My BP ate some aspen bedding...

I've made this offer before and it still stands:

Anyone who thinks that bin feeding is the way to go is welcome to come visit me when they are in my neck of the woods.

They can then take over feeding day duties in the snake house. They can try moving the hungry cribos and indigos into bins, feed them, and then move them back. Pay careful attention to 12 lb Mojo the black tail and the psychotic yellow tail Zeppo. Zeppo is the reason I had to get stitches on my middle finger........

If we still have all our fingers and have not gone to the ER we can move on up to the hydrodynastes, and then the thrasops.

Some of the thrasops are not cohabitated and I do bin feed the females every three days. For the ones that are, my guests are invited to try out their mad hook skills getting the females into their bins. I always enjoy watching a self-proclaimed hook jedi get a dose of reality trying to hook a pissed off lightning fast, venomous arboreal colubrid.

Anyone who can run the feeding day gauntlet shuttling 30+ snakes into bins without getting bit and without cheating and wearing gloves will leave here with a spare Boaphile 5 drawer 28qt rack.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

Oh boy. Somebody with thin skin has his panties in a wad..........

Before I address your little temper tantrum, I will say this - you are correct that cohabitated snakes should be fed separately. That is the one mitigating instance where using a feeding bin is a valid practice.

Andy, mean old Uncle Skippy didn't mean to chap your tender buttocks. I had no idea that I was dealing with such a celebrity in the herp world. An expert with access to dignitaries in the reptile scene that would no doubt dazzle me if you dared drop their names. A person who has access to collections in the world of exotic pets that would make me fudge my boxers. I will be much more careful in the future, for God only knows I don't want my fragile bubble popped again by someone of your eminence.

Just out of curiosity, which of your snakes are you cohabitating? The IJs?

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First and foremost, as a career roofer, no part of my body is thin or tender. You are the thin skinned one my friend.


No, my IJ's do not cohab together, they are male and female closing in on breedng size.
My male IJ and male spider share an enclosure currently, as does my female IJ, my vanilla pastel, and 1 of my albino boas share another, and my het albino male red tail and smaller albino female red tail boa currently share a enclosure for now.
Is this reccomended, no. Does it make me wrong for doing it, no.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by andyroof1979

First and foremost, as a career roofer, no part of my body is thin or tender. You are the thin skinned one my friend.


No, my IJ's do not cohab together, they are male and female closing in on breedng size.
My male IJ and male spider share an enclosure currently, as does my female IJ, my vanilla pastel, and 1 of my albino boas share another, and my het albino male red tail and smaller albino female red tail boa currently share a enclosure for now.
Is this reccomended, no. Does it make me wrong for doing it, no.

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...and I'm a career dirt mover/road paver/heavy equipment operator.......so we can effectively establish that neither one of us has thin skin.

If you read my last post in this thread, you will note that I cohabitate snakes. I do so under specific conditions and only with certain species.

I asked about IJs because I have cohabitated breeding pairs in the past (when I kept the species - I no longer do). I have also kept several other select species together all without incident and providing that certain additional space and husbandry requirements were met.

As for cohabitating boas and mixing balls and IJs - well, I'll duck out before the poo really starts flying around here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

I've made this offer before and it still stands:

Anyone who thinks that bin feeding is the way to go is welcome to come visit me when they are in my neck of the woods.

They can then take over feeding day duties in the snake house. They can try moving the hungry cribos and indigos into bins, feed them, and then move them back. Pay careful attention to 12 lb Mojo the black tail and the psychotic yellow tail Zeppo. Zeppo is the reason I had to get stitches on my middle finger........

If we still have all our fingers and have not gone to the ER we can move on up to the hydrodynastes, and then the thrasops.

Some of the thrasops are not cohabitated and I do bin feed the females every three days. For the ones that are, my guests are invited to try out their mad hook skills getting the females into their bins. I always enjoy watching a self-proclaimed hook jedi get a dose of reality trying to hook a pissed off lightning fast, venomous arboreal colubrid.

Anyone who can run the feeding day gauntlet shuttling 30+ snakes into bins without getting bit and without cheating and wearing gloves will leave here with a spare Boaphile 5 drawer 28qt rack.

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Now I'm curious, why does it matter if a venomous snake is cage agressive? It's not like i'd be holding them anyway. If I had 30+ snakes, i'd split feeding day into 2, feeding half on say Tuesday and half on Thursday. I see the reason you are against bin feeding, you have too many snakes to make it viable/ efficent. That still doesn't make it wrong for anyone else to bin feed, and I have never seen nor heard of any problems arise from bin feeding. All of my current animals are we'll socialized and love to come out of their enclosures.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

...and I'm a career dirt mover/road paver/heavy equipment operator.......so we can effectively establish that neither one of us has thin skin.

If you read my last post in this thread, you will note that I cohabitate snakes. I do so under specific conditions and only with certain species.

I asked about IJs because I have cohabitated breeding pairs in the past (when I kept the species - I no longer do). I have also kept several other select species together all without incident and providing that certain additional space and husbandry requirements were met.

As for cohabitating boas and mixing balls and IJs - well, I'll duck out before the poo really starts flying around here.

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Really, I duck no where. Read some caresheets, IJ, ball python, same requirements, just add a stick for the carpet, boa same, no stick needed. As these animals grow, living arrangements will be changed, ie, the female albinos will live together, the het albino male wll be solomy female IJ will still live with the Vanilla Pastel, the male IJ and Male spider will be seperated. I do not believe in keeping breding pairs together. These are not adult animals. I also didn't just throw them in and say we'll see what happens when I get home. animals are sized alike, and closley observed for a few days to look for any signs of agression.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by andyroof1979

Now I'm curious, why does it matter if a venomous snake is cage agressive? It's not like i'd be holding them anyway. If I had 30+ snakes, i'd split feeding day into 2, feeding half on say Tuesday and half on Thursday. I see the reason you are against bin feeding, you have too many snakes to make it viable/ efficent. That still doesn't make it wrong for anyone else to bin feed, and I have never seen nor heard of any problems arise from bin feeding. All of my current animals are we'll socialized and love to come out of their enclosures.

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Well, you sometimes have to medicate them and move them to clean cages. They are not cage aggressive - they are defensive of large creatures reaching in and grabbing them. Not all - some. I have a couple of females that are absolute sweethearts.

Most of my snakes eat more than once a week. They do not eat exclusively rodent prey and are fed smaller more frequent meals.

Bins don't work for me because (1) they are an extra step that I don't need and (2) I keep some large animals that will not go out of feed mode that quickly. Moving a hungry cribo or falsie to a bin and out of a bin does nothing but open me up to the risk of a serious bite. Since ingesting substrate is not a risk, why bother?

Many of my snakes get handled regularly and are also taken out to be props in speeches or other presentations. That does not dull the hard wired reaction by some to get defensive when removed from their cages.

The point is simple - a ball or carpet python or boa is not capable of sending you to the emergency room with a bite. Even non-venomous snakes like cribos and indigos can cause serious deep cuts and lacerations that require sutures. Regardless of how many times my snakes are handled or removed from their enclosures, I don't think that any of them find any joy let alone "love" in being subjected to it.

Since using bins entails risk to me and exposes my animals to potential stress, I see no "pro" in using outside of the case of separating pairs.

I only keep pairs together in species that do better breeding-wise when kept in such a manner. Any other reason usually involves convenience to the keeper, which is never a valid reason for the additional potential risks involved in cohabitation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by andyroof1979

Really, I duck no where. Read some caresheets, IJ, ball python, same requirements, just add a stick for the carpet, boa same, no stick needed. As these animals grow, living arrangements will be changed, ie, the female albinos will live together, the het albino male wll be solomy female IJ will still live with the Vanilla Pastel, the male IJ and Male spider will be seperated. I do not believe in keeping breding pairs together. These are not adult animals. I also didn't just throw them in and say we'll see what happens when I get home. animals are sized alike, and closley observed for a few days to look for any signs of agression.

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Um, okay.

whoa! what is going on here? hehehe. i am just asking about my BP eating some aspen bedding and it has been made clear to me that it is ok... :)

Chill guys... :) :) :)

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Originally Posted by frost0214

whoa! what is going on here? hehehe. i am just asking about my BP eating some aspen bedding and it has been made clear to me that it is ok... :)

Chill guys... :) :) :)

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I'm predicting there's a good chance it may get alot worse.............

;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

I'm predicting there's a good chance it may get alot worse.............

;)

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I smelled quarantine early on in this thread.

while I can't think of any legitimate reason to cohabitate three entirely distinct species simply because they have vaguely analogous husbandry requirements, I think I'll refrain from further comment.

skiploder, after I add a few womas to my collection, indigos are next up on the list. I hope to bend your ear in a few months if you can spare a few minutes.

p.s. to the OP, independent of anyone's opinion regarding feeding in a separate enclosure, you shouldn't worry about your snake ingesting a little aspen. no cause to worry on that account.