Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had several people e-mail me with questions on the girth differences between male and female greens. The picture of Rick's female in the previous post gives a good opportunity for their comparison. I have included a picture of a 2 year old male from our 2001 litter that I retained, that is about the same length as Rick's female. As can be seen, he doesn't have quite the mass as the female and as they increase in length, the disparity in their girths will become even greater.

Kelly

2 year old male approx. 7 feet.

That is exactly what I was looking for. Its hard to find people who have males that are not just bought. I needed an idea and got one. At what age do they stop growing in lenght and girth around 4-5. Thanks again
Jeff

Jeff,
Very little growth data is available, but from what we have experienced, you are correct. Greens grow fairly steadily for the first 3 years, usually putting on 2 to 3 feet per year the first two years, a little less the 3rd year. Around 4 years they start slowing down, with the male growth rate dropping more dramatically than the females. Between 5 and 10 years of age, females are down to around 6 inches per year, the males even less. After 10 years I would imagine that growth would be extremely slow, even in females. Jud's large male, at 12 years of age, is growing at most an inch per year. These are just general growth rates which will vary by individual snake and feeding regime. You can see why a wild female at 20 feet would be a very old snake indeed.

Kelly

I haven't posted anything in over two years but I was looking at the new forum and it is set up way better. Anyhow I have a female that i got three years ago that had not eaten in over a year. When I got it it was about 6 feet long. She started eating and although she still never eats on a regular basis she does eat about every three weeks. She has only grown about maybe a foot. She has grown in girth to about twice the size. The person i bought her from had her for a little over a year. That person got her from someone who had her for at least a year, so that makes her at least five maybe six years old. She seems to be smaller than normal. I bought a male this summer that is from cypress gardens. It is about 10 feet and weighs almost 30 pounds, it only eats about once a month but has shed twice since i got him in June. I will try to get a digital camera and post some pics next weekend.

Dennis,
Thanks for the growth information on your female, I am always looking for growth data on other anacondas. Your data confirms what I have seen with other greens. Once they reach the 4 year mark, their very linear growth in length begins to slow down regardless of their size at that point. With this shift away from rate of growth in length there is a corresponding increase in girth. This slowing makes sense as more length requires a proportionally greater increase in mass. However, even in smaller snakes like yours, if they are over 4 or 5 years, it appears that they still slow in putting on additional length. This is why their girth should be watched closely and care should be taken not to overfeed older anacondas. Feeding a non-breeding female of this size and age every three weeks sounds like a good schedule to me. Thanks,

Kelly

I would like to breed me anaconda's but the male is so much bigger it doesn't seem like she is near big enough. They are both calm snakes. I have other snakes but the anaconda's are definetly my favorite.
1.1 amazons
1.0 retic
2.2 ball pythons
0.1 emerald tree boa
1.1 anaconda