Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HELLO EVERYONE, I KEEP BURMS, VERY LARGE BURMS, OVER 18 FEET AND CONCIDER MYSELF AN EXPERT ON THERE CARE, I AM VERY CLOSE TO GETTING A GREEN, MY QUESTION IS DO ANY OF YOU PROVIDE YOUR ADULTS WITH A WATER SOURCE BIG ENOUGH TO SUBMERGE IN, OR ARE THEY JUST KEPT IN VERY HUMID CAGES. I WOULD JUST IMAGINE THEY COULD SOIL THERE WATER AND FILTERS WOULD BE TOUGH TO KEEP IN. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU CONDA EXPERTS DO. THANKS JASON

By no means am I an expert but i figured I would put my advice in anyway. A female green will not grow as quick as a burm at all, length wise at least. When she gets very big there are water tanks that have accessable drains built into them. Some will say they do not need a water source to soak in but i disagree, I mean they are called water boas. If you go to a place that sells in ground ponds I'm sure they will have some sort of large water container that you can simple drain without removing. This would be easy to clean and change water. I know its not much but I hope that I maybe answered some of your questions.

that helps out alot, all responses are good that is what these forums are for, do you keep any condas and if so how big are they?

I can first tell you that NOBODY is going to claim themsleves as an expert in this forum. Renee Owens might but she honestly is as she is part of the largest study on green anacondas in the world. Kelly Haller most likely has the most adult greens around and he uses no large water dishes. They CAN thrive. I have 0 adult greens but use submergable water dishes from time to time but do not leave them in permanently. In my opinion this is the most simple snake to keep if you keep things clean and can get past the difficult feeding. They do well with lower humidity than you might think and do well in cooler temps. Think the wild habitat for this animal...they must cope with dry seasons and they have to be tolerant of cooler temps as they cannot lay out on a warm rock and they are in water that is cooler than air. I believe the large containers for a cb raised adult is very low on your list of worries if you plan on purchasing a cb baby green now. As far as anything else...if it is wc and adult I would not attempt not using water and I do not think the animal will do well. If it is a wc baby...good luck but you take a roll of the dice with anything you do. Get a cb baby and I think you will have very little to deal with other than the switch from chicken to rodent.

You do not need a soaking tub for green anacondas to thrive in captivity. It's a personal preference. I have a 10' female and a juvi. male. I have a large rubbermaid tub in the females cage that she soaks in right now but when she gets bigger I plan on doing away with it and just getting a regular drinking dish. A large tub requires a lot of work to keep clean. The pond idea is alright but lets assume you get a small pond around 100 gal. Changing that water approx. every other day would use up 1500 gal. of water a month. Thats a lot. The filter idea is good but you would need a bank of expensive R.O. filters to keep the water clean after a large bowel movement. Not to mention that you would still have to remove the fecal matter by hand. Feces in the water sometimes doesnt stay together like it does on land and ends up making a disgusting 'brew' that you would have no choice but to drain. If you are serious about setting up a natural looking display, I can respect that, but its going to cost you a lot of $ and time. I guess I would need to know your motivation for getting a green to begin with. i.e. breeding, hobbyist, educational display like a zoo or exhibit, etc.

Im going to post an old pic so you can see the tub I am using now. I might get one more bigger one but then thats it. When the one I have now is dirty its already a back breaker to get out and cleaned.

Have you decided on where you're thinking of getting your conda from ? I ask because thats going to be the most important factor in determining your success right now. I have seen ads here on ks offering captive bred conda "hatchlings" (wonder how long the eggs took to hatch!?), LTC condas that are 3' (how long term could they be at 3' ?), and a variety of condas that are offered for sale by people that clearly have no idea what they are talking about. WC's SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS!!!!! You will usually have nothing but probs with them and end up with a dislike for the species. Anyways good luck and keep posting here for any more advice you might need.

My two cents,
Arik

I don't have any anacondas, and I'm no expert on any species but what about using a kiddy pool for them to soak in? They are pretty cheap so you could swap them when dirty. I guess the only downside might be they are not really sturdy.
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Tim W
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0.1 Dumeril Boa
0.1 Domestic Housecat

I guess I don't understand what you are saying. Do you mean to put a kiddie pool inside a cage? Or outside? I do have a kiddie pool outside that I fill a few hours before getting my snakes out to soak in. (sun warms the water) If you meant to put one inside a cage, that sounds like a huge job to clean. You certainly couldn't lift a full kiddie pool so you would be force to bucket the water out or, at best, siphon it.

Arik

` I've found that Anacondas can do fine without soaking water. However, I like to let my Anacondas soak, it seems to soothe them. At this point, I'm keeping Yellows only. In my experience, they use soaking water more that the average Green. When they have soaking water nearby, they seem to get much more calm about feeding. If you're going for hand-tame Anacondas, I feel the water is a big help, especially with nervous babies.
` Once, I had a gallon milk jug inside their cage, so the water would be warm when I needed it. One day, if found a young Green down in the jug. I thought he'd drowned, but when I moved the jug, he came to the top and got out. I let him live in the jug until he got to big to get in. After that, it was funny to watch him try to get in. He never got over wanting to get into that jug. I finally had to take it out, after he tipped it over a few times.
` If you give them water to soak in, it MUST be clean, all the time. This can be very labor intensive.
` I've found a trick that lessens the labor. All of the Anacondas I've ever kept have preferred a cramped soaking container. I spent years giving them choices, and they always chose the smallest container that they'd fit into. Several would crowd into the smallest container, and ignore the larger one. ( I tried opaque and clear containers. They didn't seem to care, so now I use clear, restaurant grade plastic tubs.
` Anyway, with a small container, you only need a few inches of water in the bottom. When they get in, they displace most of the water, filling the container to cover them with water. This makes sanitation so much easier. Instead of lugging around 50 to 100 lbs. of water when cleaning, you're only handling 20 to 30 lbs. of water. It's amazing just how small a container a giant Anaconda can fit into!
` I think it's convenient that they eliminate in the water. I just pour it down the toilet. Chlorine bleach in a spray bottle easily sanitizes anything the fouled water touches. You need a spray bottle that had chlorine based cleaner in it originally. Cheaper plastic sprayers deteriorate with chlorine, in a few days.
` I have my water heater set to almost 200 degrees, and have a high pressure nozzle on a hose in the bathtub. I blast the containers with scalding water, then spray with peroxide, then vinegar. Then, they only require a little brush work, to be clean, except when there's dried urates. Then spray the tub with chlorine bleach spray. I keep chlorine away from my snakes and their equipment, unless I have time to let it air dry outside. Chlorine fumes, even a small amount, can make a snake much more prone to a RI.
` It always amazes me that the urates can dry rock-hard, under water. One of those restaurant type, flat, green, woven scouring pads works really well on the urates.
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` There are over 20 feet of Anacondas in that little pan.

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