Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my green anaconda for several weeks now and he is doing great. I have him set up nice and he eats like a pig. Here is my question though. Normally I do not feed my snakes in their enclosures. I take them out and put them into a rubbermaid or sterlite container. The anaconda though seems to like to take his food while he is in the water section of his enclosure. Shuld I practice my normal procedure with him, or should I just let him eat in his own cage from the water? Any advice is apreciated. Thanks.
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Billy
Reptile World
http://www.reptile-world.net

It is a good idea to remove him from his own cage when feeding. This will cut down on possible bites when mistaking it for feeding time. However, Just be careful as you may know after feeding him and putting him back in for he doesnt regurg. For your other question, It wouldnt hurt him to eat in the water. It is what they do in the wild if given the chance after all and it is were they feel most secure. Were I work at, we feed the anaconda in a seperate area. Given the chance she pulls the prey item out of holding and into the water.
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Jeremy Carroll
Center for Reptile and Amphibian Propagation and Conservation
http://www.onet.net/~eagle/Reptile/index.htm

Ive never understood the need for removing a snake from its enclosure for feeding time. Id like to hear your rationale for that suggestion.

I, OTOH, suggest the opposite. Feed your animal in its enclosure. It is far safer for the you and the snake. It will minimize stress on the animal while helping prevent regurg episodes. Also, your annie is a little fella now but just wait a little while. Do you want to be handling a 10' anaconda in feeding mode that you have to put back in its cage? I didnt think so. Do the safe thing and feed in the cage.

A lot of people remove the snake from the enclosure to feed it. Cuts down on bites/strikes when the animal mistakes you for something to eat. Granted though, like you said removing a 10 ft snake from its enclosure to feed will be one helluva job. On the regurg issue, thats why you usually do it kind of close to the animals other tank and as gentlly as possible. if done right the snake wont regurg. Guess different strokes for different folks though.
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Jeremy Carroll
Center for Reptile and Amphibian Propagation and Conservation
http://www.onet.net/~eagle/Reptile/index.htm

I remove all my larger snakes from there cages to feed them. I put them in large tuppaware and after they eat i put the whole tuppaware in there cage so there is no chance of a mistake bite. When i put the tup in the cage then i remove the lid and close the door. When they get out of the tup i remove and wash it. I do it this way so i don't get the feeding response when i open the cage. Now for the people that have the mass produced cages this may not be feasable cause the depth isn't there. But this is the anaconda forum and there isn't a mass prod caged out there in my opinion big enough for them. Another reason is whikle they are out of the cage eating it makes the perfect opertunity to clean and change the bedding. Just a little more insight or a idea or 2. Thanks Paul
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SNAKE!!!!HIT THE BRAKES!!!!!!! SCREEEEEECH , What is it , ohh its just a stick sorry honey

That works fine unless you have snakes that will eventually get over 50 pounds. Try lifting a Tupperware with a 100 lb burm in it.

I see yout point but wouldn't be easier to move it while its contained rather than free handling it. Just curious cause my green whitch was suppose to be a male has turned out to be a female lol so now i will have that dilema of a 100lb snake in due time. Also what size of an enclosure would you sugest for a female green. Thanks Paul
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SNAKE!!!!HIT THE BRAKES!!!!!!! SCREEEEEECH , What is it , ohh its just a stick sorry honey

Feeding in and out of the enclosure is up to the owner. I use to do the same thing you did, until I read more. If you feed them out of there cage all the time they may think its ok to eat when they are out of the cage and snap (again opions). If you do start feeding in the cage besure you handle it alot, and always touch it with somthing before you pick her up, hook, glove, so she does not bit. Plus another thing that turned me on to feeding them in the cage is when they do get to be bigger, getting it out of the cage and then back in just to feed becomes problems, a buddy of mine got nailed by his burm because he took it out to feed it as he always did reached down for somthing and it bit him, but you should read some of the old forums on this topic, its really up to you.

They are all individuals, each with its own personality. None of my Yellow Anacondas has developed an aggressive feeding response, so far. I handle them every day, and have never had one go into feeding mode unless they smell food, so far. When I feed them, I thaw their food in the room with them. After an hour of smelling their food defrost and warm, they're ready to eat. I feed them wherever they are at mealtime. Usually, that's in the water, but not always. I feed adults at 4 to 6 week intervals, so they're good and hungry by feeding time. I feed smaller food items than the maximum size they can handle, and I feed them until they aren't interested in any more. When I'm done feeding them, they are satisfied and their feeding response is gone. If I had any aggressive individuals, I would modify my feeding technique for those animals.

I've been working with this guy since he was born, over five years. I would not try this with any large constrictor I didn't know this well. He sometimes strikes at the first one. Usually though, he just opens up and takes them. It takes 4 to 5 of these 1/2 pounders to fill him up.

He's already had a couple before this shot, so he'll just open up and let me put it in his mouth.

When he's full, he'll play with the last one, sometimes discarding it.

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To Buddhist hot dog vendor. "Make me one with everything."

I have had one green that I kept for many years, and she ate like a pig. But she would only eat birds. She would attack chickens viciously -- alive or dead -- but wouldn't touch a mammal. Someone else mentioned day old chicks -- try these or small quail. I live in an area with quite a few quail farms, so finding them where I live is fairly easy. Don't know about where you live. Also, I have heard that anacondas will feed on fish as well. Never tried this myself, but I would go for it in a minute if the snake wasn't eating. Be patient, don't panic and try a variety of food items. I had a small African rock python once that wouldn't eat mice very well, but fed voraciously on hamsters. It took me a while to work my way down the rodent list to hamsters!

Here's another suggestion I'd like to get some feedback on. One thing I've done over the years with stubborn feeders is feed them wild rodents. When I was in college, there was a veterinarian in town who bred boas very successfully. He was very knowledgeable about reptiles of all kinds, and he said there was no problem with feeding captive snakes rats, rabbits, squirrels, etc., that were captured in nature. He said snakes don't get diseases from mammals. This is something I have done on occasion, and I have seen snakes that wouldn't eat domestic rodents go nuts on those captured in the wild. Of course, pre-killed is the way to go here -- wild rodents can be nasty. Anybody else ever done this?

RP