Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi I am wanting to purchase an anaconda and was wondering if anyone knew of any dealers/breeders with a reasonable price. I also have a few questions about anacondas. Are they overall a good snake or a very picky/distempered snake? Are they hard to care for? Do they grow fast? And are what sized tank would you need for a baby anaconda/ how long before I need a larger tank. Enough questions? Thanks for your time.

I would deffidently recommend Kelly Haler's next batch of Green Anacondas. If you are patient enough to wait for his next batch of condas, that's probably the best route to go. NERD Also has some neonates available that look really good, not sure on them though, just naming another source. It really all depends on the conda itself and it's parents as far as temperment, as far as picky goes, it also depends on the conda, but I would say a lot of neonates can be pretty picky. I have a green that will anything but me, but I have also seen ones that will only take quail, only eat in water, etc. Green Anacondas are deffidently up there with Retics and Burms as far as caring for goes. They can be hard or easy, depending on how you actually do care for it. If you supply the *large* cage, water (you might not need water for it to soak when it is an adult, but always good to be prepared), food, humidity, heat, etc. condas are great to care for. As far as a baby conda goes, I would start it off in AT LEAST a 20 gallon, but would recommend a 40 gallon. My female green is in a 8'x3' cage, it is a little over a year old, 7' (give or take) feeding on 1 lbs rabbits. So I would say they grow pretty fast, about the same as a retic or burm would. But if you are looking for a yellow anaconda, everything could be completely different, so if you are, post it, and most of this will be completely different! Hope this helps though!

~Ben

So your saying Anacondas grow 7' the first year? I am looking a a cage right now, it is 48"L,18"H, and 24"D. How long do you think that would last an anaconda?

I'm not saying they will, but I'm saying they could. Every snake will have a somewhat different growth rate. I have had a burmese python that only grew to about 6' within the year, and I have seen some that have hit up to 8 or 9'. A 48" long x 18" high x 24" wide would last it a year I'm pretty sure, but you will need to upgrade it sometime. Like I said in the post way above, I have mine in a 8'x30", because I wont have to change it's cage for probably up to 3-4 years. Putting a baby conda in a huge cage could stress it out though, so I would think about a small aquarium, maybe a 40 gal or 55 gal one at first, until it's at least 4 - 5' before you put him in a huge cage. But if you don't want to have to switch out cages, I would just go ahead and go with an 8' long x 30"-4' wide cage. But it's all up to you! Good luck again!

~Ben