Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone,

I am just wondering if you can point me in the direction of reliable and accurate care info for green anacondas? I am generally a keeper of crocodilians, but I do have 2 reticulated pythons and a burmese. I have been very interested in anacondas and just recently acquired the room necessary that I could build a good size enclosure. I know where I can get them from, but would like to find some detailed info about them before the purchase. Any info or personal advice would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Chris

The New England Reptile Distributors (NERD) site has a good care sheet for green anacondas. Although I disagree with them on a few feeding points, it is quite good over all. I believe the article Jud and I have in the January 2004 Reptiles magazine would also be of help to you. The main focus of the article is on reproduction, but we also have a section in it on care of greens in captivity. Plus, you can always ask specific questions on this forum as there are numerous people here with good experience and ideas.

Kelly

kelly,

Thank you very much for your response. Mostly the information that I am looking for is primarily, the appropriate temps/humidity, do they need a basking spot or just an overall steady temp and so forth. But I wouldn't mind having a book of some sort that is accurate and has good information about known health issues in conda's and whatnot. Overall handling/feeding and housing isn't too much of a concern. I just need to know the temperature and humidity needs mostly, so I can make adjustments to the caging as necessary. I would also love to see some cages of any adult specimens if at all possible. Thanks again for your help. I will certainly look into those. Any other info or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

chris

Kelly what feeding points dont you agree with on the nerd caresheet? I'm not disagreeing I just want to know for my own knowledge thanks.

No problem at all, I think differing opinions are great. My two main disagreements were with the procedure of placing the snake in a separate feeding container, and the feeding of an anaconda more frequently than once per week. I think it is a bad practice to feed snakes in separate feeding containers outside of their own enclosures. You are creating a feeding association behavior that can get dangerous if you are dealing with a species that can become large, and moving an adult boid after a large meal can obviously present a health risk to the snake. I have been feeding boids in their own cages for over 30 years and never had any problems associated with the practice. On the second point, feeding any anaconda, regardless of age, more frequently than once per week is simply overfeeding. Unless of course you are feeding extremely undersized prey items. Just my opinions on it.

Kelly