Warning: Contains pictures of a snake eating.

Ashley and Kathleen are offered food every Saturday in the early afternoon. (Usually between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., so if you're around the Aquarium come check it out on the third floor.) Lately, however, neither snake has been eating. I suspect both girls of being pregnant, which can throw off their internal rhythms, and anacondas have been known to have long fasts.

This past Saturday marked 19 weeks of fasting for Kathleen. However, Ashley broke a 7-week fast that included two shed cycles on Saturday August 29th and she ate again on Saturday September 5th.

We feed our snakes frozen (then thawed) food from a mail order supplier of frozen rodents. This is less stressful for the staff, because we all love animals in this job. It is also better for our snakes. Live food can fight back with teeth and claws and injure the snakes.

-Marion Britt, Freshwater Intern