tub feeding/ question

we wondering how long people recommend leaving your ball in the tub after eating before putting him back in the tank? Thanks!

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Originally Posted by punisher_reborn

we wondering how long people recommend leaving your ball in the tub after eating before putting him back in the tank? Thanks!

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Hi iv been feeding mine in a tub for a year now and all i do is once its all gone about half way down and they start moving i touch them on the back and then pick them up and put them back in there rubs has worked for me with no problems

If you grab it while it is eating they might get stress...what I do is once they're done eating I place the tub in its enclosure & let 'em crawl out...there for I don't touch 'em...

Thanks for the quick responses....we just had our first feeding with our first ball and everything was SUCCESSFUL!! :D Thanks again!

yea i just fed my ball a small rat and what i do is once its down wait for them to move around for like 2 mins then pic him up with no probs and put him back and he wont bite if your not scared just go right in and pic him up and they wont bit same with getting them out of there cage

It might be easier if you just feed the snake in the home enclosure, then you have less of a chance of getting a mistake bite.

as she said but also alot of ppl say that its less chance of when u go put your hand in it my mistake u for food since u feed in the incloser but it really dont matter some do diff its up to u how u wanna do it lol

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Originally Posted by Gordon21

as she said but also alot of ppl say that its less chance of when u go put your hand in it my mistake u for food since u feed in the incloser but it really dont matter some do diff its up to u how u wanna do it lol

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I feed all my snakes in their home enclosures and I have never been bitten. Not even a strike.

As long as they are well fed on a good schedule and you preform cage maintenance on days other than feeding day, there is no risk of being "mistaken for food". You are not a rodent, you don't look like a rodent and you don't smell like a rodent. Seeing a hand go into the enclosure will not trigger a feeding response unless your snake is starving.

Most of the food related bites happen when you forget to wash your hands after handling a rodent, so your snake smells you as such.

This is a little thing I have used in the past to explain myself :P

Scenario time:
You are about to feed your ball python in its enclosure.
Step one: Prepare the food, pre-scent if it is live, thaw if it is F/T
Step two: Place feeder in tank with ball python. Use tongs or drop the live feeder in.
Step three: Watch ball python eat
Step four: Leave ball python alone for 2 days so it can digest.

Where in this process does it say "wave your hands around in front of the snake when the food is nearby". It doesn't. That is because your hand should have NOTHING to do with the feeding process. You are not a mouse, you do not smell or look like a mouse, so why would your ball python associate you with a mouse?

Now lets look at feeding OUTSIDE the home enclosure.
Step one: Pick up your ball python and place it in a separate container.
Step two: Prepare the food, pre-scent if it is live, thaw if it is F/T
Step three: Place feeder in the feeding enclosure with the snake. Use tongs or drop the live feeder in.
Step three: Watch ball python eat
Step four: Pick up ball python and move back to home enclosure
Step five: Leave ball python alone for 2 days so it can digest.

Now which one sounds more risky when it comes to "associating" feeding with your hands. The separate enclosure. Especially if you aren't feeding your snake enough. If you have handled a rodent and forget to wash your hands, you smell like a rodent. You go in there to move your ball python back to its home enclosure and WHAM, he thinks you are another mouse for him to eat for dinner.

yea your right but also say i use aspen bedding i dont want to feed inside cus if he eats some of the bedding its not good for him right? so thats y i dont but if i used someing else as bedding that he cant eat then yea y not feed inside am i correct or no ?

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Originally Posted by Gordon21

yea your right but also say i use aspen bedding i dont want to feed inside cus if he eats some of the bedding its not good for him right? so thats y i dont but if i used someing else as bedding that he cant eat then yea y not feed inside am i correct or no ?

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Their food isn't served to them on a silver platter in the wild. :giggle:

A little aspen here and there doesn't hurt them at all. If they were eating bucket loads of the stuff though, that would be a problem. Sometimes putting down a paper towel helps with the substrate ingestion.