Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are they anything like burms? Ive delt with burms before? Also can they be tamed...I have had burms that were like puppy dogs. Can they ever get like that? Also how are there feeding respnses? And what are the basic needs throughout there lives....thanks a lot
Mike

I believe most of the anaconda variation you are going to get is because of the relatively new popularity they have. These animals have never been big in captive collections and breeders are few and far compared to burms. Some have a strong feeding response but in my experience..many greens are shy feeders (especially juveniles). Some can be calm or calmed down and others are going to hold onto their alert attitudes. I would not really compare them to burms. They are very different. They work in much cooler temps than your equitorial burms who do not live under dense canopy or in water. They are also a snake which will turn around when upset. Burms tend to bite what is in front of them.

I totally agree with E4, they can't really be compared to Burms. They are also classified as boas, so there is one really big difference. They can snap from the side as well as lunging strait out at you. I have also had trouble getting neonate/juvie condas to eat. But comparing Anacondas to burms, just a lot of different requirments. If you would want to know some useful info about them, check out this care sheet. I would be careful of who you buy from though. C/b is always the way to go.

http://www.newenglandreptile.com/CareGConda.html

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want!
~Ben

I completely agree with both of the previous replies. I've never owned my own anacondas, but I worked for about 1 1/2 years as a care taker for some of Terry Wilkins snakes, including many green anacondas. The advice about anacondas turning to bite is a very important thing that you would have learned quickly, and I never would have thought about warning you of. Another issue is that where many burms will bite once as a warning strike, about 50% of anacondas will bite multiple times as a warning. And with bigger anacondas, when they bite, some will rip side to side as they bite, even if they are striking forward. Not to say they are bad snakes, just like all the other giants, they have potential to be dangerous, and are much different then the giant pythons. As previously mentioned, much cooler then burms; and as obvious, more water space is needed. After they have begun eating, they will eat as much as their bodies can hold without puking (I've never known one that would stop eating before it was full or food was out, and I've also never known one that would eat too much.) They will grow FAST. If you've kept burms for a long time, you'll be ready for that, though. And as it is mentioned with pretty much every animal, it's a really good idea to start with a captive born baby. I can't stress it enough on anacondas. Many snakes it's just health/feeding/acclimation issues. Anacondas, as you probably well know, are infamous for their bad tempers, and get plenty of size to back it up. Few wild caughts come in tame, and beginners rarely calm them down. Can be down, but it might not be worth the risks. As mentioned, few breeders compared to the giant pythons, but this number is growing. The best captive born anacondas I've seen have come from Terry Wilkins' line. I've heard rumors that he has bred F11 babies. I've never asked him about it, but it sounds like a stretch to me. I do know that his current mammoth sized female is an F4, so all of his babies will be at least F5. They tend to be very tame from birth, without any disease issues. His animals are priced high for baby anacondas (300-400 range,) but if you are just starting out and want a great baby, he's the only guy I could recommend to help you out. Good luck, and sorry for the long post that probably didn't help you out too much.

Green Anacondas are known for their bad and nippy temperament. They grow to be enormous, even larger than a Burmese Python. You would need a huge enclosure just to house it alone. You would have a lot of work on your hands and it would be difficult to maintain. As far as I know, anacondas are eating machines, but I'm not too sure as I don't have that much experience with them in captivity. I strongly suggest you decide on something else to get. Anacondas are just not a good choice for a pet.

Well I do not have a green but I do have a yellow. Yes, they ARE NOT the snake for everyone. But if you do your research on all aspects of keeping one and then finding a reputable breeder there is no reason why one can't be kept. I was looking at getting a BRB when a friend of mine got me thinking about keeping a green conda, which I love, but to me if you're gonna keep a green, I want a female But I knew keeping such a giant was not in my best, or the snakes, interest. So I started looking at the yellows. Now yes even these reach a good size but nothing as near to a female green in length and weight. Did my research, found a good breeder and I couldn't be more pleased with my girl. She defies all conda hype on temper and aggressiveness. Yes, I've been bitten but only because I have done things she does not like. Now that I do not do those things I haven't had a bite in over 5 months now. And yes there is absolutely no comparison to burms, retics, rocks, scrubs or any other large python or boa. Condas are in a bracket all to themselves

-----
"I am all that is Divine, I am all that is Evil.
I am the one who brings forth Death,
On the wings of a Weevil." JSKII

Greens are definitely not for everyone, but as you said, with the proper research and dedication, these very unique and unusual boids can easily be as rewarding a captive as a retic or burmese. Jud and I have maintained a fair number of them, and we have found that when raised in captivity from birth, the requirements for the successful management of greens in captivity are nearly identical to those required for these other two large constrictors. About the only difference being temperature requirements. Additionally, regarding size concerns, these three actually all have very similar maximum sizes in captivity. Male greens will never reach the proportions of a typical adult male retic or burmese, and female greens in captivity typically are not seen at the lengths shown by large females of these other two species in captivity. This is due mostly to the female greens extremely slow growth rate as they get older. With female greens, their strength is more the issue of importance, and not necessarily their size. While they have their own distinct set of behavioral idiosyncrasies, as in being easily startled for example, large greens require the same common sense to work with as do the other large constrictors. And lastly, temperament is genetically based, and inherently aggressive greens will very rarely ever calm down in captivity.

Kelly

and both are great in temperament. Both were very fresh imports when I got them in and the male took awhile to start feeding but I never had to scent anything. The female took right to capativity and stopped nipping by the third day I had her.

I will say that conda bites tend to be more painful than retics or burms, when I got the male out of the package he latched on immediately and chewed for awhile, for a small snake it sure hurt and bleed pretty well too. I use a hook to get mine out of the cage, but I really only handle them on occasion to keep them calm.

My male is currently about 4' and the female is a little over 6', in all she's a better feeder. You can really notice the strength when you handle her, more powerful than my 9' colombian.

Both seem to do great a room temperature.(I live in Fl and the house about 78 year round.)

If you do decide to keep them just be sure you will be ready to house a large snake.

Good Luck.

Worst bite I ever got was from a 6' yellow anaconda. Carried a tooth in my finger for 2 years. None of them give you any warning before they bite. None are for beginners.

I don't know about all greens, I am somewhat of a beginner myself, but I can tell you that my green is very alert and shy but has never attempted to bite me in the 1 year that I have had him. I don't know how they are compared to any other large constrictors since this is my first one, but they are not too aggressive if you handle them correctly and read their emotions moderately well.

As everyone else here has said, be sure to do the research and soul searching to make sure this snake is really what you want. I have both a female green anaconda and a female yellow anaconda. The green is probably my favorite snake that I work with period, but she is also the most work. She is a 5 1/2 year old CB and has a great disposition, but at 14 feet & 150 lbs she is not easy to work and it can be a major fight to get out of her 150 gallon pond. Also, as to their strength, I also own and work with rock pythons and retic's and even though they are exceptionally powerful animals, the green anaconda makes even the 16 to 20 foot retic's seem like weaklings. The point I am making is that a female green anaconda is an animal that deserves all the respect that you can muster. I honestly do not know how you would ever work a really aggressive adult female green, so be sure you purchase a CB from a reputable breeder with excellent captive stock (i.e. good temperaments). As to their requirements, Kelly has raised his without a large water source and has had excellent results. So has NERD. I started out with a large water source and so I have moved up the size of the "pond" with the size of the snake. If you go this route the water must be heated to 80 to 82 degrees and must be kept very clean. I started out using a plastic kitty litter pan over a heat source (heat tape on the outside of the cage) set on a thermostat at 82 degrees. As she has grown I moved up to plastic cement mixing pans, pre fabed plastic yard pools and now, her last pond, a 150 gallon plastic stock tank, with an enclosed by PVC pipe, titanium heater that is attached to the pond via a 5 inch stainless steel bolt and wing nut (through the PVC housing). Her enclosure started out as a 4X2 melamine cage with plexi glass font and went on to a 6 foot vision (which now houses the yellow) to an 8 foot Neodesha (now houses a male rock), and finally a 6X8x7 walk in plastic reinforced shed (inside my reptile house). The doors are secured by locks on the inside on one door and 2 bolt locks and a door lock on the outside. Belly heat is offered on one side via heat cord under the fir bar substrate on a rheostat, and her lighting is on a timer that gives between 10 to 12 hours of daylight throughout the year. Her environmentals are as follows: humidity at between 55 to 70%, temps are 80 to 85 as background with a warm spot of 90 during the day and 78 to 80 at night, with the warm spot turned off, unless she has recently eaten. Her pond is maintained at 82 degrees. She is presently fed once every 8 weeks and is fed one rabbit between 9 and 11 lbs. Following her feeding her pond is pulled and replaced with a large ceramic water dish, as it is nearly impossible to maintain a clean pond for the first 14 days following her feeding as she urates daily in the pond if it is available. Interestingly she urates less when the pond is removed and the water dish is substituted. The only aggression she has shown is following the move into her new large enclosure this spring. She was also being dieted as she is a little "fluffy". After moving her in the night before I went out to check on her the following morning. Upon opening the door she exploded out of her pond with her mouth wide open. The only thing I saw was the white lining of her mouth. She struck for my face and she rose nearly six feet out her pond to do it. Luckily she missed, and I am still amazed that I can move as fast as I did. She gave no indication that she was going to attack, and I am damn glad that I entered her enclosure cautiously as she was all business that day. Needless to say I fed her the next day and haven't had a problem since, although I still exercise extreme caution with her (as I do around all large snakes, crocodilians, and venomous)especially around week 8 when feeding day is close. Anyway, if you go with a green anaconda, be sure you know what you are in for and be sure you are in it for the long haul and for the right reasons. Remember that they need large enclosures, with large ponds if you raise them in a naturalistic setting. Also, remember that they create large messes, are destructive (mine popped the wall of an $800.00 Neodesha like it was crate paper) and have the ability to kill you as adults. Keep all the large snake precautions at the top of your priority list i.e. smelling salts, alcohol, and hot water handy when handing them, make sure there are enough people in the room in case of an emergency, tap train them with a long pole for maintenance reasons, and never let down your guard. Also, remember that their metabolisms are slower then those of some of the other large snakes, with obesity being a very real problem with captives.
Good luck,
Shane