Feeding in or out of the enclosure?

I know all bp's are different, that being said before I found this site I thought feeding in a separate tank was the norm and the correct way to feed a snake. Now, I've seen (what it seems to me like) a majority of people on here feed inside of the enclosure and some excellent points have been made as to why. I'm considering starting to feed my ball in her tank instead of moving her to a separate tub.

Will there be any downsides to switching up where she feeds such as stressing her out, confusing her, making her more likely to bite? My girl doesn't seem stressed when I move her to feed so the method I use now is working fine but if there are better ways to take care of her, I want to at least consider those ways. I'm also worried about impaction since I have her on aspen.

Feeding outside the enclosure because of cage aggression is one of the die hard myth out there, there is no benefit in feeding outside the enclosure quite the contrary, feeding outside means you are moving an animal in feed mode out and back to it's cage making you more likely to get tagged, it can cause enough stress to lead a BP of feed etc.

I feed all my breeders and all my hatchlings in their enclosure whether it's on aspen or coconut chips and i have done so for a decade without issues.

If one day you get bit and you will it will have nothing to do with you feeding in the enclosure.

Yup, always feed in enclosure and have zero aggression issues linked to it.

I have this question aswell, I don't believe in cage aggression, but once I was in a rush and fed my BP inside his tank. He struck, missed, and got a mouthful of substrate? Is this unsafe? Could it lead to impaction?

Separate tank feeding ideology is a myth.

You will not find keepers of multiple large constrictors doing it, it will take all day and its dangerous, you will not find any keepers of venomous snakes doing it for obvious reasons. Think about that last one for a bit.


It's covered here.

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

And its covered probably hundreds of other times on various chat forums including this one.

If you have a method that works for you great, but there is no NEED to use a separate feeding cage.

I don't think aggression levels increasing are a cause for concern if you switch feeding methods.

To address your fear of ingesting aspen --- I feed my snakes within their enclosure. They are on aspen. I feed live. I take the water dish out when I feed to prevent the rat from getting wet. I've never seen any aspen get stuck to the rat. Even if some did, chances are it would fall off as rat is being swallowed. My understanding is a small amount of substrate ingestion is nothing to worry about. If you feed f/t and the rat is wet, likelihood of substrate ingestion is higher. I've heard of some people that lay down cardboard or something similar and have the snake eat over that.

I like feeding mine within their enclosures for the fact that they don't have to be handled after they eat and they can go in their hide when their done to take a well-earned nap. I also have one that only eats in her hide.


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Thank you all, yeah then this weekend I'll start feeding her within her enclosure. Also, I have a question that popped into my head just now:

I have an infrared heat lamp and a basking halogen heat lamp that I switch out between daytime and nighttime. Is this actually necessary? (sorry this question is off topic, figured it'd be better to just ask here then to make another thread.)

No, switching out the bulbs is not necessary. The ambient light of the room from a window is enough to create a sense of day/night for them. Beyond that, the only reason to change them out is if you need the heat for your BP, but the enclosure is in a place where the halogen bulb would make it difficult for someone to sleep at night.

As a precaution, the more oils from your skin get on the bulbs, the shorter their life span will be. If you do end up sticking with the switch, I recommend doing it with something other than your bare fingers.

I've actually been tagged more times feeding my BP in a separate enclosure.

Yeah, I'm gonna be making a few changes. all my research for how to care for her was from general google searches and from petco where my boyfriend works, wish I had known about this site before. I'm sure one day I'm gonna get bit, I'm just waiting for it. Not scared so much of the pain as I am the actual fast motion of the strike.