Do You Feed In Or Out??

[COLDBLOODED262]

I was just wandering if most people feed their snike in their tanks or do they remove them to another container to feed??

[Gloryhound]

9 of the 10 we have get fed in their tank. Our first, a normal male, is the only one that has a seperate feeding tub. Thing is he is the only one eating F/T also.

[COLDBLOODED262]

see i did feed in the tank then my little odakota diddnt hit his mouse just right and got a mouth fuul of substrait and he couldnt get it out i had to pic him up and pic all the peaces out of his mout cuz i heard that if he swallow his bedding it can hurt him so now i just put him in a big plastic tub with a hide box and paper lined bottom also he seems to get exited when i puul out that tub at feeding time

[ChrisBowsman]

In his tub.

[Mr. Constrictor]

I feed mine in there cages. here's why:
1) after handling the snake to move him into a feeding tub he may be too busy checking out the tub to want to eat or just the fact that he was just handled may cause him to not eat.
2) it's not be a good idea to handle ANY snake that just ate. If hes still in feed mode he may go for you. Handling after feeding may also cause a regurg.
thats my 2 cents.

[talon04]

Out for mine why cause thats what he is used to. They fed im in a sep tub at the store so it makes my job easy

[Freakie_frog]

I feed in the tank I have seen that Ball Pythons eat better and more consistently when they are offered food in an environment they are comfortable in and feel secure. Many people feed out side the enclosure but once you get more than a few snakes it becomes very time consuming to try and feed outside the tank.

[JoshJP7]

I feed 10/11 out of the enclosure. They all respond very well to being put in the feeding tub except my most recent addition. I think she was having feeding problems as she was only 65g when I got her and she was like 3 months old. I was more concerned with getting her to eat period so I didnt mess with putting her in a feeding tub. Shes also the only one feeding on live. I dont think its valid to say they "eat better and more consistently" in their tub as its based more around the individual snakes. I can say that the 2 times ive been bitted came when I was putting a snake into the feeding tub. I lowered him down with two hands... got 1 hand out of the way but he tagged the other one before I could get it out. Same situation both times. I think the feeding tub really helps them associate food with the tub. As Freakie said it can be time consuming with multiple snakes but when your feeding FT its usually a process anyways.

In the end use whatever works for you and your snake. If he feeds in the tub and you prefer to feed that way then so be it. All that matters is that the snake eats... not where he eats.

[littleindiangirl]

Josh, why do you always feel the need to discredit the common findings of other ball python owners when it's something you don't actively agree with on some level?

Example:

I dont think its valid to say they "eat better and more consistently" in their tub as its based more around the individual snakes.

How can you just dismiss it as invalid when there are many keepers on this site alone that have had great success with feeding in a tub over out?

Freakie_Frog said that he has SEEN ball pythons eat better and more consistently inside their tub. He did not mention numbers, or the circumstances surrounding these instances.

If you ask me, that statement came off too authoritatively given you know nothing on the background of his snakes. Even more, having far less experience than him to even suggest it's a false observation.

[frankykeno]

25 out of 26 snakes here (from 2 different species) get fed in their home enclosures. Only 1, my daughter's milksnake, gets fed in a feeding tub because her home is very "busy" having a lot of stuff in it.

A few reasons go into this decision. One I do believe a naturally more shy, secretive snake like a ball python is most likely at it's most confident in the familar environment of it's own home. A confident snake is better able to handle the live prey our snakes eat in my opinion. Also I will not, thank you very much, grab a snake as large as big Brannagh, whose well over 3,000 grams now, when she's hungry! LOL She's fast enough on her prey and big enough to nail me but good. I figure I don't need a bite so why chance one with a large and hungry female BP. Lastly, because I know so many people with far more experience than my family has (and far more snakes) that do feed in the enclosure. Their experience, shared with us, is that it works. I figure why re-invent a wheel that's been well tested by others more experienced than I am.