Many good points were made in the last thread regarding the use of pool systems for anacondas in captivity. I really appreciate Dan’s comments concerning his own unfortunate experiences with the use of pools with his greens. Even very conscientious keepers will have troubles sometimes maintaining pools because they cannot be there 24/7 to keep these pools continuously clean, and obviously don’t have the resources of professional institutions. This is especially problematic when dealing with perpetual soakers like Dan was. Also, many others don’t have the resources and knowledge to construct and maintain high tech systems such as Shane has installed. Additionally, and correctly, Shane mentioned the inefficiency of filter systems to maintain water quality in these larger pools. The fecal bacterial loading on filters for pool systems when dealing with large reptiles is enormous, and no type of home affordable filter alone would begin to handle this loading. I too have worked around larger crocs in a zoo setting, and even the large pools were drained and refilled daily.
The issue then is to maintain anacondas in captivity in such a way as to maintain their health and well being without adding stressors that could deteriorate these aspects. The one main obvious stressor being what Steve was questioning in his post. How do you maintain an aquatic reptile in a dry caging system without inducing stress? This was the dilemma that Jud and I wrestled with back in the 1990’s. This is where I came to generally disagree with the commonly held notions regarding the water requirements of greens in captivity, with this conclusion being based mostly on the way they utilized water in their natural environment.
While greens have obvious adaptations to an aquatic environment, I believe they are much less specialized to this type of environment than other reptiles such as crocodilians or aquatic turtles. Anacondas have evolved to utilize aquatic environments for their survival, but have not become entirely specialized to the point that it is an absolute necessity most of the time. It is common for male greens to travel for days or weeks from water sources in search of females, and some greens in the drier areas of their range may be out of water for weeks or months during the dry season. By exploiting their ability to survive from water for extended periods in the wild, I feel that this is how they can be maintained continuously in captivity with access only to small drinking bowls. Their use of water in the wild is basically to assist in food acquisition, hydration, protection from predators, and thermoregulation. If these requirements can be successfully met for them in captivity without pools, they appear to adapt extremely well to a life without them in captivity, even reproducing successfully. Jud did however pinpoint the critical element in this process in his post. This is most successful when starting newborn greens in this manner that have never been exposed to soaking pools. I have also noticed that many captive born young greens that have never been exposed to pools do not readily use them even when provided.
Kelly
