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Hi Kelly, how are those babies doing?? got any pix of them??

when I saw the 2 kelly haller i figured i would just make a pointless post commenting on my favorite article in reptiles magazine ever...captive breeding of green anacondas. kelly...you are my idol and that article helped make me see my hopes for a succesfull breeding attempt of greens in the near future is possible. Thank you.

Thanks for the compliment and I wish you good luck with your future breeding attempts. What are the sizes and ages of your anacondas currently? It's great to hear from others who are working on this type of project. When the time comes, make sure you keep us informed of your progress. I would definitely be interested in any breeding data you generate. Thanks again,

Kelly

They are coming along typically for young greens. They are all eating now but most are only taking chicks, or chick scented rats. Only a few have switched to rats unscented at this time. This is standard with young greens as they don’t normally just take off feeding a few weeks after birth like most other boids. There is no comparing young greens to any other boa or python when it comes to getting them established on a standard food item like rats. It just takes patients until they begin to feed, and again to get them on the standard prey. They are a completely different type of snake from all other boids, and it just takes time and they eventually come around. Once they start taking rats consistently, they will never be a problem again and all the time spent is well worth it. They are all very calm and I have only had one strike at me in the last three months, and I accidentally startled that one. Here’s a photo I took last night. They are still showing their juvenile coloration, the green will get better with age. Thanks,

Kelly

You do got a cutie like that picked out for me right???lol

ok...as far as getting established...i have what I like to say is the most difficult green in the world. He refused all food attempts for the first 7 to 8 months of his life...then he ate a garter snake of mine on accident (i was glad to get a food in his stomach so I fed 2 more since 8 months i too long to go without eating a FIRST MEAL). he will only rarely take a ft chick but will more occasionally take raw chicken (usually thighs) from wal mart. i have had no luck with scenting (chicken or garter snake) of anything live or dead. This is a super docile snake (except when he is transported which is rare) and I want him as my breeder but with no good staple diet he is never going to get big enough. Is there anything I may not know of that might be better than what i am doing or is this raw chicken even safe to do (now I am saying its better than nothing and ft day old chicks have nothing to them so i assumed it would even be better). thanks

Is this male a wild caught anaconda, and what is it’s approximate length. I am also interested in the type of setup (substrate, hidebox, water container, etc.), you are keeping it in and at what temperatures you are maintaining him. How often do you handle him and is he in an area of the house that has frequent disturbances, like foot traffic or movement around the cage. I would most definitely discourage the feeding of any reptilian prey. Additionally, don’t be too concerned about feeding store bought chicken parts over the short term, if that is all he will eat. However, he needs to be switched to whole animals as soon as you can. If you could fill in some of the above information, and anything else that you may feel is important, it will be easier to come up with a solution. Thanks,

Kelly

this male is cb and i ussed to be very concerned about the outside disturbances and handling so it was kept to none and he was in a room with no traffic for the longest time and his cage was covered in news paper to help a bit more. However, he is now in an area of higher traffic and has astroturf as a substrate. It is hard to say with temp and humidity since that is difficult to regulate in this state (IL..in winter it is dry and cold and I have a heat pad, ceramic heater and lights his cage is also 6 ft)...at this exact time, it is 90 in the warm and 80 in the cool and low humidity but that is rare since i do have a fogger and i mist. still i read a lot that said to keep humidity lower than expected and he is quite a regulator himself...if he feels dry i can always trust he will go to water since he moves a lot to different parts of the tank. Ok I had a point...handling a traffic i do not believe anymore are affecting him at all because he will eat pretty regularly reguardless of how warm or cool he is, wet or dry, or handling or traffic...its just he wont eat whole food regularly (i have only got him to take down 1 f/t chick and 0 rodents) he will just take grocery store chicken regularly and I am happier with than over nothing but i dont think it is going to be a food that can get him big and keep him healthy (his last shed was just over 4 ft but i think it may have stretched as little). I guess my best question is what rodent do you think would be best to try more and live or dead or scented (my guess is if he is taken chicken parts he doesnt care if its dead). Sorry for the long post but next year my goal is to hook this guy up with a girlfriend since he is a very good looking animal with a great temperment....ps i have been picky looking at females for a while now got any cute girls i can hook him up with..i know you have some young ones so if i have to wait another year or 2 or even 3 for the perfect dream project i can do that...ill spend that time on ATB's Thank you

oh..i forgot to answer hiding...he is given hiding in both warm and cool parts of the tank and up until rescently (because he is getting a little bigger) he had a water bowl in each hide box. when i did check on him i noticed he would go in them if he wanted and would stay out if he didnt. he deffinetly has places to go and does go where he wants. i will also mention i have done all the little tricks like bagging, smaller cage in dark room, and also..he wont eat fish (but i dont care since i think chicken is better than fish anyway).

Sounds like the conditions are alright, especially since he is eating consistently. He is showing the typical feeding pattern of a young green with his preference for birds. I would try skinning one of the chicken legs and wrapping the skin around the head and upper body of a young rat, and seeing if he will eat that. When he does take it, just use a little less skin with each of the next half dozen feedings or so until you are down to none. Like I said earlier, chicken parts are alright in the short term, but he is missing out on vital nutrients of a whole animal. Good luck and keep us posted.

Kelly

that is a really good idea...i have tried laying chicken on a live mouse before but all tyhat did was make him look at it and make me laugh. i can't believe i didnt think to just wrap a rat in it...i was using already cleaned and skinned (like tysons chicken thighs)chicken since it was easy but it does make sense that the skin would be enough to get him to take it. I am still a little confused why he would take one f/t chick and not again unless he is just a wimp and didnt like the feel of the feathers and beak going down and if that is the case he would be a dead anaconda in the wild with his super picky appetite.....thank you again and let me know when you want to drop a pretty little green girl my way ; )

this doesnt really have anything to do with switching to rodents(but i hope with your advice this will be a soon switch) but as far as breeding...I have been looking around for the right anacondas that i want to start with since i do not have all the space in the world to have more than one breeding pair..one question is there is a guy who wants to sell me a pair of hybrids (green x yellow) and i have been a bit leary..one reason is i have read that most these hybrids dont live to adulthood or are sterile...but looking at all the work bob clark has been doing with hybrid pythons, i wonder if i should take a chance now since the price does not seem too bad and the guy is actually very close to my residence. I was just hoping to get more professional ideas. One anaconda breeder called green yellow hybrids an undesireble animal so as of now im not thinking its a good idea. But whatever you say will make a big impact. Thanks again and I thank you for responding to all my messages...I could talk anacondas all day.

Take a look in the classified section, Not alot of people selling anacondas. The people who are selling them have been doing so for a long time. Not to many people buying anacondas these days. Most of the ones for sale have been for sale for about a year or so. What Im getting at is, do you realy think that its a good idea to start up a project like this?? You said that you didnt have alot of space right?? So what would you do with all of the anacondas that you could not sell?? Just give it some thought before you go out and buy a pair of way over priced snakes. Just my opinion, ----Eric----

funny how you bring up that point since it is a good one that i have considered...however...I do have space just not unlimited space for multiple breeding pairs of anacondas. also this is a project i plan to do with currently cb anacondas which will take a while to reach mature size. and as far as buyers...in my area it is very funny since it is greens that go for higher prices than yellows as babies and every time (rare) they show up at a local show...all of them sell. This is what made me want to start the project. I was offered 300$ for my first cb green i purchased and in a few weeks another green came to the show and she sold for 450$ for a normal cb green female. as far as hybrids...i was gathering opinion and it seems like i am going to go with my gut instinct(why bother) since nobody really thinks they are a desireable animal. I just figured if it was a very very pretty animal for a low price..i might do it if the croud (posts in here) said they thought it would possible...no (possible is the wrong word) very likely to get healthy babies from hybrids.

The decision to purchase a hybrid would be strictly up to the individual. I don't know much about them, but these hybrids don't look a lot different than the pure forms. I really don't see the point in crossing them, and don't see any need to be hybridizing anacondas. Just my opinion.

Kelly

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