Yellow anacondas.

I've decided to write about yellow anacondas because I want one!! Unfortunately I'm not aloud one, partly because I don't have the money and partly because I'm 18 and thus still live at home and am burdened with the rules of my mother. So I'll just have to write about them instead.

Now when people normally talk about anacondas you think of a green anaconda, which are the second largest species of snake (after the reticulated python) and can grow as large as 30 feet. They are also one of the only snakes that can actually eat you! yes snakes have to be 30 feet long before they can even eat a small person (so nothing to worry about when you meet burmese pythons and things they won't bother attacking you as they know they can't eat you). They need to this big because otherwise they would choke on your shudders, remember that they swallow their prey whole so can't bite bits off.

But enough about green anacondas I'm personally more interested in yellow anacondas or a Paraguaya anaconda. Although they don't get to 30 feet they are still fairly big and can reach as much as 15 feet (but that's rare) and they average at about 10 feet. Like green ones they are also found in South America and are semi aquatic, meaning they don't live in water but they like to swim, which is a jolly good reason no to go swimming in rivers in South America!! They can be found in swamp, marshes and on river banks.

In captivity anacondas are known for being fairly bad tempered, unpredictable, and can bite very easily, so are only kept by experienced and trained keepers (like me!! :)).

Incidentally they are a red listed species (meaning they are endangered) and are classified as 'vulnerable'. As a result of this they are protected by CITES (which is a Certificate for the International Trade of Endangered Species of wild flora and forna and is used to keep track of endangered species in captivity), so if you own a wild captured one (which I don't support) then you need documentation for them, without it the animal will be confiscated. However captive breed animals don't need them and can be bought for around £175 but they're hard to come by.

Now you may be asking why the hell I want one. Well that's simple, I like the slightly unusual pets. The less well known species of animal. And the more dangerous the better!!

And yes I know I'm mental!

Woburn safari park. Squirrel monkey enclosure.

On the whole I was really really impressed with all of Woburn safari park. There wasn't a single enclosure I didn't like. I loved the lion enclosure which was several acres large and you actually have to search for the lions, it was almost as big as their natural territory size. The lions were the biggest enclosures by far but all of them were massive, all of which had lots of natural trees and bushes. I didn't notice the wolves wandering free around the same enclosure as the bears until they cam loping around the bushes for feeding time.

But my favorite was the squirrel monkey enclosure which was walk through. It was large and open with no roof, but well designed over hanging mesh sides to keep them in. This is a technique that's normally used to make the visitors feel better about the enclosure, it gives a more open feeling. But in this case this allowed the safari park to have naturally growing trees in the enclosure. It was brilliant, they were large and very good for the monkeys to climb. They also had little structures to climb on and ropes for them to walk along.

They also had access to an indoor area that was entered through half a dozen tubes, to get into it there were little flappy doors that the monkeys could open. I also loved that they had about 3 mothers with young infants clinging to their backs. it is probably the best enclosure i've seen in a while!!