Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This was Replied to probably way later than it should of been. This was a question asked a few months ago, it's down towards the bottom of the forum. He was asking about what to use for substrates on anaconda caging and how large the enclosures should be. So, here is my response to it. I figure if I put it as a new post, someone would of actually read it as opposed to posting a month later down there and no one seeing it. Also, i was curious to know how you all are caging your condas, and also how often you feed them. enjoy!

I will take you some pictueres of my setup. It's actually a room built onto my house in north florida. It's completely screened in with concrete floors, complete with drains incase she overflows her waterbowl, it also works great for when I clean the floors. Outside enclosures work great for these large snakes provided a couple of things. 1. it's warm enough all year round to keep the snake outside, if not, please have a backup tank with all the neccessary equipment to house a large anaconda inside. =) 2. it's kept VERY clean. Anacondas are one of the boas more subseptable to mouthrot, and other parasites, especially if it's WC. There's a few pictures of Akasha right now online one on this forum, and she is only about 7' now.. why is her cage the size of a living room do you ask? Well, if you buy enclosures to suite their size for the time being, in six months to a year you will have to buy another one. sometimes earlier for younger species as they grow faster. a nice 55 gallon aquarium with a sturdy water dish, hide box, and I personally use a zoo med undertank heater under part of the tank, and use DRY cypress bark, it's very attractive and won't harm the snake. Branches are great for young anacondas, I had one going over the dish so she could just climb up and check things out whenever she wanted. that and I used to put the thawd rats on it over her dish. hehe. Anacondas like the moisture, but they can also get scale rot which is not uncommon for green anacondas. A little bit of iodine, and a nice warm environment with access to a water bowl would be perfect. Let me know if I left anything out. How are all of you caging your anacondas??? I would love some new ideas.
Light and Love,
~James

mine are caged in a semi-aquatic custom tank. with bark(repti bark) and moss is the swampy area. with regular water changing i havenever had a problem with scale rot but it is common if u dontkeep it clean. i feed them once a week cept for the one smaller one james screwed up for life.

haha, very funny... Honestly, i dont' know WHAT happend to him after I brought him in. Fed him the day I brought him in to you guys, and then poof... no more. I definately want him back before something happens to him.... I'll be in there sunday to get food for the rest of um. =)

I keep mine is small cages, 14 to 20 square feet. They have heated water to soak in, and branches to climb on. I use floor-heat only. I use no cages under 24" high for Anacondas. Anacondas, like the large Pythons, are ambush predators, and do not need to move around much. When healthy, and happy, they will stay put, often for weeks, sometimes arboreal! When they get hungry, and start to hunt, I feed them. It averages out to 10 to 12 times per year, for adults. I use newspaper substrate, in several layers. I also wad many pieces into tight balls. They will pile these on top of themselves when they want to hide, which is very seldom, usually when digesting. When I feed them, I feed them until they are FULL, and will accept no more. If I thaw out too many, and even fill-up my garbage-disposal Ball Python, I make a great pizza!! Crunchy. Yummy!

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To Buddhist hot dog vendor. "Make me one with everything."