks breeding Anacondas, and offering healthy babies, many sold are still wild-caught.
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Think education is expensive? Consider the cost of ignorance.