Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

my 3 months old green conda hasn't fed yet. I have owned it for 1 month now, the habitat seems to be good, the humidity and temperatures are ok. I know greens are terrible at eating especially at this age. Its only been a month, so I will not freak out. I offered him a thawed mouse once, then offered him a thawed small rat once, than offered a live mouse once....out of my 3 attempts, he didnt touch a single one. The thawed rodents were offered with lights off and on in his cage , (no results) they were than offered in a seperate dark box with no results again. The live mouse was offered in a seperate container with all the lights off for about 1.5 hours, still he hasnt touched a thing. The original owner of this guy told me that he eats live mice. OOOh well, looks like i will keep on trying different variations as time goes by. Any hints will be appreciated.

Hmmm... A few more things to do with f/t foods. Try scenting the f/t rat with quail, thaw them out together or something. Maybe try dipping the f/t rats head in some warm chicken broth also. Try quail if rats honstly don't work... Keep to f/t though, because if it's taking it's time to eat and not snapping, a live will have a chance to really hurt it.
~Ben

Birds Birds Birds Birds Birds!!! thats what u need u need chickens ducks quail to start off then work in to mammals. i got a 3 year old green that less then 5 feet long and has not eatten in over a year (last meal was august 7 2004) birds my friend try the birds.

CrazyCody
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I'm CrazyCody KadunkKadunk!!! I'm a herp god!!!

Kadunk was here

CrazyCody

I have had Green anacondas since 1985. Anaconda Babbies are like Green Tree Pythons hatchlings. Sometimes hard to get feeding. I got a pair from Glades Herp they were snappy did tame down same day out of the bag.They fed right away next day.
But I have other babies that will not eat on there own even tried birds lizards frogs fish. So after a 2 months I had to force feed. But I did not mis handle snake in process.I started with Pieces of a mouse thats right a half mouse or leg small pieces that would not stress snake and it will not spit it out. Always after 1 force feeding all my ancondas that would not fed on there own would start feeding on there own. You want to be able to get in the mouth and gently and very carefully push down.Try not to man handle the anaconda after it feeds. Sometimes you got to give its feeding habit's a jump start. You dont have to agree with my methods but they work fo me. And yes I also have Green tree pythons but I did not have to force feed them to start just a little pinch on there tails would upset them to say the least and would strike and coil around pinkey mouse. What ever you do dont let it get to weak to feed wether force or on its own. Right now I have a baby green that is also on strike with the feeding but Its only been 3 weeks. Hope
this helps. The dirt bag you got it from just wanted to sell
snakes they tell what you want to hear. Once you get it started
it wont stop feeding. Green anacondas are hardy snakes to say the least.Good luck Post if it feeds. Dave

Hi, thank you for taking the time to write me a response. I personally do feel that even if i offer it quail, fish, lizards, etc it still won't feed on it.It has only been around 5 weeks since he didn't eat, but he did poop once i got him delivered. So this tells me that he was feeding before i got him. I am 99% positive that there is nothing wrong with the environment that i am offering him. I am not a novice snake/reptile keeper. If he won't eat within the next two weeks, I will have to force feed it. To be honest with you with all the experience that i had with various snakes and lizards, I never had to force feed anything. Everyone ate on their own and lived happy lives. I will try to offer him another mouse within a weeks time, if he wont touch it, than i will have to do it the hard way. My hypothesis is that the instant switch from one environmental habitat to another has made a biological change in his system and is not yet restored. Anyhow I appreciate your advice. take care

Ron

I bought two (2) small Green Anacondas several months ago. Both rejected live and F/T mice for a period of several weeks.

One day I went to the livestock feed store and bought a baby chick. I placed the chick in the cage with one of the Anaconda's and the snake almost immediately struck and coiled around it. Some time later I went back to the feed store and bought another baby chick and placed the chick with the second Anaconda. A few minutes later the chick found itself coiled in the tight embrace of its new roommate.

Call some feedstores and see if they don't sell baby chicks. This may be your best bet.

Good luck.

As good of an idea as it sounds, it may not be the best one. Ok, lets assume that my 3 months old conda is going to eat this chick. Now with a developed taste for chicken i have a problem on my hands. Instead of feeding it easy to get/affordable/convinient thawed prey such as mice/ rats, I will have to provide it regular chicks. I live out in the city, not a country or a farm land where chicks are an easy access. Plus it throws off my entire snake stock, where all 3 of my other snakes feed on F/T prey. I would like for it to convert to rats if possible....... mice at the least. If it wont eat on its own and the force feeding wont be successful than yes i will have no choice but to try chicks, fish, you name it. For now i will let it acclimate a bit more to its habitat. Since its a baby its sympathetic nervous system is not secure yet, so its not calming down just yet. I will keep everyone posted on this baby. Thank you all

Ron

I think you should still try chicks, buy about 5-10 f/t chicks and then see if your anaconda will take them. It's horrible if you don't try that before force feeding. That should be a last resort period deffidently. With frozen thawed chicks, just buy a big batch, and then if it takes it, you should just thaw them out with a rat, seriously, it has worked almost everytime it has happened. Just because it's not convient doesn't mean you should harm the snake with force feeding.
~Ben

Ron wrote:

> As good of an idea as it sounds, it may not be the best one. Ok, As good of an idea
> as it sounds, it may not be the best one. lets assume that my 3 months old conda is
> going to eat this chick. Now with a developed taste for chicken i have a problem
> on my hands.

Ron, your -current problem- is your snake won't eat. Let's not focus on problems for yourself until the problem with your snake is remedied.

> Instead of feeding it easy to get/affordable/convinient thawed prey such as mice/ rats,
> I will have to provide it regular chicks.

So if your snake won't eat mice/rats you will force feed for the rest of its life?

> I live out in the city, not a country or a farm land where chicks are an easy access.

You don't have package delivery in your city?

> Plus it throws off my entire snake stock, where all 3 of my other snakes feed on
> F/T prey. I would like for it to convert to rats if possible....... mice at the least.

I just finished feeding my two (2) Green Anacondas F/T baby chicks. They've never had F/T chicks until today. My Anacondas went from not eating to becoming eating machines. Eventually the chicks will largely be replaced with larger warm-blooded prey.

> If it wont eat on its own and the force feeding wont be successful than yes i will have
> no choice but to try chicks, fish, you name it.

No, sir! A responsible snake owner would reasonably exhaust other venues before force feeding a snake. I would think for someone who claims he's -not- "a novice snake/reptile keeper" you would show more intelligence in your husbandry decisions.

As your snake if finishing the chick you could find a safe way to place the head of the F/T rat/mouse at the butt end of the chick so the snake might better acclimate to a different diet.

There's no problems, only solutions.

Scott

Hey guys ease up on Ron. He may have a diffiuclt feeder and he is worried about the snake. Like any responsible herp keeper. You all may have been lucky with your snakes that did feed on there own and take a chick or what ever. I have had one small green that only wanted Gerbils. Force feeding is not bad if done right if you have exhausted all your trys with what ever food source and snake still wont feed. Would you let it perish?
I dont think so.And NO you wont have to force feed for life I have never had to do it more than 1 TIME with any diffuclt feeder. Scott are you going to use gloves for the rest of your snakes life to handle it? You all have good ideas. I will try some myself.Anacondas are tricky to get started to say the least. We who keep herps get them from breeders who are not honest or will not disclose faults with their animals for sale.
The worst feeling is when you put in food the snake and find it has not eaten it. So lets all help each other one ideal might not be kosher but if it is effective and works then try it. Just my 2 cents. Dave

i agree where all here to help, some of us are lucky and some are not, my female green ate only once for me in the last 3.5 weeks and everytime i come to check if she ate her food in the morning, i am unpleasently surprised to find that she didn't take her food again, its stressful, and we dont want to add to that stress by Criticizing others, we need to give our support.
the snake will eat when its ready, try not forcefeeding it until you see some signs that not eating is affecting her health

good luck
less

Force feeding may have it’s place with compromised or debilitated animals, but as many of you already know, I am adamantly opposed to the force feeding of any healthy boid. Not only can it be highly counter-productive, it can easily cause permanent injury to a young green, mainly due to their strength to resist even at a very early age. Jud and I have started at least 40 neonate green anacondas over the years and have yet to have one that would not eventually feed on its own; and we have never had to resort to force feeding a single green. The problem with greens is that it is difficult to resist the temptation to force feed after waiting 8 to 12 weeks for one to begin feeding. With a healthy green, this time period is not a problem. With their extremely slow metabolism, they can easily go longer than this with no detrimental effects. We have had 2 or 3 of them go close to 5 months before starting to feed with almost no apparent weight loss. With a healthy green, under proper environmental conditions, when they are ready to feed, they will. Ben, Cody, and Scott brought up the use of chicks. We also, have found that this initial non-feeding period can many times be shortened by the use of chicks, or by the use of small rats dipped in non-seasoned, or lightly seasoned chicken broth. It is obviously best to try the broth first, but if that fails, most neonates will readily start on f/t chicks and only a very few will require the use of live chicks. Just be patient, always feed in the first hour after lights out, and keep offering about every 5 days until it takes. Another concern was getting a young green started on chicks, and then having it always want chicks, and there after refusing to feed on rodents. This has never been a problem with any of the many young greens we have started on chicks. All eventually switched over to rats by scenting, the longest taking maybe 2 or 3 months, with most switching over within 3 or 4 feedings.
Just my thoughts on the subject,

Kelly