Feeding inside enclosure Vs. in a separate enclosure. (questions)

We have had Snickers since late July of last year.

We have always fed her inside a separate enclosure not do to aggression issues(she has always been pretty damn passive...although once in a while when holding her she will climb towards my face and lick my nose...which I love...it tickles) The reason we feed her outside of her enclosure is due to her aspen substrate. We don't want her accidentally swallowing it.


After she eats we give her an hour to settle and then we put her back to her enclosure and 90% of the time she is just perfectly fine and chills for a few minutes and then roams around her enclosure before going to one of her hides but a few times she darted for her hides instantly. She has never regurgitated but I worry she might get agitated enough one day where she might regurgitate.

She pushes the mice(frozen/thawed...we don't feed live) all the way across the bin sometimes before she eats it and that is why i worry about putting paper towels down in her home enclosure because there is nothing stopping her from shoving the mouse onto the substrate before she eats it.

I am torn to what to do because this is a possible regurgitation vs. possible compaction. Plus she is already used to eating the way she has

Thoughts??? I am really torn over what to do at this point.

I have fed a snake in a separate enclosure for almost two years now. Partially because of substrate worries and partially because her enclosure is too freakin high up! I can't reach in well, and if something went wrong I couldn't get in there to help. So we feed her in a spare ten gallon. We've always just picked her right up as soon as the rat looks settled and put her back in her cage. Never had a regurge--that happens moreso if you really stress the snake..Handling them for a couple hours or so, not a good idea. Just moving the snake isn't that big of a problem.

A lot of people question the worry of impaction in snakes anyway, though I have seen it happen before. Generally speaking if the temps are right it shouldn't be a problem and your snake should be able to pass it. But it still worries me, I'd rather feed on paper towels. She's being moved to a lower down enclosure anyway where she will be fed in the enclosure on paper towels.

Some people like to put in a paper towel or paper plate in the enclosure over the rat for the snake to eat on. Prevents any worry of substrate ingestion for you, and you don't have to move the snake after it eats.

I feed my female normal out of her tank because when I got her I was under the impression that feeding in the tank encourages tank aggression. I now know this is a disputed issue. :)

My male pastel is still pretty new and awful shy so he refuses to eat except in his tank. I use repti-bark and have had no issues with him getting any in his mouth. When I defrost the ft I put them in a plastic bag and then in the water so they don't get wet.

When I feed my normal outside her tank I usually put her back after like 5 or 10 mins. I just pick her up pretty gently and try not to "bend" her too much. She roams a tad then finds a hide and takes a nap. I've yet to have any problems.

So my advice to you would be to continue what you're doing. Perhaps put her back a bit sooner just cause I worry she would get too cold.

I think it's more a matter of preference and how many snakes that must be fed in 1 day.:)

I'm still learning a lot-have had snakes only the last cpl of years but, the one point that was drilled into me was to feed in a different container. One reason was for subtrate issues (possible ingestion) and the other was (supposedly) to keep them from thinking your hand coming inside their area was "food" if they were used to eating in their housing. This has worked out really good for me because it makes me take the time to handle them by getting them out to feed, lol, and they know what the tubs mean :)

I feed mine f/t too but I give them only about 10 mins once they have completely fed and I can see that it's settled into their midsection. Then I move them back in their housing and leave them alone for a cpl of days.

I've never had either of them regurgitate and they usually head right for their hides too. Again, I'm fairly new at this but I don't see anything wrong with the way you mentioned you're doing now. Good luck :)

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Originally Posted by Juliemay13

I'm still learning a lot-have had snakes only the last cpl of years but, the one point that was drilled into me was to feed in a different container. One reason was for subtrate issues (possible ingestion) and the other was (supposedly) to keep them from thinking your hand coming inside their area was "food" if they were used to eating in their housing. This has worked out really good for me because it makes me take the time to handle them by getting them out to feed, lol, and they know what the tubs mean :)

I feed mine f/t too but I give them only about 10 mins once they have completely fed and I can see that it's settled into their midsection. Then I move them back in their housing and leave them alone for a cpl of days.

I've never had either of them regurgitate and they usually head right for their hides too. Again, I'm fairly new at this but I don't see anything wrong with the way you mentioned you're doing now. Good luck :)

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*I just realized this sort of read like I handled them only during feeding, lol. I play with them all the time-the feeding just makes sure I get another handling in with them and I don't get lazy about playing with them :)

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Originally Posted by poundhound2

So my advice to you would be to continue what you're doing. Perhaps put her back a bit sooner just cause I worry she would get too cold.

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She has an infrared bulb sitting on her old screen top lid in the enclosure she eats in....

I worry It might be to warm...not too cold.

Her home enclosure has thermometers with probes on both sides and rheostats to control the temps of the heat pads.

I always ask when this comes up.

Whatcha gunna do when the mean ole 3000 gram female breeder comes after you....
I have females that will try to take your arm off during breeding season, tell me I am going to take her out of her home to feed her...NOT :P

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

I always ask when this comes up.

Whatcha gunna do when the mean ole 3000 gram female breeder comes after you....
I have females that will try to take your arm off during breeding season, tell me I am going to take her out of her home to feed her...NOT :P

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Well I just call our Snickers a "Her"....I really have no idea if that is the case but Snickers is our only snake and we have no plans on breeding so I don't see the point in getting Snickers sexed and I certainly have no desire to hurt Snickers by doing it myself. If Snickers is ever in need of vet care we will provide it but unless the vet care is gender related we will never have Snickers "sexed"!

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Originally Posted by Superpop

Well I just call our Snickers a "Her"....I really have no idea if that is the case but Snickers is our only snake and we have no plans on breeding so I don't see the point in getting Snickers sexed and I certainly have no desire to hurt Snickers by doing it myself. If Snickers is ever in need of vet care we will provide it but unless the vet care is gender related we will never have Snickers "sexed"!

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The point I am getting at is they get bigger and have big appetites, especially females :)

I find that picking up my snakes will throw them off feed for the time being, after all they think I'm taking them out to play, not to eat
It's all in how you program them, feeding in or out of the enclosure is a personal decision and as long as the snake eats and stays healthy then it doesn't matter which you do.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

The point I am getting at is they get bigger and have big appetites, especially females :)

I find that picking up my snakes will throw them off feed for the time being, after all they think I'm taking them out to play, not to eat
It's all in how you program them, feeding in or out of the enclosure is a personal decision and as long as the snake eats and stays healthy then it doesn't matter which you do.

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Well I guess we have already 'programmed' Snickers to eat out of her enclosure at this point so we will stick to it but your posts are making me hope Snickers is actually a male!

Are females that much more aggressive than males?

I have a female pastel that is a little B*%^ some times. Like when i wake her up out of a cold stone nap she will hisss at me :snake:. (this has only happened twice!) OBVIOUSLY she would be mad at this :D. Shes pretty docile and loves to hang out with me daily!

This is my schedule:
1) Handle her aggressively for 30 minutes a day. (By aggressively i mean classically conditioning her waving my hands fast or slow to let her know I'm around to see if i can get a reaction out of her. This was my stage one tactic... she no longer fears my hands VICTORY!!! Stage 2 i know am able to pet her head and rub behind her jaws with out her thinking twice.)

2) Every five days is feeding day! OH! and she knows when its coming. I pick her up out of her enclosure and plop her in her mini pink tub she tucks her head down stretches out and gets in a nice striking posture (seeing this never gets old!). As soon as that F/T mouse dangles close to her strike range its a goner! I wait till i cannot see the mouse in her throat and allow her to go back into her enclosure.

But as SnakesRKewl brings up a good opinion based of personally experience it does make me wonder too. But i remember all snakes are different. My female could be dwarfed and not get to a 3000 gram monster (doubtful lol) but she could indeed be very passive all together! One thing though that is COMMON SENSE or should be if i have a breeder female I'm always going to assume shes aggressive! What female on this planet would not die for their babies! :D

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Originally Posted by Superpop

Are females that much more aggressive than males?

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No, not at all, only when they feeding up for breeding do they start their give me, give me, give me attitude, lol.

Brian and his staff at BHB feed THOUSANDS of snakes in their enclosures - always has. They have even done tests on food aggression and programming. And they have not had a single case of impaction from ingesting substrate.

Turns out, it is the snake, not the environment or feeding process. The snake they used as a control and fed IN the bin was calmer than the one they took out to feed.

In other words, do what you want. But don't have a reason other than it is what YOU prefer.
:D

I feed in cardboard boxes because some of my snakes are DUMB-DUMBS and really will start launching themselves at me every time I open the tank if I feed in the enclosure. And I really don't wait very long at all to move them back at the end of the meal---I make sure the mouse is all the way down and there's not a bulge in their neck. But once they've swallowed, I pretty much just grab them by the tail and put them back. (I do find grabbing them by the back end works pretty well--I think the advice to hold them directly under the bulge actually makes them a bit uncomfortable.)

But either way, I've never had one regurge from transporting them back to the tank after a meal. I HAVE had them regurge because somebody kicked the cord to the UTH and the temps went way down overnight, and then way up in the morning when I plugged it back it.

I actually use newsprint paper as a substrate. So I'm not as worried about them accidentally swallowing it as I would be with paper towels. I'm not sure I'd worry about aspen chips? Sometimes the mice come with aspen attached anyway. I try to clean them off, but sometimes I miss some.