Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it comon for a conda to stop striking at thier food. For the last few feedings he/she has not been stiking just starting to devour it right out om my hand.2nd question is my yellow conda is about 1 1/2 years old, but he/she is a little over 3 feet long. Is that an average size at that age he/she seams a little smaller than expected at this age. Is it safe to asume it is a male. I know he has eaten regularly because i have had him since he was a month old. I have been feeding him once a week on the most part with the ocasional 2 weeks inbetween feedings. As for temperment he is very relaxed except for when he gets tired of being held the he starts to squirm.He is a little faster than my other snakes 2 col.red tails 1 ball.

I can't comment on the size question, but the feeding thing is normal. DFR has a few pictures of his doing the same. Mine does it. And other snakes (different species) do it occasionally.

I guess they just know when it's already dead.

` Be happy about it! Some Anacondas will get downright relaxed about eating. Sounds like you're giving the snake a low stress environment. They know that they are the most vulnerable when eating. When one loses it's defensive habits, you know you got a good pet-grade animal, and that you're making it happy. However, they can still fall into the old feeding response. When they get big, there's still some danger. My giant female still takes them from my hand, but it scares me, so I only feed her that way when there's reliable back-up!!!
` As far as growth, in my experience there is a lot of size variation in Yellow Anacondas, especially in males. At 1 1/2 years old, there's still plenty of time to grow. Some males don't get much over 6 feet. Overfeeding means a short life.
`

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So is it safe to assume by his size it is a he.And as for overfeeding that thought never crossed my mind. I am very happy with the way he/she is.I know powerfeeding is very bad and would never want to hurt my animals.

I HAVE ONE THE SAME AGE AS YOU HAVE.MINE IS MALE.EATS GREAT BUT NONE OF MY CONDAS LIKE TO BE HANDLED, CUZ THEY ALL HAVE LOST THERE MINDS LOL. WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOUR PICS.

Here is a older pic of Mickey (named that because of the several micky mouse ears contained in his pattern). I will try to get some more pics and post in a few days he just ate yesterday.I have a crapie cam so i dont know if i will be able to get some good pics of him, all depends on the sun lol

I don't see one, so I'm just ASSUMING you don't have one, and if that's the case, you REALLY need to get him a tub to soak in. Anacondas are very aquatic snakes. It doesn't even have to be enough for his whole body (Some people think that too much water can be a bad thing.) Just enough to soak the majority of it.

I guess if the humidity is kept high enough, you wouldn't actually *NEED* a tub, but I'm willing to bet the snake would be much happier (Less stressed?) with one.

Hello thanks for the input,but that is a tub of water he is sitting in in the pic if you look a little closer you can see the light reflecting off the top of water.

I actually did notice it, but I wasn't totally sure. So I posted just to be safe.

I have many yellows that dont need to strike at their prey, they just take it and start swallowing without the constricting. I think its a sign of a nice,well acclimated animal. As for the size of your animal, its showing nice growth. Remember its not a green, and its not a race.I think you have a nice sized animal,though i dont believe you can assume its a male. Best wishes,Mark Petros