Can I just hook "train" instead of putting him in a seperate tank?

Some, not all, ball pythons can be finicky eaters, especially babies or individuals that are shy. I would not recommend moving them to a separate enclosure- just the action of a different environment and lighting can throw off their feeding. On the other hand, some ball pythons are great eaters and will just pound food regardless of their environment!

There is no reason not to hook train a royal. You can, and if you feel more comfortable, you should. It is often not needed, at home I don't hook trained my royals.

At work however all the snakes and large lizards are hook trained or whistle trained depending on the case. It is a safety issue especially with a'rocks. Many of the brighter animals we keep (caiman and gators) have been trained further to turn and present tails for blood work and such as well. It is easier and far less stressful for both animal and keeper.

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

Do you mean use a hook? I've never heard of training a snake before.;)

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Trained is probably an overstatement. However, I have a large diamond x jungle carpet that operates on the "bite first ask questions later" approach. Hey, if it's not food (say for instance it's only my hand) he can always spit it back out. He's not aggressive, just wants to make sure he doesn't miss a meal. When I enter his cage for non feeding purposes, I give him a couple of gentle taps on the snout and chin with a hook and he goes out of bite mode. I don't think he's trained, it just gives him time to recognize that it's not dinner time.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Ive trained my Bloods to sit, stay, and lay.

My Hoggy will hiss, huff, and hood on command but we are still working on playing dead.

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now if you could just train those bloods to move once every week or so, LOL

As others have said, its not needed to hook train a ball python. They are small enough that even if one tagged you, it wouldn't hurt. Feeding in separate bins was a myth and can actually be dangerous. Try moving a retic, burm or big boa from a little feeding tub when it is still in food mode, not good. Unless you only open the cage to feed ever, then your snake is not gonna get imprinted with that. I feed my 6ft BCI in her cage and she never has mistaken me for food. Her and my BP only go into food mode when they actually smell me bringing rats into the room. Then the BP pokes her head out of her hide and my BCI will perk her head up or sit at the front of the cage. 90% of the time I actually leave my BCI girls door open and she sits with her head poking out just relaxing and you can walk by, pet her on the head or body(which she seems to love) or reach in and change water and she will barely even pay attention to you. So unless there is some other reason you want to feed in a separate bin, its not needed.

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Originally Posted by DennisM

now if you could just train those bloods to move once every week or so, LOL

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At least they are always where I leave them. Im pretty sure my cages don't even need doors. LOL!



I just moved and my backyard has a built in koi pond. I drained it and started setting it up for future fish and plants. What I would really love is to have a caiman in it. The wife has vetoed this though and I believe the HOA would as well.

You should go for a monitor like a Nile, Water or Black Throat. They are really great and as for a reptile, they are very smart and if you get them as babies and interact with them a lot, they get puppy dog tame. My old Nile monitor was so tame, I used to come home from work and throw him in the tub with the heat lamp on and he would relax in there and then walk around the apartment. For some reason though, he hated a friend of mine and took a swipe at him with his tail so hard it put a divet in the wall and broke the sheet rock. If that had connected with his leg, he would not have been feeling good. :P I wish I could get another monitor but no way I got the room needed indoors to make a cage the size a full grown large one needs.

All my Ball pythons are "hook trained". Most are aggressive feeders and I really don't like to get bit. I think using a hook is a great idea. If I need to go back into their tub for any reason, even after feeding, I can touch them with the hook and not have any issues reaching in.