Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is it true that the Anaconda's the largest wild snake?

and if so, wouldn't it be the largest in captivity as well?
I've heard mixed stories on the largest... some sites claim Rock pythons take the record, and another said Retics...
I don't know much about the sizes of these guys, just relatively speaking

I only own corns and a baby ball...

so just for interest, how big are your guys? and are they really the biggest?
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Alexandria Neonakis
Owner of:
Olivia the Female Green Ig
Maize(f) and Onyx(m) the cornsnakes
Peter(m) and Lois(f) the Leopard Geckos

While the baby the burmese python has the record for the largest snake...as a species, the green anaconda is certainly the largest. They will get larger in captivity but you also must take in consideration the line they came from...most capives do not come from 25 ft wild caught anacondas especially since WC adults are extremely difficult to adapt to captivity (so therefore we shouldnt do it). There are also many less E. murinus in collections than your other large snakes so its hard to say. The 3 large python species and the green anaconda are very large and capable of being well over 20 ft. But I believe only the burmese and green anaconda are proven to be capable to the near half ton massive sizes. More opinion on this would be nice though.

see i've never seen an anaconda outside of that ridiculous movie

and anyone with half a brain would realize that's a gross exaggeration.

but i remember being told once while in costa rica that we couldn't go on the beach because an anaconda had been spotted

when we went onto the beach the next day, the ruts he left were wider across than I am (of course, I'm a petite girl, but still... they were pretty big!)

I'm interested in knowing how big the largest in captivity is compared to the largest burm, as well as how big is the largest one spotted in the wild?
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Alexandria Neonakis
Owner of:
Olivia the Female Green Ig
Maize(f) and Onyx(m) the cornsnakes
Peter(m) and Lois(f) the Leopard Geckos

I bet there was no anaconda on the beach on costa rica.

I have no idea what was there
We were told to stay off the beach because there was a giant snake on the beach
then another tourist told us it was an anaconda...how he knew what it was is beyond me

I didn't see the snake itself... just big ruts where the big snake had been....regardless, I want to know how big they get in the wild, because these ruts were huge....
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Alexandria Neonakis
Owner of:
Olivia the Female Green Ig
Maize(f) and Onyx(m) the cornsnakes
Peter(m) and Lois(f) the Leopard Geckos

Hey
I've always understood it as the top three are the Green conda the retic and the burm. I believe the retic and the conda are neck and neck for lenght, but the conda is much much thicker, in girth. Well the females of course. I think if more discoveries of wc adult females were done i think we could find a fairly large green anaconda, so i think the retic might have a little more lenght, but i would say the conda has the capability to be longer. I hope that made sense it did in my head, and i could be wrong, wouldnt be the first time. just my 3 cents. peace
jonathanM

Well, like I have seen/said before: It is like comparing a poerline to a powerline pole... Well not to that extent but you get right?... The retic is supposed to be the longest (33feet), Green Anaconda 2nd longest (28 feet I think) but the heaviest body of the snakes, and the burm the 3rd longest (27 feet) and 2nd heaviest bodied snake species.
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Justin

I think I'm going to agree with Justin, from what I know, Retics are deffidently longest, I mean I have a 10' tiger retic and a close to 7' anaconda, and they almost have the same girth, at least eating the same things. I'm pretty sure Retics are the longest but going in girth, Anacondas dominate I mean you can just look at Kelly's 14' anaconda in the post above, and it looks to be as thick as an 18' Retic. And then of course Burms and rocks would come in third, they even it all out with length and girth Still, all this is still isn't proven or anything, so still just an opinion

~Benjamin

Another thing to consider in addition to family lineage is the fact that many captives are obese. One may say that homo sapien females are 110-155lbs, but we all know of a few that are two, three, five hundred pounds right? Does this change the dimensions of the species or the individual?
To relate, that fat burmese Baby in Gurnee Mills is a gross joke and I would not consider burmese pythons to range up into the 300-400lbs. Nor greens for that matter.
To finish off, all the averages that I've heard of (from healthy individuals) has all the species averaging under 20feet and all approximatly the same size, with the aforementioned differences of the retic's tendency towards longer and skinny, and the green's tendency to be thicker. Does this mean that some locale populations may not get larger? Nope. Nor does it limit the size to any individual, healthy or not. It just means that species should not be measured on the exceptions but rather the norms.

thats pretty much right unless you are talking about its potential. Baby was actually over 400 lbs. As for norms, the big 4 snakes are all long lengths with the retic maybe growing a tad longer on average. The green anaconda omes right up to them but is just much more massive due to its aquatic nature allowing for such. Either way, that doesnt change the ultimite consesus of the thread.