Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question regarding Anacondas and water. I have frequented this site for the last year or so and have posted a couple of times despite not having an Anaconda. Recently, I obtained a juvenile green male anaconda. DFR about had me sold on the yellows (those snakes are incredible), but I went with a male green as it is the snake I have wanted for some time.
I feel like I have really lucked out. He is an awesome snake and has thus far shown himself to be incredibly docile. I can see how Anacondas could be intimidating if you had a snappy specimen, as although I’ve only had him for a couple of weeks, my green is the most responsive and interactive snake I’ve ever kept. He seems totally in tune with what is going on the room, but has yet to strike at me. If he was a mean little guy I could imagine that would be not-fun to deal with down the road.

My question is this: How much time should I allow my Anaconda to spend in his water dish (which incidentally, is about 85 degrees). He resides almost exclusively in his water dish. Just about every other day he craps in his dish and I promptly give him fresh water. I know that they like water, and I am certain it is good for them to soak from time to time, but should I be restricting the amount of time he is allowed to spend in his water dish?
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

` When I kept Green Anacondas, they all spent most of their time in their water. I had no problems; however, there are many people who keep Greens, and have much experience, who warn that too much time in the water can cause skin problems. Some people who keep Greens use small water containers that the snakes can't get into, to prevent this.
` My Yellows spend much more than 50% of their time in water, completely submerged. I keep their water quite acid, to inhibit bacteria. I have never had a problem. I did the same when I kept Greens. My tap water is quite hard, and alkaline. I lower the pH with vinegar. I bring the pH down to 5.5 . When you do this, you must use a pH test kit. Too much acid will harm them. I got into this from experience with tropical fish. Many of the Amazon basin fish come from very acid water. The same water the Anacondas swim in. Keep in mind that the vinegar will only defeat the carbonate buffer in the water for a day or two. If you change the water every day, this is not a concern
` Another reason for the snake to stay in the water too much is cover. They feel hidden, under the water. This gives them a secure feeling. If they don't have an alternate ( dry ) place to hide, that is as warm and comfortable as the water, they might spend more time in the water than is good for them. Keep a close eye on the snake's skin condition, especially on the ventral surfaces.
`

` Twenty feet of Anacondas stuffed into one bath. They'd rather share, than use both baths.

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Keep a close eye on it as some young greens will develop skin blisters from too much time in the water. If this happens, remove the pool and only allow a small water container for drinking that it cannot submerge into. The blisters will usually disappear after a few sheds under these drier conditions. See a Vet if they get worse.

There are two schools of thought on the water question with green anacondas. One group follows the quite logical reasoning that there must be a water pool available that they can submerge into in order for them to do well in captivity. The other, much smaller group, feels that a pool is not necessary and they will do quite well in captivity without it. Anyone that has been on this forum very long knows that I am in the second group. It is not a question of one way being better for the anacondas than the other, but a matter of choice and time commitment. Attentive owners have raised greens successfully with access to large pools, without any problems. On the other hand, many more snakes have suffered because these pools became fouled with feces for lack of proper maintenance. Small greens utilize small water containers that are easily cleaned in a few minutes. As they grow, you start getting into water containers of the 20 to 50 gallon size and then you start getting into a major cleaning commitment of time and labor to keep it as sanitary as it needs to be. It is totally a matter of choice. My view is if greens really needed access to large pools, I would go through the time and effort required. But we have found that green anacondas do very well in captivity without access to pools, even to the point that we produced a litter of young two years ago and have a second, different gravid female right now. I feel that if they were stressed at all by the lack of a pool, they would have never successfully reproduced. All of the breeding adults have been raised and maintained from newborns, without access to water other than a small drinking bowl, and we have not encountered health problems of any kind using this system. We do maintain a higher humidity with the young but have only done so with the adults during shedding.

I would say if you choose to go with water, just make sure that you are a fanatic about keeping it clean. Also, as DFR said, you must have a secure and warm hide available for your anaconda. Usually at around 8 to 10 feet they will stop using a hide and feel comfortable laying out in the open.

Kelly