The Age Old Question

I prefer to feed in another container as well. Like you said, its easier to clean the tank when he is out of it.

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Originally Posted by Ransack

I am curious if anybody that has been keeping snakes for a bit has had issues with multiple snakes striking out as soon as you open the enclosure?

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While most of the time when my BP's are ready to eat they are under their hides with just their head and a little bit of neck sticking out, if they are really hungry and ready to eat, they do a good imitation of a viper. I need to get that on video sometime.

That said, I don't breed my own feeders and I primarily feed f/t, so the only time my snakes smell food is on feeding day. I also thaw the feeders in the herp room to pre-scent it, so they know if the tub gets opened they're getting fed.

Thank you all for the input. Tomorrow is feeding day so I am going to attempt again but this time will be in his enclosure. Hopefully he will go for it this time.

Other then putting the ball pythons off by moving them to a new container, it doesnt really matter whether you feed inside or outside the cage. Heres why....

There is no "good" reason to feed them outside the cage.

Feeding outside the cage is actually much much more dangerous for you then feeding inside the cage. This is amplified when we are talking about large constrictors such as burmese and reticulated pythons. Moving a large hungry constrictor to a feeding container, allowing it to eat, and then moving it back all with your big hot meat hunks is a super super bad idea and a good way to end up in the ER from bite lacerations.

That said, ball pythons are puny and dont inflict much damage but still all the same risks are taken for getting bit by removing them from the enclosure.

I'm going to feed him in his enclosure tomrrow, I feel like he's losing weight but I will be picking up a scale so I can start monitoring his weight. He is still having a shedding problem so i'm hoping that doesn't keep him from eating because he looks pretty skinny and wrinkly.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

While most of the time when my BP's are ready to eat they are under their hides with just their head and a little bit of neck sticking out

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That's exactly what my new baby bp did yesterday and the day before! I waited 5 days after receiving him, even though the breeder fed him a week prior. We fed him for the first time yesterday and he took. Which was a big thing to me since the breeders were feeding him live and we fed frozen/thawed. Didn't think he was gonna take it, but after a minute or 2 of jiggling the fuzzy around he struck it. I was so thrilled lol :D and this was after we even handled him for about 30 mins to an hour for the next 2-3 days. We left him alone for 2 days before feeding just to be sure though.

But to go with the thread, we fed him inside the cage. I took the hide he was under out of the cage to make more room, and put a piece of paper towel down over the aspen to prevent the ingestion thing. I've read that as well, and didn't want to bother him too much by moving him around to a different container to feed and then moving him afterwards, as I was afraid of regurgitation for it was his first meal with us. He still hasn't struck at me since we got him, not even when we first took him out of the container he was shipped in. Started exploring as soon as we took him out, didn't even ball up on us :) But he did a little when I took the hide up a few times and was a little shy, but came out of it when we started messing with him.

I keep hearing the paper towel/newspaper thing now since It was first mentioned. I cannot believe I never thought of that. So that is what's going to happen tomorrow. I am still trying to decide if I am going to do the last half of the thawing on a paper towel on the lid of his cage to get him hungry before. I've heard it helps ensure a strike. Thoughts?

I don't have a heat lamp on my enclosure yet (am getting one in a few days though because I feel the ambient temps are a little too low when it's cold weather out, so I will probably be testing out that strategy as well), but I thawed out the fuzzy in the fridge for about 5 or 6 hours, and then before feeding, I put in in a bowl of hot (not boiling) water (with it still in it's individually sealed packaging). He took it without too much of a problem. Haven't had another feeding besides this one, so I can't comment on the frequency this will occur. But hopefully this will be all he needs. Hope this helps some

I'll admit...I've gone both ways. My boy will only eat live, so I started feeding him in a plastic tub and then transferring him back to his cage to mellow out and digest. He didn't seem to mind at all...never regurgitation or anything. One feeding day I had WAY too many rats and I was going to clean both cages simultaneously so the rats ended up in the feeding tub..just threw one in his cage and striked right away and seemed to have an easier time. Been feeding that way since...if he ever shows signs of cage aggression I'll switch back but this is working for us now =) PS he's just on paper towel as substrate so not worried about injesting that =)

It has been a while here for me.

Feeding outside of the cage as stated by others really does nothing good. not just with BP but with all snakes. taking them out of their comfort/safety zone is more likely to lead to them refusing, or regurgitating their food. BP's like the safety and security of their enclosures. Most snakes will, when stressed or in fear rather regurge their food then take the chance of being attacked, (in the wild), because they are in a vulnerable state. the whole process takes a large amount of energy for them to accomplish. While a lot adjust and are ok with it. overall there is no "Benefit" in doing so.

as stated prior the chances of them getting accustomed to handling then food could lead to more aggressive behavior that your not wanting to deal with. What i actually do is a few hours before feeding is, i remove all their water bowls, do any spot cleaning as needed, (i use Newspaper so i can 100% tell if there has been anything messy done), i do not feed them with in dirty conditions, and "In the Wild" once they make a mess they move to a different location. then i get my rodents thawed, they are all active and on the hunt for food at this time for me. i feed them, then after cleaning the bowls i put them back in. generally they calm down and realize no more food is being offered.

Good Luck to you with what you decide to do.