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Ok well i have been trying to decide whether i want a burm or an green anaconda. If i get either it will be about 2' to 28" in length and until its 5' it will be house in a 55 gallon tank with a hot side with a human heating pad covering half the tank making floor temps on hot side 92 and cool side 80. at night i will reduce it to 80 all over no heat needed since thats the temp of my room. If i get a conda ill make sure to have a big water dish in the cage and mist frequently.
1. How good are these snakes on feeding?
2. Is my setup ok?
3. How often are condas fed and wut r they fed
4. Also once the 5' mark is hit i will get a permanent home of 6'x3' cage that comes with heating installed in it. Please help me thank you,
mike

First off I would like to point out that everyone of your questions has been answered repeatedly below and in previous pages of this forum.
With that said, I'll try to answer most of your questions here. There is no way for me to tell you which would be a better match for you as far as burm or conda. I can tell you that I feel green condas require roughly twice the experience and dedication that burms do. They are by far the most challenging huge boid that I have worked with. I have no idea what your experience level, age, living situation, etc. is, so I'll leave that decision to you.
A neonate green will do fine in a 55 gal. but will outgrow it soon. Not as fast as the burm but still pretty quick. The 6' cage you mentioned is only going to be suitable for a male green. Green anacondas have the largest sexual dimorphism (size difference between the sexes) among all the snakes. A male would be a good introduction to greens and if he works out you could always get a female later.
Neonate and juvenile greens will do fine when started on rats every 7 - 10 days and after approaching 8 - 10' mark will do fine on an every 2 week feeding of appropriately sized rabbits.
You do not need a large water tub for greens. If you would scroll down a little ways in this forum you will find a good thread about the need for water tubs. I also never mist my greens. They do fine with the humidity between 60 and 70%. She sheds in one piece everytime without misting.
A human heating pad is not going to be appropriate for the cage. Especially if you have a large water tub and are misting all the time. They are not meant for wet environments. My anacondas prefer temps almost right at 82F and only slightly warmer after feeding. I would be suprised if you ever seen the snake laying on the heating pad for any length of time but I could be wrong.
Finally the most important thing to consider when thinking of getting a conda is the place you are thinking of buying one from. There are numerous wild caugt neonates being offered that are generally not worth even the $75 they are being sold for. There are exceptions but not many. As a newcomer to greens I feel you will have nothing but bad luck if you start out with a wild caught conda. Spend the extra $ and get a good captive bred one. I know Kelly is sold out and cant think of a source for them right now but they're out there. Just don't be tempted by all those wild caughts in the classifieds. If you can't find a good captive bred conda then get a burm. They are a lot more forgiving then condas (except for cool temps. I think the condas are more forgiving in that regards) and you generally have no problem getting them to eat anything.

Anyways I'm at work and have to go
Good luck whatever you decide on and keep us posted,

Arik

Arik had good advice as well but I think a male Burm would be fine in a 6x3 as well. While the dimorphism i not a great as the green anaconda, it still exists and I would be very surprised if a male burm hit 15ft. But I think any snake over 10 ft is very big so dont be confused that ONLY females get big..not true. And a friend of mine has an C. atrox in his basement but does not deal with greens after holding a 6ft one and being scared to death of how strong it was at 6 ft. Much stronger than any other snake of that length.

I guess I wasn't really thinking of the burms when I was replying about the cage size. A male burm will do fine in that cage as well.

I believe I read that green anacondas have the largest sexual dimorphism in ALL the animal kingdom. I wasn't sure about that fact so I just went with all snakes. I'm going to look into that more when I get off work. Sitting here thinking about it, though I cant really come up with a species thats shows a bigger difference though.

Arik

No...maybe with boids. But if you want some hard core sexual dimorphism then look at the angler fish.

Not related to Condas...sorry. But isnt the sexual demorphism on African Rock pythons very big also? i guess not as big as the Conda, but a female Rock can hit 16-20' and the record being 31'2" if i remember correctly, and males typically staying 10-12' with 9' being the smallest and 14, being the monster.

my point was that most the large boids show a pretty big degree of dimorphism...I dont know where you pulled the facts on the rock though...31'2" does not seem correct. Maybe 21' 2"

substantiating evidence is poor. It was shot in Ivory Coast, west Africa in the early 1930's. There have been several other records around the 25 foot mark that have been verified however. So it is anyone's guess if the 32 footer is authentic, but if several have been found at 25, I believe another few feet would be within the realm of possibility.

Kelly

Maybe..I also believe another few ft of error on the estimation or the recording is just as possible. It seems to me than each species article read has its own big number that only appears when looking up that species. You never read about the 32ft rock python or the large anacondas when loking up retics. This post seems all to familiar so I want to let it go and just believe the 4 big snakes out there are getting over 25 ft. There have been rewards out for capture of a snake over 30 ft and nobody is doing it. So I think they are a thing of the past. I hate to say it but snakes are shrinking. Shoot that world record retic did it over night lol.

The biggest snake ever was a retic that was 26 feet when it was cought and 27 feet when it died. there has not bin a snake over 28 feet yet. all these reprots of giant snakes can not be prooven there all bad pictures and streched skins. i can strech Annies shed out to over 12 feet. dead animals can not be considered becouse u can really strech them out. i think i have said this about 100 times but i wanted to make it 101.

CrazyCody

Don't forget about the retic held at the Pittsburgh Zoo in the 1950's. This retic was shipped in from Malaysia, I believe, during the late 1940's at 22 feet, and was measured alive in 1956 at 28.5 feet and around 300 lbs. It is well documented by several sources and was probably the largest snake ever held in captivity. I have a photo of her that I will try to capture digitally and post.

Kelly

Hmmm, seems there was a retic in the 32' area or so, but maybe the evidence wernt concrete...but Baby the burm hit 28' or close to it, and this Burm here should beat Baby's size they think, http://www.pythonmolurus.com/anastacia/ana.html

There was a captive retic in one of the European countries several decades ago that was said to be around 32 feet, but documentation supporting this size was lacking.

Kelly

Dimorphism can be more than just size; consider the extremes in color differences between many animals.

Also I'd just like to ad that the anaconda forum is by far the coolest bunch of folks on the kingsnake forums; I don't miss any of the arguements and cruedness seen in other groups

Get what you like more and are more likely to keep into adulthood. 6x3 huh....better get a male. 92 is not necessary for a green anaconda...77-85 would be better. Big tub is up for debate and is totally up to you as there is benefit to having or not having. Eating...snake to snake on that one. Some are easy feeders, others eat chicken and snakes. You will more easily find a good eating cbb burm than a green anaconda. How did you decide between these 2? I have to question motive of people who just want a giant snake...if this is not an animal you have a passion for then you will lose interest quickly in cleaning out anaconda crap or dealing with a slightly ill tempered baby. It may calm down and many people in here have super docile greens. It is the most docile in my collection and the snake my girlfriend always trusts. It sure was not the day she came to me though.

Well, this being the Anaconda forum, I think we're all partial to the south american giant, but if you're a beginning herper, go with the burm. They're cheaper, easier to find, and eaiser to care for.

a biginner herper should NOT have a burm. It is acceptable because many people do but they are the #1 snake from injury and death among boids in captivity. This is because beginner herpers do not do their homework or lose interest in the hobby and have a huge snake that has been calm its entire life but now sees them as a meal...and people are so shocked when it pulls them into the cage. I do not support new people buying large constrictors or venomous without fully knowing their plans with snakes in the future and are not mature enough to know their maturity level. Testosterone is no reason to get a large snake or venomous animal. You just looks stupid bragging about how dangerous your pet is. Nobody looks stupid when dedicated to something and is well educated and respectfull of the animals they keep and the people around them that can be affected by bad decisions.

As I stated in my earlier post, we have know way of knowing how mature, responsible, or experienced this person is right now. I can just assume that he lives on his own and has a strong background in boids. A 15' burm is just as dangerous as a 15' conda as far as fatal potential. Getting a large boid to show off is the complete wrong reason for getting one. However, he didn't give me any indication to think that was the case so I think it would be wrong to assume that it was. The warning did need to be made though for any kids that may be thinking that they would be "cool" if they had a monster snake or a king cobra.

Arik

it was more to royalserpent's comment on a burm being a better bigginer herper snake. Only applies to this persons post if they fit the shoes. i think an anaconda would be better actually as they should take longer to get as big and they have more time to learn and it might even bite them a few times while young so they can understand that it knows how to bite a person.

Let me clarify, I meant that it's not a beginner's snake because of all the maintenance. You have to keep the cage moist, you need to maintain that moisture, you have to keep the cage extra clean, and generally anaconda's temperaments are not too great when young. I meant that They tend to be more work, and most people want a pet that is easier to care for. If you don't mind the work, then go ahead and get an anaconda, but a burmese is a lower maintanance snake. that's all I meant.

I know thats what you meant and it is not good information for a beginner herper is what I meant. More work does not make it harder. In fact you have more of a chance of loosing a burm from an RI than an anaconda. I still hold to everything I stated. I do not want to offend you either..i think you should read my post again and it honestly makes sense.

You said burms cause the ost injuries amongst boids, but they're called burmese PYTHONS for a reason...

I am not in a good mood right now so dont get too offended. BOTH snakes from the boidae and pythonidae are often considered boids. It was a quick way for me to type that including both kinds of large constrictors and make my point. Please do not turn this into an argument.

You are terribly mistaken. Boid is a term that refers to the old world snakes of pythons and boas. You must have thought he said boa not boid because a burm is most certainly one of the largest BOIDS! Check your facts.

Arik

and I was in a bad mood in my post. I was nice about the calcium thing too. I have some cuervo in me now so please excuse my harness. But anacondas take a while to get real big so there is time to learn right. I stated this over and over.

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