Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't really have anything to report, but since it's quiet i though I might post an update.

I decided on a name for my new girl. She is not officialy named Patty. I tought it was appropriate since I got her on St. Patricks day and she is a green conda.

I feed her today for the first time since I got her. I wanted to give her some time to adjust before I tried handeling or feeding. She took a mouse with no problem. I fed her in the cage while the light was on, with a pair of forceps. Next time I'm going to try to switch to feeding her after lights out so she doesn't get used to food comeing in durring the day (like when I'm more likely to be handeling her). I might switch to a feeding box yet if she seems to exuberant when I open the lid.

I'm also working on her social skills. She bit one of the guys in the lab twice when I took her out for the first time on monday. She bit him once while he was holding her, then again after I took her back to put her away. Hasent shown any aggression to anyone else, but I figured I'll try to slowly ramp up the handling to make sure she gets used to it. Eventually I may want to use her a educational tool so I want to get her to be really tame. I used to have another green that was kitten tame ... except one time when I stepped on her tail, but then again I wouldn't expect a kitten to be all that tame in that circumstance either.

More posts to come if I have anything interesting to say.

Matt

Sounds like you have a very nice anaconda and I wish you the best with her! Greens can be very tame but some times they do not like strangers or crowds. I do recommend feeding her in the cage. If she gets fiesty when you open the cage touch her with a hook except when feeding. She will soon associate the hook with "no food" and she shuld calm down. Moving a large constrictor after eating is stressful for the snake and dangerous to you. I would much rather deal with a large constrictor's feeding response while it is confined in its cage than have it think it may eat when being handled. Bill.

I at least want to socialize her for contact with small groups. Won't work well for education if she cant deal with strangers.

So far in terms of feeding I like the idea about feeding after lights out, and I like your idea about touching her with the hook if she seems like she it responding to food and I don't want that. The only thing I would worry about is if I feed her with forceps (my usual method) they might be similar enough to a hook that I would almost be conditioning her to expect food when I introduce a metal implement (such as tongs or a hook). Perhaps I could feed her by placing the prey is a smaller container and placing that in the cage after lights out. That way she would become accustomed too only get feed when it's dark, and only from a specific receptacle. What do you think of that?

Matt

You have some good ideas. If she is feeding responsive she may strike when you put the feeding box into her cage. Try it and see how it works. It is ironic that out of my 39 boas and pythons my male green anaconda that I got from Kelly Haller/Jud McClanahan is my tamest snake by far. He does not have a feeding response and is the only snake I do not use a hook on and take him out by hand with no problems. I feed him off tongs and he takes the rat slowly and deliberately. Now my retics are another story-LOL-super feeding response and I do have to bump them on the nose with a hook to cancel their feeding responses. They learn this quickly. I have found that my snakes easily distinguish by sight the tongs from the hook. I can walk by a stack of cages with a hook with no reaction. Walk by the cages with empty tongs and most of them are poised to strike and a few hit the glass. Bill.