Anacondas and Fish?

[Ammeratsu]

My mom's boyfriend bought some fish for his pacman frog for a treat, and he had a few extras and gave them to me. I thought I'd see if my anaconda would like them, so I dropped them in her water. I went back to check an hour later, and they were all dead. I guess she killed them but didn't eat them.

Is there any benefit to feeding fish on the occasion? Do most anacondas take fish?

Also, as usual, I couldn't help but post a few pictures of my gorgeous girl! She's getting much friendlier. I think she's almost to the point where I don't need gloves.

http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad190/_Ammeratsu_/IMG_2937.jpg
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[Wolfus_305]

Could the chlorine in the water have killed the fish? I know that can happen I just don't know how long it takes.

Nice pics :)

[Ch^4]

^^(This may be my own ignorance, but I don't think that chlorine is a good thing for any animal...I'm assuming it would essentially be toxic to both the snake and the fish, so I'm also assuming he doesn't have chlorine in the water. Except the trace amounts found in tap water.)

I'll let the anaconda owners answer the fish question, but BEAUTIFUL snake!

They look so evil, but innocent and very cute at the same time...I want one very badly! Please don't hesitate to upload more pics ;) And congrats on "taming" her almost to the point of not needing gloves.

[Wolfus_305]

... I don't mean if it's super chlorinated, but i know it's not good to put fish in tap water because of the chlorine (i think that's what it is)... so if it was a fresh bowl of tap water then maybe that's why the fish died

[Ch^4]

... I don't mean if it's super chlorinated, but i know it's not good to put fish in tap water because of the chlorine (i think that's what it is)... so if it was a fresh bowl of tap water then maybe that's why the fish died

Thanks for the clarification!!! (And my bad.)

[Wolfus_305]

ahah, that's ok. Made that mistake with my first fish when I was a little kid :(

If you figure out what killed the fish, give us an update. Is it typical that a snake would kill prey and then leave it alone?

[Damion930]

check the fish for wounds but Im betting chlorine death it dosent take long beautiful snake

[hauntedone]

Easy fix if it's chlorine. just get some water conditioner. To be on the safe side use the reptile water conditioner. I'm sure the kind for fish is safe too since all they really do is remove the chlorine.

[Ammeratsu]

Nope, not chlorine. I live 30 miles from town and have a well. We test the water pretty oftenand there's nothing in it. Besides that, there are three fish left and we put them in a bowl with the same water and they're still alive.

But she actually ate two of them. I posted this thread after seeing the fish, and when I went back to remove the dead fish, two of them were gone.

So besides the dead fish, are there any benefits to feeding her fish once in a while?

And thanks for the compliments!

[deighaingeal]

She could have been aggressive or curious and stunned them or killed them by bumping them. Fish can also be subject to stress and the rapid change in environment could have caused it as well as the stress of dealing with a snake. There is also a chance that, if they were feeders, that they were almost dead anyway; most of those fish are not taken care of.

[Ammeratsu]

Could be. I'm really not concerned about why the fish died, though. They were feeder fish, and she ended up eating two of them.

I'm more just wondering if its beneficial to feed my snake fish once in a while, since she takes them

[marvelfreak]

What kind of fish?

I found out you can feed them gold fish or other kinds of fish, but if they don't eat it in a day or two you need to change the water every day. The reason being the fish will create Ammonia in the water which if it gets to high can be toxic to snakes.

"Fish is risky for another reason. Some kinds of fish contain an enzyme called thiaminase, which breaks down Vitamin B1. Garter snakes fed an exclusive diet of these fish — such as some bait minnows, alewives, and other oily fish — can develop a Vitamin B1 deficiency. Symptoms include a loss of coordination and motor control as well as violent convulsions."

Basically you can but, i wouldn't do it more than once a month. The hard part is finding out what kind is safe to feed. I've never have found a answer to this question.

Sweet pics btw.

[Ammeratsu]

I read about that, but was under the impression that it was only in gold fish. I told my moms boyfriend not to get gold fish, but was I wrong?

They were guppies

[marvelfreak]

Guppies should be find.

[bighog85]

There isn't really a benefit to feeding her fish. Snakes don't really need the variety that, say a monitor needs. It is best to find the most nutritious thing you can feed and then stick with it and in most snakes case, that means rats or rabbits. Also, the thiaminase thing is no joke. It can and will kill a snake if they become B1 deficient. There are some fish that do not contain much but they are harder to get. Stick with rats and eventually rabbits and you will be good to go.

[Ammeratsu]

I never thought it was a joke. I know the risks, because I read up on it while getting ready for my anaconda to arrive. I've seen mixed answers on whether guppies contain thiaminase or not. Since my mom's boyfriend had extra fish, I figured hey, why not? From what I understand, thiaminase does not stay in their systems for long, which means that feeding her a couple once wouldn't be much of a problem.

I do wonder, however, how these snakes manage in the wild where I'm sure they eat fish.

By the way, I'm finally making some progress on getting her tame. I held her for the first time without gloves today, and she was fine! She seemed to enjoy the warmth of my hand. My didn't strike at me at all today(Thanks to my new snake hook to get her out of her tank), which is pretty unusual.

It's not like I haven't been bitten by bigger snakes. I'm really no stranger to getting bit. I was only using gloves because I have this intense reaction to snakes striking where I jerk my hand back so hard I would probably throw anything attached to my hand across the room. I didn't want to pull out her teeth(Already did that once! =/) by yanking my hand back. I didn't really flinch with the gloves, so I used them for a while. She seemed really relaxed today, so I went ahead and took the gloves off.

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http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad190/_Ammeratsu_/IMG_2943.jpg

[Ch^4]

Wonderful news! And man, does she look pretty!

[hauntedone]

Water snakes eat fish. So either they are immune or the fish they eat don't contain enough thiaminase to harm them. Research the kind of fish they eat and find out how available they are in your area. Water conditioner also helps keep ammonia down, but change the water on a regular basis anyway.

[marvelfreak]

No gloves Congrats. She looking sweet. It's a lot hard to tell when a anaconda is going to strike. They don't S their neck like python. They strike side ways in a swiping motion.