To feed in the habitat or out?

I feed most of mine in there rack bin. I just present the room so they know its feeding time. I have one female thats a little nippy but shes always been that way. she does get worse when shes in shed and blued over but I dont believe its because shes fed in the rack.

in the cage :gj:

I feed outside the enclosure, though I give him some time to "marinate" in his dark feeding container, in a quiet room, and I use tongs, so I don't think he associates coming out of his enclosure with food.

I only have one ball though, so feeding outside the enclosure doesn't pose any sort of "hassle" that those with multiple balls to feed might experience with out of enclosure feeding.

I can understand people with multiple balls preferring to feed within the enclosure for convenience, and others' reasoning that their snakes are stressed by feeding outside the enclosure.

I have not noticed any stress from feeding outside the enclosure, though I have only done two feedings and there is plenty of time for changes to occur.

Do whatever works for you and your snake(s)!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by luckycharm318

Do whatever works for you and your snake(s)!

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CORRECT!

I have yet to see one snake regurgitate because of handling after eating.
Strange how people keep mentioning the regurge thing.
Makes me wonder how many people have actually had a snake regurge "that was because of handling"?

I have never fed a ball python out of it's home, I see no reason to.

I feed all of my BPs in their tubs, because of ease due to quantity of snakes. However before I had so many, I used to feed in separate tubs and NEVER had any issues with regurgitating the food because I had to pick them up and put them back.

I feed my large snakes - burms, boas, etc in a separate box due to not wanting them to associate handling in the vivs with feeding. Being bitten by a 4ft snake VS a 14ft snake is worth the extra effort for the big guys.

I do have a few ball pythons that refuse to eat in a separate tub, so they have to eat at home otherwise they wont eat at all.

I've always thought the regurge was a possibility when you get them out and hold them and force them to hang around your neck and on your hands. That's a lot of pressure. I saw on Discovery Channel Mike Rowe helped a woman force a regurge and all it took was some upward massaging.

Even with the big snakes, it seems like they're more likely to associate you coming into the enclosure with eating when you come in to move them, than with a rabbit or something just appearing. Option 1: You come in, they get food. Option 2: Food just appears. There's no way to associate you with food in Option 2.

Also, you don't look like food, and if you don't smell like food, why would they ever think you're food? Also again, if they're ever aggressive, how could you move them anyway?

every snake i've had and will have in the future will eat in its cage/bin/rack/whatever.

I prescent, heavily. I can't imagine how many times i'd be bitten if i had to move anything around. i used to move my bp outside the cage when i only had one. Did away with that years ago.