Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was thinking about getting a pair of anacondas to keep and breed. I have some Burmese pythons I didn’t really know if anacondas were that much more difficult to take care of or handle. All information will be greatly appreciated care sheets tell you some but talking to people who keep them gives you a better feel of what you are getting to.

Anacondas are definitely not for novice keepers so your level of knowledge and experience should dictate whether it's time to get into them or not. Keep in mind that Burmese pythons are the easiest of the big Boids to keep and breed. Anacondas are not as tolerant in terms of either half-hearted husbandry or hap-hazard handling as the Burms. Breeding is much more challenging as well and it takes considerably longer for them to reach breedable age. There are even subtle differences in keeping yellows versus greens. That's certainly not to say you can't keep and breed them properly, since many of us do, there's just more to it.

I would suggest reading everything you can on the internet, including reading all of the forum posts here and on other boards to get a better understanding of the correct requirements for the anacondas. There are a number of good care sheets online as well, as you mentioned, and you should compare all of them to see what info is consistent and what is variable. Researching all of these different sources will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. There is also a pretty good book on anacondas available on Amazon.com written by two fellows in Europe.

Anacondas can be very rewarding to keep, but just make sure you fully understand what you are getting into for the good of the animals. I've rescued too many anacondas because they were harder to keep than expected or too "mean". On that note, while there are many wonderful tempered Eunectes out there, a fact of anaconda ownership is that you will get bit. Even my most laid back annies have nipped me from time to time. If you do not have experience handling somewhat "untrustworthy" snakes, then you may want to start off with a smaller species first. Good Luck!

DJ made a good post with some very important points. However, I might add a little to a couple of those points. The internet is a great resource of information, but be wary of some of what has been posted about green anacondas. There is also a lot of mis-information about greens on the internet as well, and you will need to weigh it with other sources of information to weed out the facts. Also, if greens are acquired at a very young age, they can be kept in a setup that is virtually identical to that in which you would maintain a burmese python or a retic. But the key again is acquiring a young one that has not already acclimated to a completely different cage environment.

Kelly

Kelly...I want to ask you about my two yellow anacondas.

I got them when they were about a foot long I think freshly caught after birth or captive after birth.

They fed okay at first, and they seem very healthy now.

I keep them with a cardboard hide box on one side (heat), and a big water dish they can stretch out in on the other side.

They seem very happy, do I need to put another bedding instead? Is that okay for the yellows, or too dry?

I was just told in another post to separate them until ready for breeding, which I am going to do asap. They are m/f

Thanks,

MS

Sorry, I forgot to mention they are in about 2 inches of pine shavings now.