Jud and I tried a new female green this year that had never been bred before. She is a 13 to 14 foot, 6 year old that has perfect body weight and temperament, and we were looking forward to some really nice young. She ovulated right on schedule and numerous copulations were seen with Jud's well proven male. However, I noticed that toward the end of the gestation period, she was not as swollen as I would have liked her to look, and I had some reservations about the outcome.

Unfortunately, a few days ago, my thoughts were confirmed. I was checking on her and found she had dropped 25 to 30 unfertilized ova around the cage and no live young. A few are in the photo below, and they averaged about 4 inches in length. Not sure of the cause on this one; it could be because this was her first pregnancy, but that is not always the case by any means. And, as is typical with all female greens, she immediately started to eat the unfertilized ova.

It was a disappointment, but that is how things go when working with the variables associated with the reproduction of any living organism in captivity. It makes the successes that much better. We have two other females that are ready to go this winter, and will be pairing one or both of them up here in about 4 or 5 months. I have a male that is half related to Jud's that we may pair up with another unrelated female. One thing is for sure, there's always something different going on when you are working with a group of green anacondas.

Kelly

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