What Do Anacondas Eat
Anacondas are large reptiles that are part of the boa snake species. As they are part of the boa family they use constriction to squeeze and suffocate their prey rather than injecting it with venom. They are well known for being one of the largest species of snake in the world. There are four different species of anaconda. These are the Green Anaconda which are found east of the Andes in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guiana’s, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and on the island of Trinidad, the Yellow Anaconda which is found in eastern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and north eastern Argentina, the Dark-Spotted Anaconda a rare species found in north eastern Brazil, coastal French Guiana and Guyana and the Bolivian Anaconda which is was discovered in 2002 in the flood plains of Bolivia’s Pando province. All anacondas are aquatic snakes that prefer to live in wet, swampy areas and are synonymous with the Amazon Jungle.
What Do Anacondas Eat In Their Natural Habitats?
Due to their large size Anacondas will often eat large prey. They will only hunt when hungry and a large meal will last them many days and occasionally they can go up to a year without eating as they have a very slow metabolism. Young Anacondas prefer to eat prey such as fish, frogs, rodents, turtles and small mammals. Adult Anacondas will eat any animals that they can successfully constrict. This often includes animals such as sheep, goose, large birds, bird eggs, lizards, river fowl, caiman, capybaras and other small mammals. They will also eat domesticated animals that stray too close to their habitat such as dogs, goats and ponies. An adult anaconda will not eat a human out of hungry but may attack if it feels threatened. This is very rare.
What Do Anacondas Eat In Captivity?
Most handlers who keep anacondas in captivity will try and replicate the natural diet of the snake. As they only need to eat sparingly an anaconda in captivity is often feed large frozen pigs or rabbits. This will last the anaconda for a number of days as they have such a slow metabolism. Smaller anacondas may be feed frozen rats.
Related Posts