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 #2049564


Mellow_Yellow
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 Feeding trouble

I can not get my baby female yellow to eat. Shes on bedabeast in a 40 gallon, night light, heat pad , large water bowl. Any help would be greatly appreicated.

John_
08/02/09  12:30pm

 #2049655


DJDeron
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   Message To: Mellow_Yellow   In reference to Message Id: 2049564


 Feeding trouble

Cage is too big = stress
Light and a heat pad means could be too hot = stress
Bedabeast and incandescent light tends to suck humidity out of the air = stress
No hiding place in tank = stress
Handling her too much, especially before she is acclimated = stress

Stress = no eating.

First thing to do is check and correct these potential problems and go from there.



08/02/09  04:59pm

 #2049677


Mellow_Yellow
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   Message To: DJDeron   In reference to Message Id: 2049655


 Feeding trouble

I mean tthis isn’t my first snake. I have let her sit in her cage for a week now. I turned off her light. Should I downgrade to a 20 gallon? I do have a hidding place.



08/02/09  06:12pm

 #2049698


The_2nd_baseman
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   Message To: Mellow_Yellow   In reference to Message Id: 2049677


 Feeding trouble

Look, I dont know about anacondas, never had one but I hear that you can have to big of a cage, I say you can not I had my burm in a 6ftL 3ftW 18inT when she was a baby and I do the same with all my snakes and have never had a problam with not eating do to stress. Like I said I have never had a anaconda so anacondas may be like that but I dont see it, when born in the wild they have LOTS of room, but if you wont light in your tank use a UVB tube and it works good, snakes dont need one but it dont hurt to have one and you can still have light with out lossing humidity. Can you post pics of your tank?
08/02/09  07:00pm

 #2049731


DJDeron
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   Message To: The_2nd_baseman   In reference to Message Id: 2049698


 Feeding trouble

No offense, I mean it’s great when people want to help and all, but it blows me away when folks who have never had an anaconda start contradicting the advise from those of us who keep and breed them. You believe who you want....

Anyway...yes, having too big of an enclosure can be detrimental to keeping baby anacondas. They stress easily (in the wild they are found tangled up in vegetation not roaming around in the open). I would step down to something like a medium size rubbermaid for the time being. The opaque container provides an extra sense of security. Yellows seem to prefer a temp range of 78-88. Too hot will keep them from feeding. Double check that. Undertank heat works best at not effecting humidity levels. Keep the humdity 60%-70%. They are more active at night so definitely ditch the night light. They do not need UV lighting in their enclosure.

You may have to leave her be for a couple more weeks. Unless she is real thin (which could indicate that she actually has not eaten anything since birth), don’t worry too much about her not feeding just yet. They can go quite a long time without a meal even when young. If she doesn’t eat in another week or two, you may have to play around with different feeding techniques before you figure out what works for her. This may include scenting with birds or fish. Try feeding her at night and leave the food (prekilled of course) in over night. If she is hiding, place the food right outside of the hide or partially into the hide. Make sure the food is good and warm too. While any assist type feeding should be a last resort, sometimes forcing the head of the food item into the snake’s mouth is all that it takes to jump start them.



08/02/09  07:39pm

 #2049732


SoLA
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   Message To: The_2nd_baseman   In reference to Message Id: 2049698


 Feeding trouble

Try a bird
08/02/09  07:39pm

 #2049738


Bjk666
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   Message To: SoLA   In reference to Message Id: 2049732


 Feeding trouble

Are you feeding live or F/T? My yellow won’t eat live. If it’s already dead he’ll eat anything. I agree with sola and some of the others. Try a quail or chick, and if that doesn’t work, try a smaller tank. It wouldn’t hurt to try. You can always just hold on to the bigger tank. When my yellow was a baby, i had him in a ten gallon tank and he has never refused food.



08/02/09  07:45pm

 #2049740


Bjk666
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   Message To: Bjk666   In reference to Message Id: 2049738


 Feeding trouble

Also did you ask the person that you got the conda from what they were feeding her? If not, contact them and find out if ya can. Good Luck
08/02/09  07:48pm

 #2049837


SoLA
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   Message To: Bjk666   In reference to Message Id: 2049740


 Feeding trouble

I’m not going to contradict any above advise, but I do want to note that I have never had an issue with feedings because of large enclosures. Large enclosures can still be secure. Now with that being said, you CAN have a large enclosure where the snake does not feel secure, so you need to be providing cover objects.

I also agree you should make sure temps are good because a lot of people overheat these snakes. 78-88 is good, but I highly advise somewhere in the cage the snake has the chance to get down into the lower/mid 70’s.

Seriously though, try a bird. If it doesn’t eat a bird, you might have a more serious issue. Anacondas can be extremely easy once you give them what they want.



08/02/09  09:53pm

 #2049893


Mellow_Yellow
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   Message To: SoLA   In reference to Message Id: 2049837


 Feeding trouble



The bedding is now bedabeast.

John
08/02/09  11:38pm

 #2050012


DJDeron
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   Message To: Mellow_Yellow   In reference to Message Id: 2049893


 Feeding trouble

That is a very nice standard snake set-up. Of course, sometimes what is "nice" for us isn’t always nice as far as the snake is concerned. If you are going to keep her in that bigger tank for now, then I would put more hide stuff in there. Glass tanks are the toughest when it comes to stress, since there are no visual barriers at all. It looks like that there is screen over the one half of the cage. You’ll need to cover that with something because you lose all of your humidity through a screen top. Aluminum foil works well. I would suggest a humidity gauge in there so you actually know.

You might also want to think about whether you are going to provide your snake with a big swimming tub it’s whole life. Consistency is a good thing and if you start them out with a big water tub you should continue with a big water tub. The problem is, providing a swimming/soaking pool for a twelve foot anaconda can be quite the maintenance headache and unsanitary conditions can result quite easily. Providing only a drinking size water bowl, especially with an adult, can make life a whole lot easier. If you choose the drinking bowl route (which I suggest) it’s a good idea to start getting them used to it now since once they get used to a big water tub, they may stress when they no longer have one. In other words, whatever you do now, is what you should continue to do.

I agree that if some time goes by and she won’t eat, try a bird. You really haven’t had her that long and I think after she gets well settle in, she’ll eat for you. I also agree with contacting the seller and finding out what and how they were feeding her, if at all.
08/03/09  08:22am

 #2050095


The_2nd_baseman
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   Message To: DJDeron   In reference to Message Id: 2050012


 Feeding trouble

I am going to throw somthing out here I see you have a cage right beside her, what is in there? It may stress her out to see what ever is in the tank next to her so I would cover the sides and back so she can only see out the front and it may help to make her fill more secure. Just trying to help. Hope everything works out.
08/03/09  11:56am

 #2050391


Mellow_Yellow
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   Message To: The_2nd_baseman   In reference to Message Id: 2050095


 Feeding trouble

rats
08/03/09  09:04pm

 #2051013


LAZYGUY123
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   Message To: Mellow_Yellow   In reference to Message Id: 2050391


 Feeding trouble

Try a chick. Anacondas are notorious for giving you feeding problems. Every snake is different and sometimes requires different approches. Try feeding in the water. Try in the dark and you being out of the room. Deff try feeding a chick. Alot of other things come into play when getting an anaconda to eat so try those few things and see what happens.
08/04/09  07:52pm

 #2094680


Jmo
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   Message To: LAZYGUY123   In reference to Message Id: 2051013


 Feeding trouble

hi iam new here and i was looking at what u guys was saying on here and thanxs its helpful i just got a baby green and a baby yellow if there is more u can tell me about how too house them what they need to live and grow big any thing u can help me learn more about them would help
11/12/09  08:33am

 #2094833


Jord@n
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   Message To: Jmo   In reference to Message Id: 2094680


 Feeding trouble

if the cage is too bare, the snake may feel ’exposed’ so to speak. try adding another hide and some plants. just things to make her feel like you can’t always see her ;)
11/12/09  07:28pm

 #2095196


GoodNPlenty
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   Message To: Jord@n   In reference to Message Id: 2094833


 Feeding trouble

Another option is to add a large t-shirt. This does 2 things:

1) Provides an additional shelter she can crawl through, hide in that is also a breeze to clean (pick it out, throw it in a bucket of water, soak and then was like any other laundry)

2) Gets your scent in the cage in a way that the snake feels comfortable with it and gets accustomed to it. No heat signature from the shirt means stress wont be a factor on your snake either.

~ GNP
11/14/09  05:26am


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