Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been thinking about owning an anaconda for a long time now. They do have a couple of strikes against them though, in my books, and can only see myself with yellow anacondas at best. Are these well tempered snakes? Obviously fresh outta nature they're probably not very nice, but captive bred captive raised handled animals of this species can mellow out right? I've only ever kept burmese pythons, only large snake experience though. I never could get myself a retic, as I hear they are the terrors right up there with green anacondas. Not just that they can be aggressive but almost guaranteed to get massive! I likes me massive snakes and all, I just like nice snakes more! I have a little girlfriend, and I want to make sure that between the two of us we can manage a serpent before we buy it, and I just dont see that happening for retics, amethystines, green condas, or african rocks! So this leaves me with Yellow Condas, Burms, Indian Rocks, and maybe one of the other larger morelias.

Any tips or advice on Yellows would be greatly appreciated all, I think they are just gorgeous!

I am not sure from your post what is more important to you, manageable size or mellow temperament. The yellows are smaller, but snippier. Tame greens are not uncommon. Almost any snake can be tamed, especially if a young animal is obtained and worked with frequently, but greens are much more likely to be mellow than yellows in my experience. I have sold a number of green and yellow anacondas. I now own young green anacondas.

After largely being away from reptiles for a few years, I made the decision to get into green anacondas last year. 4 out of 5 imported babies calmed right down. The fifth will take some more effort and will probably not be included in breeding efforts. I have found green anacondas generally easier to tame than Burmese pythons if you start with babies of both.

My own anecdotal observation is that green anacondas hate confinement. A "tame" green anaconda will bite you coming out of a bag and this may also apply if they feel confined in their cage. My fifth anaconda mentioned above may feel too confined in its current cage and a new cage is on order. He went from calm to snippy and I think he may feel he has outgrown his cage.

I certainly don't want to talk you into a potentially dangerous green anaconda, but they are generally calmer than the yellows. I would plan on a green anaconda being less likely to bite, but the consequences potentially more dangerous as they age.

You don't want to trust any potentially dangerous animal, but my green anacondas are more mellow in their feeding responses and are slow to strike. If you are use to "reading" Burmese pythons and their temperament, you will have to learn a new language with anacondas. Burms get huffy and strike. Anacondas will lean towards you and push bite. Similar to the difference between a rat snake and a kingsnake.

I have had them less than a year, and they are still small, but I am becoming a huge fan of the green anacondas. They are slow, deliberate snakes compared to more frenetic Burmese. Others here may have more experience with yellow anacondas, but I have found most yellows to be significantly more jumpy and temperamental than green anacondas or Burmese.

You mentioned Indian pythons. If you can find them, they can be more aggressive than any of the other species listed. But I have been able to tame them with a bit of effort. Neat species that is worth working with, but they start off mean.

I hope this helps a little.

Bryant King
-K Boids

I have Burms, retics, 1 african rock, and a green 'conda.
The burms are puppies,
the retic is a hyper puppy- she's very active, and ALWAYS thinks you have food- I never put my hand in her cage- either a rat goes in and she's on it before it hits the bottom of the cage- or a hook goes in and she comes out- she's never bitten me-- and i owe that to hook training. The other retics are the same but were nippy as babies.

The afrock is PSYCHOTIC- he doesnt care if youre food or not- he will bite. BUT-- a good friend of mine has 9 afrocks, 7 of them are tame as burms- the others are again- psycho.

The green- nippy at first- about the first 3 months we were using hooks and gloves- now we use the hook just like the rest of the bigger snakes.

I am planning to get another green from Kelly Haller- I believe those are some of the best available on the market- you can buy one super cheap- and kelly's are a bit more- but you get what you pay for- and I am forever hearing FANTASTIC things about Kelly and the snakes. So thats on the top of my shopping list.

As for yellows, there's a small zoo here that has a yellow-- pretty fiesty creature...

If you don't have a caging requirement, and you can house a green- and I saw your post about the burm cage you're building- I think you'd be able to handle a green just fine. If you want soemthing that's a little smaller- go yellow. The temperment is going to depend a lot on how often you handle the snake. But- its good to have a 'head start' by purchasing a quality animal from the beginning, which is why I recommend Kelly Haller for greens. I don't know who has good yellows- but someone here will.

Good luck- and let us know if you get one.

Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

Thank you for the quick response! That was quite informative, I had no idea that burms were more frantic than some of the other giants. Greens have never sounded so good! I've never actually had a green but a friend has, and he didn't have a lot of good to say about them, and I was inclined to believe him as we pried the little bone crusher off my hand!

I wasn't looking for managability or size actally, I was looking at is as a noob "you think you want a conda!? can you *handle* a conda? huh? huh?" start small n work up was my thought process there, but nippy is a kind of frustrating place to start with snakes! My first burmese python was puppy dog tame, he struck at me maybe twice his whole life, both times were errors on my part. My girl though, belladonna, she was nippy for the first year! not cool, even as babies those guys have great aim!

Sluggish biters seem somehow more manageable, but dont condas have a higher water requirement? I read that they, in their native environments, are almost always found lurking around the water, swamps and wetlands and such. I try to recreate key elements in their cages, and a large reservoir is possible, but if I don't have to maintain a large reservoir, I don't want too!

Thank you for the recommendation on supplier, I love those, word of mouth is the best way to shop in my opinion! And I whole-heartedly agree with you, quality animals are paramount. My standard phase male burm was a pet store purchase, crowded in 20 gallon with 5 or so siblings. Lame. But he turned out awesome, that I chalk up to luck. My albino standard girlie was bought from a private breeder through kingsnake classifieds, and I even paid an extra thirty bucks ish to get pick of the litter, and she has been the most negative, high-maintenance snake i've ever had, except when that guy pawned off his anemic mite infested redtail he didn't want anymore (a$$ h*le). But she's just now coming around, starting to trust me as her roaming perch, and provider of all, and mellowing out.

It's funny somehow to me to hear that Indian Rock and African Rocks are such angry things! Does this have anything to do with sheer minority of captive breeding? Retics and burms and condas and boas have been mainstreamed, but no ones got scores of african rocks or indian rocks floating around it seems... and with the indian being so restricted and papered, I just dont see how they are ever going to be more than a rarity. Still though, in my days with the pythons, I would like to learn to "read" all of them, retics, afrocks, indian rocks, burms, ceylonese, bateaters, all of it! They are a regal and noble species, modern day dragons. Cant get enough!

Final note, murinus can get up to 350 pounds, right? D@mn that's a lot of snake! Burms seem to stabilize in the 10-20 foot range and 1-200 pounds... seems feesible, for a giant at least, but 350 is quite incredible! I will consider pondering this venue for a few more months, maybe another year or so before I actually decide on a conda or not. If I do, i'll take your advice and go through your recommendation! I have some more burms to buy though for a breeding project, and that's still a few grand away! Lol

Again thanks man!

Sorry I read both posts and kind of combined them into the next messages reply field, just didn't want you to think I was ignoring your help! Thanks a lot!

I have retics, anacondas (yellow and green), African rocks, and an amethystine. What I can tell you is with the exception of my Sulawesi retics, all of my snakes are tractable. The green anaconda and the yellow anaconda are both very mellow, and both are captive born. The yellow was feisty for the first two years but has mellowed out into a very slow deliberate snake (calm handling and work with the snake went along way). The green has always been very mellow and is a great snake. Both, however, are aggressive feeders so that is something to keep in mind. Another thing to keep in mind is the size. My adult yellow anaconda is around 9 to 10 feet and weighs around 50 lbs. She is comfortably housed in a 6X3 Vision enclosure. My green anaconda is 14 feet and 186 pounds. She is housed in a 48 square foot walk-in enclosure with a heated 150 gallon pound and 6X3 pig blanket on a rheostat. The point is that the expense and upkeep for the green is much more than for the yellow, although truth be known, the yellow anaconda is a much messier snake. Both cost about the same to feed as the yellow gets one 3 to 4 pound rabbit, or 2 to 3 pounds of birds every 4 weeks and the green gets one 8 to 10 pound rabbit or chicken(s) every 9 weeks (yup, adult greens have very slow metabolisms). Both cost much less to feed then any of my retics. I believe that the care of large green anacondas is beyond the abilities of most casual keepers. This is not to say that you are a casual keeper, I just mean that most people cannot make the commitment to these giants (same could be said for any of the really big snakes). Yellows on the other hand stay much smaller (especially the males) and are easier to house, feed, handle, etc. I would make sure that the yellow anaconda is at least one generation captive born, two generations would be even better (there seems to be some mellowing as snakes are bred through several generations whether by selection or something else). If you want a smaller snake go with a male. I keep mine at 82 degrees with two hot spots of 90 degrees. The temp drops into the high seventies at night, with the hot spots always available. She has a heated pond (plastic cement mixing tray) which I bleach at least once per week (sometimes much more often) and I keep her on newspaper. Her humidity is between 60 to 70% at all times, and she always sheds well, eats well, and has thrived for years. She was fed once per week as a juvenile and slowly that frequency has worked out to once every 4 to 5 weeks as an adult (from mice to rabbits). The yellow anaconda is a voracious eater and will eat anything I feed her whether rats, rabbits, pigeons, quail, or chickens. Anacondas can live past thirty years of age if properly cared for so that is another thing to keep in mind. I hope this helps and good luck with the yellow if that is what you go with.
Shane