Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, you may remember me posting that my Female green had not eaten for a bit longer than usual.
well, she ate tonight. Its been a month. But she ate tonight.
Why tonight and not before. I'll tell you. SHE IS PICKY.
See, when I first got her she wouldnt eat for a whole 9 months!
Until one day I decided to make a pool for her. The verynext day she was in that pool, I set a rat in there, nad next thing I knew it was in her belly.
Well, this past month taht she hasnt eaten I hadnt fillled her pool up. I let it get down to about an inch of water. I didnt even think about this when she wouldnt eat. Especially since I see most peoples pictures on here of thier condas eating right on newspaper.
Well, last night I was getting anxious for her to eat. Getting tired of wasting rats. So I tried one last thing. I refilled her water. She likes it to be enough to totally submerge with ease. So I keep it at about 5 inches of water. Bout an hour later she was in her water. And then tonight, I put her rat in, and she ate it. While I am happy she ate, I am concerned too.
I dont know how to wean her off her need to eat in water. And I know I cant have a pool for her when she gets bigger. So does anyone have any ideas or has anyone even heard of a Conda with this problem?
She just refuses to eat unless she is totally submerged! and I mean, I cant even just have a small bucket or something, she has to be able to move about in the water somewhat still. Her pool is a nice sizre for her still. It should work for her till she is a few feet longer. She is at 7 now. But what do I do later?
As I mentioned, she went 9 months without eating just because she couldnt eat in water.
Argh, what a picky eater.
Anyone?

Heres a few pics of her in her pool with her nice full belly.

` Some Anacondas need the security of water to feel bold enough to eat.
` Perhaps if you get her used to eating regularly in water, she may then learn to eat out of the water. I've had a few who behaved like that.
` All of the Anacondas I've dealt with seemed to prefer a water container that was just large enough to fit into. A low water level that their bulk raises to just cover them, has always worked for me.
` If you get her feeding regularly, food may become more important to her than it is now.
` In this picture, you can see that two large adult Yellows have crowded into one container, leaving the other empty. They do this regularly.

-----

` Stop the world! I want to get off.

Well, how long do you suppose it might take for her to start eating outside the water? I have had her 2 years now. Minus the 9 months she didnt eat till I got her the water, that is how long she has been eating for me. So how long you think it might take he to be comfortable enough with eating till she will do it without the water? I used to have a tray like the one in your picture. That was what I had originally used before I made this tank for her. But she even refused to eat in it. Just not deep enough. Her water in her pool now was deep enough for her to cover herseelf in a month ago when she first refused to eat. But still not as deep as she liked. She like to be able to comfortably be covered with water. The deeper the more she likes it. I am pretty sure she was a wild caught snake. So that is probably what she was used to in the wild.
But even with enough to cover herself she still woundt eat till I filled it all the way up for her. I dont know how I am supposed to do that when she is 20 feet long. LOL
I suppose then I would need a room all for her with a kddie pool in it or something! Argh. Why cant I have one of the EASY feeders? I love my snake. I really do. But she is one picky broad.

` I wouldn't guess at how long. Each one is an individual.
` I'll tell you this, I've had great success in taming Boids. Much of it has come from letting each individual animal do as it wants, both in the moment, and in long-term lifestyle. I watch their behavior and try to make their living conditions suit their individual preferences. I handle them the same way.
` I had a baby Green male who was only happy when he was inside a 1 gallon ( small mouthed ) milk jug, full of water. I had it in the cage to keep some water at ambient temperature. The first time I saw him in there, I thought he had drowned. I took the jug away, and he got pissy. Put it back, he was fine. So, I let him have the jug until he was too big to fit in the mouth. When he could no longer fit, he gave up on the jug, and I took it away. He stayed tame, and today is a great snake to handle.
` If you don't overfeed her, she will not reach 20 feet for many years, if ever. The amount of food they need to be healthy is remarkably small, if you're not going to use her for a breeder. Besides growing much more slowly, with lighter feedings, they live much longer, and with much better health.
`
` This big guy is almost six years old, 10 feet, 30 pounds. At his current size and age, he gets 3 pounds of rats, 6 times per year. When feeding time comes, he doesn't care where the food is, he's ready for it. He doesn't look too skinny, to me.

-----

` Stop the world! I want to get off.

WOW! Nice belly! lol
Well we ARE planning on breeding her eventually. We have a few people who have males to breed them with. And that want ot buy her later on...whenever I am ready to part with her.
The original plan was to keep her till she was big enough to breed, breed her, keep one of the female babies, sell her and the rest of the babies, and do it all over again. But now I have gotten so attached to her I dont know that I will EVER be willing to give her up. lol though I know a few breeders that want her. I just dont know if I will be able to give her up when taht time comes. Still a long waysd away from taht though. I want her to be big and healthy before i even think about breeding her. I have seen too many big snakes that were bred too soon or not fat enough, and they were in horrible shape after they gave birth because of it.
I don't think I feed her too much. I feed her every other week.
Used to be every week since she hadnt eaten for 9 months. She was getting thin. So I had fed her every week to get her healthy again. then I cut her back to every other week for about the last 9 months now. She pretty much lets me know when she is hungry though. I dont just throw food in there on a certain day. Sometimes she will even go 3 weeks without food. When she is hungry she gets in her pool and starts flicking her tongue everywhere and then sits with her head by her log and waits.
the only time she goes into the water is A: to Shed B: To poop or C: to EAT.
Other than that she stays on the other side of the tank where its dark and cooler.
I also designed her tank to fit HER. That was part of what got her eating. I had originally tried the bland bare tank with just newspaper, proper humidity and temp, and a small water dish just big enough for her to fit in pretty much. And taht didnt work. So I endded up looking at everything they have in the wild and tried to recreate that for her as best i could. And taht was all she wanted. She has been so happy and healthy ever since then.
Recreating her habitat is easy and will still be easy when she is fully grown. Just the water part of it wont be so easy. But I am sure we will figure something out if we cant wean her off it eventually.

I think it is going to be difficult to accomplish your plan from what you have said. Your only chance would be to start with a full pool and lower the water level at which you keep the pool an inch every three or four months and hope she acclimates. Good luck.

Kelly

Pretty much. lol
Not going to be easy AT ALL!
It will be easy to give her her water for a few more years. But then.... well, I have seen pics of your boys Kelly. And i know females get much bigger. So trying to give something that size a pool to drown itself in, yeh right.
I DO remmeber ONE occasion where she did eat outside the water.
Why she would do it then and not now is beond me. It was just one time, I had laid it on her log by the darker side of the tank, and she ate it witout complaint. But I tried that again and she turned it down over and over again.
I will try lowering the water levels slowly with each feeding and see what happens. Thanks Kelly.