Reptile & Amphibian Forums

after many attempts over the past few days trying to give my green a small ft rat and a small ft mouse wrapped completely in chicken skin i started giving up. i tried then to go back to trying normal cut up chicken parts and i got nothing from her. i was trying this by hand and leaving it in the hide box and outseide the hidebox overnight..i tried feeding in the water with lights on. I tried at all different times with different light each time and got nothing. i just tried giving her some chicken parts with some chop sticks and i thought i wasnt going to get anything and finally after holding it in front of her for quite a few minutes, she slowly opened her mouth and gently took it from me. the first time i fed chicken parts she wouldnt take it from me but took it into her hide box..the rest of the times she would take it from me in or out of the cage, in the water, anywhere. she used to snap and grab it from mewith aggression to after she took the glove off my hand i started using chop sticks. but now she is a wuss and takes it so gently...what is going on here? could the lack of a live diet (or even not a whole food item) be softening her to not have the hunting sense? but i bet if i threw a live snake in there she would kill and eat it right away...so i have no idea. please folks..tell me what you guys think. (i will also note that in my location currently i do not have much access to different size live or ft rodents and only have ft chicks...but she stopped taking those after the first one)

The lack of feeding strick is a good thing, dfr's snakes eat out of his hands. When your snake gets bigger youll be thankful for the gentle feeding manner. And dont worry your snake will come around, sometimes it take a long time.--Eric---

but i really want thins snake to eat more..and better food...it seems like conditions and time offered mean nothing..but if the snake isnt happy with it..it wont eat. she is the biggest pain in the ass. i thought the stress from trying to look at the spurs so much (which i have yet to locate positively) might have caused he not to eat..but she will take down a little food every now and then...but she will never grow up to be a big strong anaconda at this rate and with this lame diet...i have noticed that the size and way it is cut sually has to be perfect for her to eat also..if i keep giving the same size pieces..she normally will eat many and then just stop when i guess she is full...never has she taken what i would consider too much. but if a piece looks too big or small..she just turns her head(or if she just doesnt think it looks like what she wants to eat at the time) and moves away. other times she will look forever and check it out at all angles..then she will either open up slowly or just turn around. she does the same thing with live mice..she will stare forever and touch her tongue to them and scare the mice to the point where they cant move..then she turns around and swims away...she has never taken any rodent. I have never had a snake with this strange of a personality...or a snake this hard to sex.

anacondas are work but well worth it in the long run.

` I have tried not to give the impression that Yellow Anacondas, as a species, are not dangerous. They certainly can be. I do say that they have a great range in behavior. Some can be tame, gentle, and very difficult to provoke. The potential for danger is always there, however.
` I have a few who are very dangerous. One giant female, in particular is a good example. She is gentle, and easy to handle. She has never tried to bite anyone, in five years. She is calm, and seems to enjoy being handled, and especially held. She likes to wrap around me, and my chair, and nap. Yet, her sense of self protection, and her feeding response are frighteningly strong.
` If this female is startled, awakened suddenly, or frightened, she will instinctively grab onto whatever or whoever she is resting on, and constrict, just for a moment, so far. When this happens, you get a quick demonstration of just how strong she is.
` I used to wrestle in High School, at 225 pounds. I've been squeezed by some big strong men. There is no comparison at all, none. The two or three times she has done this to me, it has felt like being squeezed by some hydraulic machine. You are helpless.
` Her feeding response is frightening. For the hour or so it takes to thaw her food, she prowls her cage, hunting. She will stare at me when I'm in the room, following my every move. When doing this, she is perfectly still, in the stalking mode. When it's time to give her the food, it's long tongs, just crack the door, and a very careful toss. After a couple of one pound rats, she gets calm, and takes the rest relatively gently.
` Even when hungry, she is not aggressive toward humans, or other animals BUT, once she gets a whiff of her food thawing, she is dangerous. I have several snakes that I must feed more often than her. When she smells their food thawing, she is dangerous for several days. Also, for 24 to 48 hours after feeding, she is iffy. I give her several days. Once I see a stool, I relax, but just a little. She, or any other giant constrictor like her, could easily fool her keeper, and kill them.
` Even with the other Boids I have who take food gently, all the time, I try to be prepared for the worst case scenario, all the time. There's only one way to get a Darwin award, and that is posthumously !!!
`
` Hell, I don't even want "honorable mention".

` If you don't respect her, you can get yourself good and dead !

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