Do you feed in tank?

poll do you feed in tank?

Yep. Always have. There is absolutely no difference in temperament. In fact, pulling them out of their enclosure can cause some to stress and not want to eat.

*Edit. And I don't see where the number of snakes a person has should matter. I was feeding in the enclosure before I had more than 10.

I never remove mine to feed them. It's more convenient to feed them in their enclosures, seems less stressful for them, and I get a great feeding response. :hungry:

It's hard enough to get them all to eat inside their enclosure, nevermind disrupting them and removing them for feeding. Not even an option to me. I also have never received a feeding response bite.

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

Yep. Always have. There is absolutely no difference in temperament. In fact, pulling them out of their enclosure can cause some to stress and not want to eat.

*Edit. And I don't see where the number of snakes a person has should matter. I was feeding in the enclosure before I had more than 10.

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I figured if a person had one or two snakes it would make a difference as opposed to someone who has a bunch.

i have 5 bp's and just leave them in their tubs when feeding

I have done both...currently I feed live, all in their tubs. I had fed in separate containers for quite a long time, up until about 2 years ago. I have noticed absolutely zero difference between feeding in a snake's enclosure vs. feeding in a separate one. I have been bitten pretty much an equal amount of times between the two as well.

I feed all of mine in their tubs and have yet to be bitten by any of them...although there is one female that makes me nervous, lol!

Yup, feed all mine in their enclosures

Pulling them out of there tanks to feed them can really only lead to problems. I tried doing this with our Burmese and ending up with a 5 foot snake latched on to my hand wrapped around my arm. Not a pleasant experience, but it was MY fault for having rat scent and blood on me. :rolleyes:

Just keep them in the tanks and you should be fine. What I do is, if they're getting fed I open the tank and put the food right in, if not I wait at least a minute then do what I opened the tanks to do.

I feed all mine in their enclosures and have never had an issue with temperament. They all do seem to know when its feeding time though and I'm very careful with that. But any other day is completely a non-issue. I've never been bitten and I have no trouble reaching in any enclosure for any reason (except feeding day, lol....).

I take mine out to feed, but as mentioned by everyone else, I think it is in most cases unnecessary. I only do it because it works, it's what I've done with her since day one, I only have one ball python, and I haven't noticed any ill effects, and now I'm afraid to switch to feeding in tub incase THAT caused stress.... Highly unlikely, but that's my $.02

I at first would do the whole take out of tub and put them in another tub (and still do with the normal bp's.). But, with my anacondas and retic I feed them in there tub. When I'm not going to feed them I use my snake hook and rub there side and head. Then I can pick them up and take them out.
I suppose I could just leave my bp's in there tub to feed? I guess I just take them out to feed in another tub. Because, they are small now and even when adult's they'll be easy to handle either way.

I couldnt vote since I have 10 ball pythons, But i feed in the racks

yeah I feed in their bins. Its more convenient and less stressful for the animal. I have never had an issue with cage aggressiveness.

I have 8 ball pythons. I feed all of mine in tub, except the two that are only taking live, and only because that doesn't allow much room for feeding. No problems with them being cage aggressive.

ive only ever fed out of enclosure, and ive never once had a problem. i only do it cause i think its fascinating to watch, and ive never once had a problem with doing it, theyve always taken, always had great feeding responses, except during feeding strikes of course, but even then, i would try in the tank and they still wouldnt take it. just pay attention to how your snake acts if your taking them out to feed, if you think they look stressed, they probably are, but if they dont seem to care either way like mine, i say feel free to take them out

yeah just what I want to do, grab a ravenous 3000+ gram female ball python and take her out of her tub to feed her :banana:

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

yeah just what I want to do, grab a ravenous 3000+ gram female ball python and take her out of her tub to feed her :banana:

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Dont be skeared:rofl::rofl:

I have done both and it really doesnt seem to make a difference either way.;)

I feed in the tub. No difference in temperment. :D

All of you feeding in tubs use newspaper? I feel like a snake choking down / defacating a shard of aspen could do some serious damage...?

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Originally Posted by MrLang

All of you feeding in tubs use newspaper? I feel like a snake choking down / defacating a shard of aspen could do some serious damage...?

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My snakes are kept on cypress mulch. I've never had a problem with them swallowing more than a tiny piece or two of bedding. But I do make sure the f/t rats are dry when I feed them so bedding doesn't stick to them readily. :gj:

I went away from aspen when a female snake struck at a rat and missed, shoving a piece of aspen into her throat.
Pulling a piece of wood out of the mouth of a large snake thats thrashing about is no fun.
Rare maybe, but no aspen for me ty.

I used to. I don't anymore. Nothing changed in the way they eat :)

I feed in the tub and they are on paper towels. Never had a problem with aggressiveness. Generally balls know the smells of rodents and don't confuse people with food. The strikes I have seen are usually balls missing and striking the hand if you don't use tongs. Other snakes might be different.

I do both. For those that eat frozen I feed in enclosure and for those that eat live and have loose bedding I feed out of the enclosure. For the one that eats live and is in quarantine and has paper towels I feed in enclosure. My reason for feeding in or out has NOTHING to do with temperament or "cage aggression". I've had a couple bad experiences with attempted bedding consumption.

All of our snakes currently get fed in their tub. When we had a couple burms we fed in the bathtub because they were on loose substrate and we didn't feel like trying to fight a hungry 8 foot burm with bark in it's mouth. Also was way easier to clean the bathtub of rat blood afterwards. That said, there are risks to moving a large hungry snake, and a long snake hook and a helper are certainly important the bigger they get. Nothing like feeding a large burm in the bathtub only to have it come flying out at chest level, then swearing at myself for forgetting the snake hook at boyfriend's house... had my roommate run a bird perch/dowel to me to gently redirect the burm's head. Certainly a learning experience and a reminder not to be a complacent fool.

Never an issue with the balls in the tub and on newspaper though :)

I feed in the enclosure, and the only time I've been bit was when I tried to remove the food with my hand after dropping in the enclosure haha. Whoopsies.

I leave mine in tank. I was going to start feeding in a separate bin, but he refused after a couple times. So I put him in his tank, and he took a small mouse the next day without hesitation.

I feed all of my snakes in separate tubs. In the case of my female ball, that happens to be the bath tub because it's the only thing big enough that she doesn't have time to launch out at me before I can drop the rat. Lol. She nailed me when I tried to feed her in her enclosure. If I keep the food in another room, wash my hands and reach in to pick her up, no problems. She's totally mellow. I lay her in the bath tub and she waits patiently most of the time. It was a huge switch in her personality and behavior after I started feeding her there.

My male wouldn't eat in his enclosure. Stick him in his "feeding tub" and he's a beast.

My Dum knows when feeding day is. She calmly let me pick her up and put her in her feedin tub, then waits calmly for me to give her the rat pup. No problems there either. Come to think of it, if I take her out to hold her, she's flighty. Take her out to feed her, totally mellow.

They are all so different. Lol. It just really depends on what works best for you and your snakes.

If you're dealing with picky eaters (many ball pythons :rolleyes:), they will rarely take food out of the tank. And I have never had a problem with cage aggression (associating your hands with food) with a ball python. Ever.

On the other hand, incredibly aggressive feeders (my boas :D) don't care where they are or where they usually eat, if they smell food they're going to go nuts. Good luck trying to pick up a boa that smells food.


The way I see it, feeding in a separate tub makes no sense. Hook training is an easier solution to cage aggression, though with ball pythons it's rarely necessary. But if feeding in a separate tub works for you, whatever.

I feed all of my bloods (and my BP, only have 1) in their enclosures, always have. I have never had problems and feel that the stress of moving them outside of their enclosures to feed causes undue stress and the thinking of feeding outside of their enclosure because of the snakes would associate that with feeding is an antiquated line of thinking.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.483666,-83.121236

I feed in their enclosures...


:8: I'm trying to imagine feeding in a feeding container now... We tried that with Maru before.... It meant "No eating at all" for him! And with how high strung and ready to eat at all times our boa is.... I'd get bit more often taking her to the feeding enclosure than if I just tossed in the f/t on feeding days. Oh boy.


We do feed our frog in a feeding container occassionally! :) It makes it easier for him to catch the buggies and without tasting icky dirt. If we are just tong feeding worms or something he will stay in the tub though.

Just think about it from the perspective of the snake. Presumably your on the 5-7th day of not eating and your hungry. Now a big animal sticks his hand in my den and grabs me and puts me in a plastic container with no security and then puts a prey item in there with me. How in the world would that help a snake to eat. If you want the simple answer to which is better look at how the animal would be in the wild. I know people do it successfully but that's more in their head to be totally honest no predator likes to be exposed before it strikes and kills prey.

I've been feeding Kaa in his enclosure since first feed, and he has never shown an ounce of aggression towards me on non feeding days. I feel that he knows when it's time to eat since I warm his mice up in front of the glass of his set up. When it's time to give him his num-num's, he's out of his hide and looking around for it.

:banana:

I started out trying to feed in seperate cages but soon learned that my bp would not eat if I picked her up first. It took her a good 3wks to start eating in her viv but she does great now. The thing I learned is a feeder cage doesn't have the temp/hum control a viv does unless you create a really good one so I can imagine it's a bit of a shock to their systems to be moved then expected to eat. I feed in the viv using long tongs and f/t mice (that's all she will eat). Have not had a problem with aggression at all.

I feed in enclosure. Have yet to be bit or experience cage aggression from any of my snakes during feeding time or not.

Sure do. No changes in temperament here either, evil ones are still evil, calm ones are still calm.

I feed all of mine in their own tubs. I tried using a designated 'feeding bin', but that gave me negative results. The rats had a larger space to roam and the snakes kept getting spooked. As a result, my snakes refused meals in the separate bin. They all eat fine when they're in their own tubs.

(I also use newspaper or paper towel substrate, so no loose pieces to choke on)

We feed f/t to both our Ball and Corn in separate tubs. Both were adopted, but both were also previously fed in a bin. They're docile as can be...

but they know that once they're in their tub, it's feeding time. Also, they both have wood chips, and it avoids impaction.

I only have two snakes, though which makes it easier than if I had, say, 20 or more. It'd be too much of a hassle to feed outside the tank. I don't plan on having more than 10 at any given time, so I'll continue to feed them in a separate tank. :)

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Originally Posted by Kamille Kirkendoll

but they know that once they're in their tub, it's feeding time. Also, they both have wood chips, and it avoids impaction.

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Wood chips cause impactions? I had no idea...........

Ever experience this firsthand?

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

Wood chips cause impactions? I had no idea...........

Ever experience this firsthand?

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Yeah.. You know.. Wood is so much harder than bone and therefore impossible for a snake to digest or pass... Bone and fur however, well.. Yeah.. Wait...

It has nothing to do with hardness. BPs dont have the necessary enzymes to digest plant matter because they are not vegetarians. Take biology, it'll all make sense.

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Originally Posted by interloc

It has nothing to do with hardness. BPs dont have the necessary enzymes to digest plant matter because they are not vegetarians. Take biology, it'll all make sense.

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Your statement doesn't make sense.

You realize that snakes have to process plant matter - especially plant matter that is in the digestive tracts of animals they prey on - right?

So, I'll ask you the same question: Do you have first hand experience with substrate caused impactions?

Man I'd love to have a hardness checker about now...
I have a hard time believing wood bedding is harder than bones.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

Man I'd love to have a hardness checker about now....

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:rofl::rofl::rofl::oops::rofl::rofl::rofl:

I've been feeding in my tubs for about 6 years now. Never had an impaction. I use aspen chips in my
Tubs. If they can process bone they can process a wood chip here or there. Since im sure in the wild they don't have special boxes they go into to eat, their digestive systems are
More than capable of handling plant fibers.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

I've been feeding in my tubs for about 6 years now. Never had an impaction. I use aspen chips in my
Tubs. If they can process bone they can process a wood chip here or there. Since im sure in the wild they don't have special boxes they go into to eat, their digestive systems are
More than capable of handling plant fibers.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

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Duh - not only do they have special feeding boxes with placemats, but they have hot spots of exactly 92 degrees and cools side hides of no less than 78 degrees with humidity of 60% - all in the wilds of Africa.

It's very exact and there are no deviations. Also, the animals they eat all get colonics and wheat grass enemas prior to be digested so that no plant matter, seeds, nuts, etc. can dare impact the delicate digestive systems of the wild ball pythons.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

Duh - not only do they have special feeding boxes with placemats, but they have hot spots of exactly 92 degrees and cools side hides of no less than 78 degrees with humidity of 60% - all in the wilds of Africa.

It's very exact and there are no deviations. Also, the animals they eat all get colonics and wheat grass enemas prior to be digested so that no plant matter, seeds, nuts, etc. can dare impact the delicate digestive systems of the wild ball pythons.

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Omg I almost just fell out of my chair!! I wasn't really enjoying that drink of coffee I just took anyway.. *cough cough hack hack*
lmao!!!