Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, I read around quite a bit (Even though I'll be damned if I can actually find the websites back) about Yellows.

And my big thing is: I could *swear* I read that MALE Yellows only hit the 9 foot range. But the petstore here, that has two yellows (About 3.5 at the most) and they tell me that males can hit 14 - 16 feet and the females can get over 20.

The reason I ask is because they're offering to let me trade my Columbian Redtail for one of their anacondas.

My biggest fear is that they RARELY handle them, so they're basically wild. (Although they are captive bred).

I really only have room for one large snake at this time and I think (still thinking about it) would prefer a yellow anaconda over a redtail. But I'm also worried because for some foolish reason, in Illinois it is perfectly legal to own a 14.5 foot snake, like a burmese or retic, but it's ILLEGAL to keep a 15 foot snake.

Oh, and could someone give me a *good* site for Anacondas? It's really hard trying to find one through Google -- It's all about the movie Anaconda.

It is here that you will find your answers:

http://www.newenglandreptile.com/care.html

*ReTiKe*

` The figures they gave you are for Green Anacondas. Male Yellow Anacondas rarely reach ten feet. Most are much smaller. Twenty to thrty pounds.
` When you say that they're basically wild, do you mean that they strike, bite, and hold on? Or, do they just try to avoid being handled?
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I haven't actually had a chance to personally handle them, but they told me they have a tendancy to strike. I've had wild herps in the past and have managed to tame them down, but I think an Anaconda would be the most challenging thing. It does have me a bit worried, but due to their small size (3.5ish feet) I'm *hoping* they'll be able to calm down before they grow.

The aggression, according to the petstore owner, is simply because he doesn't handle them. Just like many other snakes dislike being handled after an extended period without handling.

These are really the only Anacondas available in the area. The petstore guy takes decent care of them (I won't go so far to say *great* care. But he gives them enough to be happy) and I've been using his store for quite some time and know him fairly well, so I'm *hoping* he's not cheating me with abused snakes.

That and I really can't afford to purchase an anaconda with cash. (I already have the stuff I need to set up an enclosure and I have the money to feed it, I just can't afford it without trading off my redtail.)

` One of the most import things about a new snake is its behavior, for my purposes. I have found Yellow Anacondas to be capable of being very calm, and manageable. I got into them because I happened on a group of babies from NERD that were incredibly calm and gentle, even for babies. They have grown into unbelievably tame adults.
` I have also known Yellows that were traumatized as babies. They were aggressive and not suitable for handling as babies, and as adults. Some of those will tame, and some will not. An aggressive eight foot, twenty pound constrictor is no fun to interact with, believe me.
` The pet store should be willing to let you handle the snake, and not just for one time, one day. You can get to know an animal in a few days of handling. Of course, little babies are easy to take bites from. A 3 1/2 footer, striking and fighting, is more of a handful. Some babies will strike out, and just slap you with their teeth, not holding on or chewing into you. That type of behavior is more defensive. If they hold on and chew in, or continue striking constantly, they may be too aggressive to tame, completely. Also, if they musk, or defecate constantly while you're handling them, it can mean that they are just too frightened to adapt to being a pet.
` This is what I mean by tame.

`

`

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I actually went and got it after having a little bit of time to handle it. I think they really over exaggerated it's defensiveness.

When I got there, they poked and prodded it to show me that it did indeed strike. He even held it by the head, tightly...resulting in it musking for the first time ever in their care, heh.

Well, after giving it a while to cool down a bit, I reached in gently and managed to free hand it. Just letting it rest on my hands. Granted, I don't dare to put my hand anywhere near it's head, nor let it turn it's head even close to being in my direction.

But I was able to do this multiple times tonight and it only actually struck twice. Once was when I was just trying to pick it up, I knew it was coming, he was acting a bit more edgy than normal, but I decided to try anyways. Luckily, he missed/I moved. Second time is when I was transfering him into his new home, it was mostly my fault, though. He was acting great, but I just *had* to see if he would attempt to strike. So I stuck my (heavy leather glove covered) hand in front of him and he took a shot at it.

But now he's in his new home, soaking in his large tub of water (That he didn't have at the petstore..He only had one large enough to drink and maybe soak his head. It was tiny compared to what he needed.) It seems as though he's already calmed down quite a bit. I'm sure he was pretty stressed, they kept him rather dry (Although the humidity was fine)

I'm able to touch him in the tub (Carefully, I don't trust him yet) without him even moving much.

But now I'm going to leave him alone for a bit, I think it's been a long day for him (And a long past couple months without a water dish.)

I aslo managed to pet his head at the petstore (again, carefully, I didn't dare to do it more than a couple times) so I'm thinking (hoping) that he is tamable. He certainly shows promise, anyways. He's not nearly as defensive/aggressive as they made him out to be.

For the most part, his biggest defense is to just completely cover his head.

` I sure would cut down on the trauma happening to that Anaconda. Sometimes a Boid will get one too many insults and turn mean, permanently. Holding a pet snake by the head, or just behind it, is a good way to get a mean animal. They usually musk when they feel helpless, or threatened beyond their means to handle it. It can become a bad habit. I've found that they like their throats stroked, it seems to calm them.
` I think the glove is a bad idea. A bite from a 3 1/2 footer isn't a big deal, as long as you don't pull away. The way they bite will tell a lot about the snake. Just a slap with the teeth is defensive. If they bite in and hold on, or chew, it can mean that the snake is traumatized. Put a shirt you've worn in the cage at night, to get him used to your scent.
` Yellow Anacondas like to soak, and will get into water that is too cold for them. Make sure the water is 78 to 85 degrees. I do this by putting the water over a hot spot in the floor. This also gives the snake much needed humidity in the cage, if the top of the cage is sealed well. Screen top cages can be a big problem for humidity loving snakes.
` Good luck with him.

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I think I cut down on the trauma just by removing it from the petstore. Like I said, I think they keep decent care of their animals, just not great. Kind of a 'bare bones' deal.

But, I seem to have hit a problem. I don't want to seem like some beginner that just got started and is acting foolishly, unneededly stressing the animal (Although that's probably what I did) so I'm pretty hesitant to write this, heh. But I want the opinion of someone who has a lot of experience with Anacondas.

Basically, I lied. I said I would leave it be for the time being, and didn't. When I get a new pet, I can't help but to "play" with it, for the lack of a better word. I don't torment it, I don't try to get it to strike. I just attempt to hold it.

So anyway, onto the point:

I went and opened the cage to check on the tempurature, which turned out to be a little on the low side, so I repositioned the lighting and heating pad. Hopefully heating things up in the end.

By the way, now would be a good time to state that the snake is actually longer than the owner thought it was -- Probably closer to 4 - 4.5. So yeah, I was still using the glove (Although, I guess I'll try to cut the habbit of doing that.) and he took a couple strikes. When he strikes, it's very much a defensive strike: He hits it and doesn't even attempt to hold on. Maybe that's because every time I've seen him strike, it wasn't striking any sort of flesh.

But after a few strikes, he stopped all together. He just kind of moved his head up if I put it near the water and "checked it out" from just milimeters away and just put his head back down into the water.

So I decided to make an attempt at handling him. To make a long story short, it was going fantastic. He was fully stretched out, just gliding between my hands. I let him crawl on the floor a little, even. When I picked him up, he made no attempt to get away. This is why I was saying I think he is very much tamable.

I sat down, and he basically coiled around my arm and sat there, apparently content at just observing things. During the course of this, I tried to let him place his head (to crawl) on my hand, startling him (And the first time, myself) in the process.

Now the part that has me a little worried: During the course of this handling, he would occasionally 'spit up' tiny droplets of water. I figured it was just because he had his head underwater whenever I happened to look in there and paid no attention to it (At this point, I think I'm still right on that regard, but if your snakes don't do it, then I'll be a bit worried) He DID make a little bit of a wheezing noise when he was spitting the water up, but NEVER before, between, or after did he do it. So I'm assuming the wheeze was nothing more than the water coming up.

And now the part that has me a bit more worried: He didn't seem stressed at all. He was just sitting there, doing absolutely nothing, when I noticed he started to open his mouth ever so slightly. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it. I almost expected a yawn or something. But then, he expelled a rather large amount of water. Maybe 3 teaspoons worth....This was followed by last weeks meal.

Could it just possibly be that today's stresses caused him to regurgitate it? Like I said, I'm not an advanced keeper, but I don't consider myself a beginner. But I've NEVER had a snake regurgitate ANYTHING, let alone almost a week after eatting it.

It WAS a rather long day:

First time being held in probably a few months.
Being sexed (Which, I'm assuming, involved lots of tight head holding)
The incident when I arrived at the petstore that I've already mentioned
Transport home
New home with an actual tub for him to use.

Obviously, I can't say with 100% certainty that he hasn't had vomiting problems in the past, but I visit this petstore very frequently. I know the owner by name, I spend a couple hours there every time. I'm pretty sure he would have told me if this were the case.

Maybe I'm just trying to be optimistic, but do you think the regurgitation could be attributed to stress?

I just don't understand how he can be so completely calm and then suddenly vomit.

But then, I've seen other animals suddenly have seizures a week after a traumatic event (With no past or future seizures.) So I guess stress can cause a lot of bad things.

Maybe I should actually just completely leave him alone until sunday or so, give him a good 24 hours to settle in.

They had attempted to feed him before I got there, but he had no interest in eatting (Which I would say was more because of the handling to sex it than a lack of appetite) so they gave me the rat to feed him later (tomorrow) but now I'm not so sure I want to bother him with it until later.

` I feel sorry for that poor snake, and for all the others in the pet store you describe. When a tropical snake is digesting a meal, temperature is critical. Cold surfaces like the floor draw the heat out of them, quickly. Most of my snakes don't mind being handled when digesting, and do not stress. They have no control over temperature however, and a chill can interrupt the digestion process and even kill the snake.
` As far as vomiting is concerned, imagine how much stress it would take to make you vomit up your last meal. It would take a lot, and it would make you sick, and leave you weak and drained. It would leave stomach acids in your gullet to burn you. Our stomach acids are not nearly as strong as an Anaconda's ! The liquid you describe as "water" was likely strong stomach acid, which is strong enough to burn your skin, on contact. Imagine what it did to his mouth, throat, and esophagus.
` Sexing, probing ( which is not necessary to sex an Anaconda ), and transporting a snake with a full belly is an awful thing to do to the poor critter. I've got so that when I go to the city, I stay away from pet stores. I'm afraid I'm going to get arrested for assaulting some of these cretins who keep snakes in such awful circumstances. On top of that, they gave you food to feed him when you got home !!! An Anaconda that size can go for many months without food. When relocating a healthy snake, it's environmental conditions should be the most important factor. Then, absence of stress. Feeding should be delayed until the animal is adjusted and content.
` Keep in mind that, to that Anaconda, you are a GIANT. You can be a monster to the snakes simple mind, too. An overwhelming monstrous giant, causing fear, terror, and panic. Imagine a 3,000 pound omnipotent creature picking you up, and having it's way with you. Imagine feeling that helpless ! What a sad story. On top of all that, I really feel sorry for the poor, and likely doomed, Boa you traded to that pet store.

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It last ate a week to a week and a half ago. I refuse to believe that you have to leave your snake alone for WEEKS after eatting, because if that were the case, you're the first person to say it. Even NERD states that you should wait *24* hours before handling it.

Also, *everything* I've read has said they should be fed every 7 - 10 days. It had been atleast that long. What's wrong with attempting to feed it? Sure, it's stressed, and that's exactly why I haven't attempted to give it the rat yet.

But I see nothing wrong with trying to feed it 7 - 10 days after it's last meal.

This guy has been keeping reptiles for 30 years. He has had large Anacondas. It's not as if he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I've never got into trying to sex snakes. I just buy them sexed. So I'm going on strictly what I've been told. Everyone I've talked to has said probing is the only sure way of sexing a snake. You can try to get the hemipenis to appear, but it doesn't always do it, and even females can appear to have one. Bulges are pretty hit and miss. I guess spurs can be used, but they seem a little easy to miss when dealing with an aggressive snake. Unless there's some other physical feature strictly to Anacondas, it still seems as though probing is the only sure-fire way to get the sex of your snake.

I'm not doubting your knowledge at all, it just seems as though you ignored some of the things I typed. I'd just honestly like to know how ANYONE would know that the snake was still going to regurgitate so long after eatting.

I admit, your post has me a bit annoyed. You ignored some details I posted, you act as though you know how they treat the animals, and you try to belittle me and the petstore owner.

The boa is fine. It will be fine. (Unless someone that purchases it abuses it, which is not the owner's fault.)

He has I think a total of 6 or 7 large, full grown Columbian redtail boas. He has A little over 50 babies. Each and every one is fat, healthy, and as far as I can tell, happy.

You're letting a bias of all petstores cloud your view. Yes, he didn't exactly treat the Anaconda the best when I got there. Yes, it wasn't so smart.

But he most definitely does not neglect his animals. Until you personally visit the petstore, your opinions on it are nothing but irrelevent and rather ignorant. It's like saying you hate something long before giving it a try.

` It is easy, perhaps too easy, to sit back and criticize a situation that you're not involved in. It is also easy to form an opinion on facts you're given, when you weren't there to participate. I really wasn't trying to put you down, just concerned for the critters. So, I'm sorry if I was too harsh. I really wasn't trying to be.
` I consider the snake to be digesting until it finishes defecating. This can be up to three weeks after eating. Some of my critters have much slower metabolisms than the others. I have Anacondas that will allow me to hand feed them, then handle them just after feeding. This does not mean that they can't take a chill. If the digestion process is interrupted by cold, they may vomit with no stress involved. I think that for the time between feeding and defecating, they are more sensitive to chills than any other time. Putting a tropical snake, full of food, on a cold surface is asking for trouble. Whether or not stress is a problem depends on the individual snake. I don't leave my snakes alone for weeks after feeding. I do make sure they aren't exposed to any low temperatures during that time. The fact that your Anaconda vomited it's meal is proof that something went wrong. I feed my adult Anacondas at 5 to 7 week intervals. Adolescents, I feed at 15 to 20 day intervals. Babies 7 to 10 days.
` Regurgitate means to toss up the food, just after eating it. Vomit, is to interrupt the digestion process and throw up food being digested. While neither is good, vomiting days after eating is much worse for the animal than regurging a meal just after eating it.
` Just for a little perspective. The last snake I bought was from a breeder. He had spent years developing his strain of pastel Boas. When I bought the snake, to be shipped about 300 miles to me, he told me that it would be several weeks until he would ship the snake. The snake would have to finish defecating its last meal, then a few days of observation would have to pass. He wanted the snake to be shipped on an empty stomach, and advised me strongly not to feed the snake for at least two weeks after receiving it. If I didn't agree, he said he'd just rather not sell me one. Naturally, that was just what I wanted to hear. He shipped me a healthy, chubby little 9 week old Boa. She got here freaked out, and aggressive. When she got her first meal, two weeks later, she puked it up just after swallowing it when I took a picture of her with flash. I backed off, and she ate it all over again. She hasn't had a problem since. So, you're not the only one to make a mistake. I've made them for years, that's how I learned. Don't get your back up, it's about the critters, not about us.
` Here's a collage of her, about two months after I got her. Now, she's 17 months old, almost 5 feet.

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Yeah, sorry. I guess this is just something I *really* want to have work out for the better.

About the "Letting it crawl on the ground thing" It was only for a few seconds, probably less than a minute. It was more of a "Let it stretch out to get a really good idea of it's size" since in its cage, it spends every minute of it's life coiled up in it's hide, or soaking in it's pool.

The vomiting thing that long after eatting is new to me, I've never heard of it happening that long after eatting. My previous snakes would be fine minutes after eatting.

My opinion of the culprit would be a combination of stress and the coolness of the air when handling it. It honestly suprised me, though. It was acting so calm -- just gliding through my hands like a tame snake would do.

I may just kill the rat and toss it out (or freeze it) and wait a week or more for feeding. At this moment, it hasn't shown much interest in feeding (But, obviously, we know that it didn't have a previous eatting problem)

Like I said, I'm no expert at snakes. This will actually be my first large snake (Hence me picking a male yellow, instead of a Burmese, Reticulated, green, or even female yellow)

I guess the whole eagerness of feeding came from past experiences -- All of my snakes in the past have been *very* good eatters. I remember my very first snake eatting the second we got home. (A pinkie, it was a small kingsnake)

But yeah, I apologize for my attitude earlier. I guess I'm a bit sensitive to people criticizing me regarding my care for animals. In hindsight, I wouldn't have done a lot I've already done. But like you said, everyone makes mistakes. It's just something I really want to turn out in the best way possible: A fat, healthy, tame yellow anaconda.

I guess a lot of my urges to hold it come from me wanting to tame it. My biggest fear is having a full grown Anaconda that doesn't hesitate to bite. It's kind of a feeling that the longer I wait, the worse it's going to get.

But I'm going to give it a while to settle in to it's new home before attempting to tame it through handling.

Although, I must confess, I'm not totally sure I want to go gloveless just yet.. He doesn't chew, but he strikes quite often. (Although, for the *most part*, he stops once he's picked up.)

He did manage to get ahold of someone who was over here earlier, but either he missed and smacked him with his nose, or just didn't latch down -- He didn't even break the skin.

I have a Red Tail Boa that curls up to his branch when she prefers not to be held, and if that doesnt work, she preceeds to HISS her little head off, but has NEVER struck at me, and my hands is inches from her head, she will not even take the defensive postion.

My Male(HOPEFULLY, by the spurs its a male, I DO NOT WANNA BE PROBED, so my snakes are not either to my knowledge) Green Anaconda is a lazy butthead. When I pick him up, he curls around my hand and just stares at my face, then when I pet his neck, he goes straight for my sleeve and climbs into my shirt.

Both my snakes LOVE TO WATCH TV, when I hold them when I watch TV, they stare at the screen. Its pretty funny.

Now, there can be 10000's of reasons why your new Conda puked up his food, stress, temp, handling, bad food, you name it. It could have been to big and was taking to long to digest, he could be sick, I mean the list goes on and on. If the owner of the store grabbed the snake by the back of the head RIGHT AWAY, thats a bad sign. I work at a pet store now (NEW JOB, YaY) and my last job was at a pet store. I did not let anyone or did I grab the neck of any of my (the stores) snakes, without due reason, like mouth cleaning! Even then, over due pressure was not used, and NOT a single one of them even attempted to strike me afterwards, they gave me a evil look, but thats about it. To many people grab all snakes like that, and that makes me mad, and I am guessing DFR does not care for it either. I have held snakes and they strike at other people, and they still dont strike at me, some people show to much fear, or smell funny, and it puts the snakes off, like a sixth sense, they sense EVIL. Snakes are just like dogs, birds, anything, treat them like [bleep], and they end up bad. With all animals, the more you put in, the more you get out. I have seen tame alligators, eels, you name it. The shirt idea is a GREAT idea, but also talk to your snakes, treat them like a family member, cause thats what there are. Spend your free time with them. NOW, I know you have had other snakes, and I am not saying you know nothing, but you are now the PROUD OWNER of a very aggressive and LARGE snake. You may have had one snake in the past, or millions, but all snakes are different, and rather you treated it like a family member or not, you need to with your anaconda and all snakes from now on. When or if it bites you good, you just have to deal with it, take one day at a time, from the sound of it, it has not had the best life so far, so show it what it has missed, and say hello to your new child.

That's kind of what I'm hoping to do. But at this time, I'm not spending all my free time with it: I'm trying to let it ease into it's new setting. I'll open his cage to check the temp and his water, in the process, I'll pet him a little, still with gloves..I'm going to try to wean myself off of them. That first bite is what's making me nervous. I've never actually been afraid of being bitten in the past, I guess the petstore just kind of freaked me out about it -- They talked about it as if it were a vicious monster.

I've never actually attempted to hold him by the head. I have no intention of trying, either. (Except for things that almost require it, like you said.)

` I sure am glad you mentioned your snakes watching TV. Several of my Boas seem to get interested in the TV screen, but only when there is a lot of movement in the pictures. They will reach out and rub their noses against the glass. I have the computer monitor perpendicular to the TV. They don't seem to notice it. So, I put video on the monitor and they went for it. Both are CRTs, and I wonder if it's the electrical charge of the tube. It would be interesting to see if they would go for a LCD monitor. Thanks for bringing it up, as I was considering stronger medication.
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` I should tell you the story of my friend's 10 foot, beautiful, very tame Boa that was killed by a rat.
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I wouldn't doubt it at all, I've heard similiar stories from other people.

That's why I only feed live pray when I'm around to watch.

I decided to hold him gloveless (Sort of. I cheated by using a single glove to get him out of his enclosure and removed it after)

I had him crawling around on my lap, me not moving an inch (He seems to freak out from any sort of movement)

But basically, he eventually coiled around my arm and just sort of sat there. Then I kind of walked around the house a little to do some stuff (Nothing serious, just picking a little bit of stuff up)

He proceeded to crawl up my arm, into my shirt sleeve, and out my neck. Now he's sitting there even at this moment, just (as far as I can tell) relaxed as I've ever seen him. It's pretty impressive. I still don't fully trust him, but (as I said) he's not nearly as bad as they made him out to be. Although, his wrap around my neck is a little tighter than I would say is comfortable Suprises me how strong they are, even when they're just trying to hold on to something.

Actually, accoding to the Illinois DNR, any snake over eight feet in Illinos is illegal to own (this can legally be challenged if the the species in question has never done anything dangerous in the state).

Joe