Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently lent my nephew a presumed male (3.5yrs,8ft,small head,visible spurs)green anaconda.Upon introduction to the enclosure containing a large male yellow anaconda it became clear the green was infact female and the pair mated consistently for about 2 wks.Now there is no interest between the pair.I have bred green anacondas several times before but never with such a small female(16lbs)and i was just wondering if anyone had an idea about the likelihood of conception and possible gravidity.Any info welcome.
thanks, Dan

You have bred green anacondas several times?.......Fantastic!!...We can`t wait to see some of your old pics of the litters. Why would you put two males together?

Thank you for your response,very helpful?I am not an anaconda breeder like yourself or kelly Haller i purely like keeping them.Having said this i have bred them twice-both times accidentally simply by placing newly aquired females into cages containing males.Successfully may have been an exageration as the 1st litter only contained 1 live and the 2nd only 3 live-all of which i still have.As you can see i am not and do not claim to be an expert but to be honest i am not really interested in the breeding side of things.Secondly,my nephew is only 17 and wanted a green therefore i decided it would be more sensible to give him a male due to size considerations and considering the fact i was not intending to try to breed it made no odds.Anyway if you have any thoughts on my question please let me know

I just didn`t understand why would you put a `presumed` male green anaconda in with a large known male yellow anaconda...if your `presumed` green had, in fact, been a male you may have had a fairly serious problem on your hands, possibly resulting in a dead snake......Mike

I thought he was maybe trying to make a hybrid....prob not..but made more sense due to the likelihood of overt aggression shown between males of most python and boas. Some quite savage.

Reticulated Pythons are unreal in that department.

Dan,
It is unlikely that she has the maturity and body mass, at only 16 lbs, to be able to conceive at that age and size. I would not say impossible, but unlikely. The smallest green that I know of to produce viable young was a wild female with a total length around 9 feet. I don’t have the weight or age of that snake, but I am certain she was considerably heavier than yours and probably a few years older. Head size on a younger female can be misleading as many female greens don’t start showing the wider head until they are at least 4 or 5 years of age. I would be interested to see photos of the spurs on this green, as at this size, the females usually have fairly recessed spurs. Is the entire spur showing, or just the tip section?

Kelly

Thanks Kelly,i thought that would be your answer.When i get her back i"ll try to get a photo of her spurs but im sure they were quite prominent.I was sold her as a baby female and remember being annoyed when she turned out to be male{my mistake}.
Thanks mjf for responding but over the years i have kept many male green and yellows together without ever having any problems,as males dont combat over females this does not seem to be a problem.

Hi kelly,
Here is the photo of the 16lb green's spur (sorry about the poor lighting)as you can see the the spur is quite prominent,infact significantly more prominent tnan the much larger yellow male's spurs.Please let me know what you think.

Thanks Dan (if the photo does not appear i posted it on anaconda photos )

Dan,
It's hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like a good size spur and appears like a males. The general build of the snake in the photo, and the length to weight ratio would also lead me to think male as well. I would suggest that you probe this green to confirm. They probe different than other snakes, and if not done correctly, all greens will probe out as females. As far as the breeding activity you observed, under certain conditions in the wild, male anacondas have shown occasional breeding activity toward other males. It's rare, but has happened.

Kelly