Feeding Questions

[Dxw425]

I recently posted about picking up my new baby BCI, and had a question regarding feeding i couldnt seem to find on here. I typically remove my snakes from their housing and place them in a designated enclosure for feeding, (a plastic tub). When i feed i minimize handling and place them directly in the tub, and leave them enclosed for roughly 15-20 minutes, and then feed. After they have completely swallowed the food i place them immediatly back in their permanent housing and let them digest. I find that this greatly reduces and confusion and the chance of accidental bites. My question would be is this appropriate for full grown red tails? i assume so, but every video i see tends to be people just throwing the food in their regular home, i am getting her an AP t13 and dont ever plan on feeding her in it. What do you guys think? Thanks, and sorry if it is a dumb question!

[Neal]

I recently posted about picking up my new baby BCI, and had a question regarding feeding i couldnt seem to find on here. I typically remove my snakes from their housing and place them in a designated enclosure for feeding, (a plastic tub). When i feed i minimize handling and place them directly in the tub, and leave them enclosed for roughly 15-20 minutes, and then feed. After they have completely swallowed the food i place them immediatly back in their permanent housing and let them digest. I find that this greatly reduces and confusion and the chance of accidental bites. My question would be is this appropriate for full grown red tails? i assume so, but every video i see tends to be people just throwing the food in their regular home, i am getting her an AP t13 and dont ever plan on feeding her in it. What do you guys think? Thanks, and sorry if it is a dumb question!

There is no definite proof of this reduces confusion. Changing containers to feed is only a matter of preference. When I had my BP's I fed them in the tubs, because my Rufous are living communal I put them in separate containers to avoid any accidental bites or them going for the same food. My yellow anaconda I had, I placed her in a separate container up until she was maybe 7 feet or so, but then after that point it wasn't the most ideal spot so I fed her in her enclosure.

If you can find a container you're comfortable with feeding your BCI in when they get larger then it's purely up to you. One reason I like to feed in different enclosures is because it gives me time to do maintenance and cleaning.

[Dxw425]

Thanks for your opinion! I think you've got a good point about cleaning during feeding, i guess ill just cross that bridge when i get to ut. Thanks again!

[Sauzo]

I feed all my gals in their cages. I got AP T10s and Pro Line cages. There is no advantage to feeding outside the cage, especially as the snake gets bigger. All you are doing is causing more stress to the snake and yourself. if you are worried about the snake eating substrate, just use a paper plate, piece of newspaper or cardboard. I personally just feed everyone on aspen except when they were babies. I then just used little paper plates or sheets of printer paper. Now as they are larger, i'm not worried about them eating a few pieces of aspen. Their stomachs can digest bone, I don't think a couple pieces of shredded aspen will hurt them.

If the snake makes a mess while feeding, I just wait until they done and a few hours later, I just spot clean the area and wipe it down with F10 and add new aspen to fill in the spot. By then the snakes don't care what I do as they are full and usually curled up inside their hide or curled up in the back corner under their shelves.

[Russdent]

Hi,

I recently posted a question similar to this one last week I think, I have read people saying to take my BP out and feed him in a separate tank and others on here and different sites and google say leave him in his home to feed him.

As a new BP owner and worried about my first feed I asked the question on here and 100% of replies I got told me to leave him in his vivarium and feed him as this will reduce the stress of moving him around before a feed.

I got his first feed out the way no problem on this advice so I am sticking to it and would like to thank this site for every ones great advice.

[AbsoluteApril]

Also keep in mind the boas and the larger pythons tend to stay in 'food mode' for longer, sometimes up to an hour, after eating. Feeding in the cage (besides being less stressful) reduces the chance of a food related bite from moving them back.

[Artemisace]

I feed all my snakes in their cages, I used to have some of the giant pythons and can definitely attest to the fact that they stay in food mode for a LONG time after they eat. And both of my boas do as well, they tend to track anything that moves for quite some time after they've eaten. The only other boid I have is my anaconda and she is the same way, so my suggestion would be to feed in the cage. I "train" my snakes with patterns to recognize when it's time to feed and time to lay. For instance when I had my tiger retic I would tap on the glass three times when it was cleaning or play time and I wouldn't do it when it was time to feed. He learned very quickly what it meant when I opened his cage. The boas seem to be just as smart so I'm sure they'll figure it out as well. Just my two cents.

[Gio]

I recently posted about picking up my new baby BCI, and had a question regarding feeding i couldnt seem to find on here. I typically remove my snakes from their housing and place them in a designated enclosure for feeding, (a plastic tub). When i feed i minimize handling and place them directly in the tub, and leave them enclosed for roughly 15-20 minutes, and then feed. After they have completely swallowed the food i place them immediatly back in their permanent housing and let them digest. I find that this greatly reduces and confusion and the chance of accidental bites. My question would be is this appropriate for full grown red tails? i assume so, but every video i see tends to be people just throwing the food in their regular home, i am getting her an AP t13 and dont ever plan on feeding her in it. What do you guys think? Thanks, and sorry if it is a dumb question!

It is very easy to find this question answered here.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...31#post2288531

I think I've posted a number of times on this subject but now I'll simply refer you to the thread I posted in.

It is not a dumb question if you are new to this so don't take my lack of explanation here as my impression of your question.

Read the threads, and see what I've and other have said about it.

[yaboyyoungd1234567]

This is a 6 foot adult male Red Tail Boa , here's the enclosure he was in and the box I put him in to feed and the jumbo rat. Lol I took him out placed him in the box. Fed him the rat, then let him sit for 20 Mins... As soon as his head was away from my hand I grabbed his tail and he jumped out of frenzy mode. Let me lift him up makin sure not to grab the rat in his stomach and place him back in his enclosure. I was told they're too big, they're gonna regurgitate, you're gonna get bit. Well I've never fed inside my enclosure till this day and haven't got bit when takin the right precaution.


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[Gio]

This is a 6 foot adult male Red Tail Boa , here's the enclosure he was in and the box I put him in to feed and the jumbo rat. Lol I took him out placed him in the box. Fed him the rat, then let him sit for 20 Mins... As soon as his head was away from my hand I grabbed his tail and he jumped out of frenzy mode. Let me lift him up makin sure not to grab the rat in his stomach and place him back in his enclosure. I was told they're too big, they're gonna regurgitate, you're gonna get bit. Well I've never fed inside my enclosure till this day and haven't got bit when takin the right precaution.


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OK but there still is no NEED to feed out of the cage.

The only reason I could see would be cleaning purposes or substrate ingestion concerns. Cage "aggression" is simply a myth passed on by people who've heard stories from others that thought snakes could actually make sense out of dinner time cage opening VS going to a feed box. Hots and huge snakes don't give you seconnd chances in feeding mode. Therefore feedings in the cage are the way to go and you won't see people with large collections of bigger snakes or hots doing this.
It's your personal choice but other than the cleaning aspect the ideology of this is simply a myth.

Nice cage BTW.