Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have 6 yellow anacondas now. all of differant sizes. i have never been able to hold any of them with out gloves or holding them by the head.every anaconda i have ever come across is the same way.i have every part of there set-up at the right temp.,humidity,two differant hide areas. all these snakes hate people. when inside there cages they are nice gentle feeders,like the pics DFR has posted.they even breed without any problem. if you try to pick one of them up, they will try to rip you apart,(rapid stiking). i have tried working with these snakes as babies, handling 3-4 times per week, with and without gloves and no change in attitude. there is no outside stress that would get them fired up like movement or loud sound. they are in with all my other snakes in my snake room. i know im not the only person that has this problem. i love the looks of these snakes and would like to keep working with them but im tired of these nasty snakes ripping my hands to pieces.

` I really would like to take all the credit, and tell you how I tamed the savage Anacondas. The truth is that they were part of a shipment from NERD, to an exotic pet store where I worked, five years ago. We had got Yellow Anacondas from other suppliers, and some were little terrors ( but not all of those, either). `
` When these snakes arrived, I was impressed at how calm and unaggressive they were. I wondered if they were sick. They weren't. I had plenty of experience with snakes, mostly Boids, but none with Anacondas.
` NERD warned us that they would still be dragging their yolk sacs, and not to worry about it. After a few weeks, when the yolk sacs were absorbed, and their bellies were healed, they were ready to eat. I offered the first one a rat pup, and he slithered up and took it from my fingers and swallowed it. No strike, no constrict. There were six of them, and they all did the same. It was fun to watch our customers eyes bug out, watching Anacondas hand feed. After a couple of weeks of hand-feeding them, I decided I had to have a few of these. We eventually got another shipment, or two, from NERD. All were calm and gentle. For the first year of their lives, I handled them every day. I built racks for them, so I could alternate handling them, outside their cages.
` Over the years, I've bought back three more, from people who just had to have an Anaconda, then got tired of them. They are all sweethearts. One female is going to be a giant, she's almost 12 feet long, and still growing quickly. She is a very gentle snake, but when it's time to eat, she is SERIOUS. I don't hand feed her, and she lives alone. I'm sure she'd eat off my hand, right up to the shoulder!!

`

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I think you a lucky one to have gotten such calm yellows. i have now had a total of 4 litters with 3-5 baby snakes i feed them 3 meals before i sold them at swap meets. not one of these babies were even close to being nice, like any babies are but...i have built climbing branches like the ones you have and place it in my living room when my wife is away, just to try to get them used to me more. one of my males could not get off that thing fast enough and took a fling leap. what is funny is i can also hand feed them. i think its they dont like to be out of there cage or being picked up.i have blood pythons that are known to be nasty but are sweet by just handling them. condas i have had no luck.

I believe in most cases it all comes down to genetics. I have seen case after case where aggressive parent boids produce aggressive young and docile parents produce correspondingly docile offspring. Years ago I had a long term colony of sand boas, Eryx conicus, that produced many litters from 8 breeding, captive raised, females. Seven of the females were calm and all young they produced were the same. One female was a terror and never calmed down. All of her young were highly aggressive. I had a friend who had a large reticulated python that produced a total of 5 clutches in her lifetime. She was an extremely docile snake and all the young she produced had her same temperament. I probed every snake from every litter a few days after hatching and was never struck at once. The young green anacondas we produced were all just as docile as their parents. DFR's yellows were obviously genetically inclined to have a calmer demeanor, especially since the whole group of neonates turned out the same.

` I believe that there are familial traits that are passed on to the next generation. Certainly, physical traits are passed on. I think behavioral traits, or the potential for them, can also be passed on. I used to know Pit Bull breeders. Nitwits who bred for the aggressive traits. There is no doubt that aggressive parents passed on these traits to their offspring. Unaggressive babies were not bred, and often culled.
` I would really like to breed my Anacondas, to see if the next generation would have behavior like the parents.
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I think you guys have a real good point there. thanx. so any of you guys know anyone who might want some nasty anacondas???so realy if i wanted to find docile snakes i would have to locate a breeder with good calm parents. i do know NERD does have a few adult breeding pairs for sale, maybe they might still have a few from dfr's parents. what sucks about the this is mine have such nice color patterns. here is a pick of one of my babies. and again thanx.

Don't know if you are interested in greens, but I just got mine from a place called Exotic Gems Reptile, and for an excellent price. It is totally calm and has shown no aggression. It is in apparent perfect health, with no scars, etc. Seller said it was cb. Feeding well. I have only had it about 3 weeks now. Appears to be a sweetie. Anyway, I mention it because, if like some posters have suggested, a nice personality may be hereditary. Maybe my guy or gal has siblings out there... Best of luck to you, and, I do admire your patience and determination and tolerance of pain! No one can say you haven't tried!

One quick thought: I wonder if keeping them 'too' warm (great for metabolism/health) makes them more aggresive? The air temp for mine is about 78F - higher than ambient temp because I have a small (undertank) heater in there. Regards and good luck.