To Feed in or out? That is the question!

Hey! I just picked up a Corn atthe Columbia, S.C. Repticon convention. Having never dealt with a Corn before, I have been scanning YouTube andother sites to figure out how to care for him. I pretty much have it down,except for one thing: Do you feed him in his enclosure or out of it?

I have seen it done both ways.It appears that the arguments for feeding him out of his enclosure, boils down toone of two points. 1) You feed him out of his enclosure, because if you feedhim in his enclosure, every time you open the enclosure, he will think it’sfeeding time. 2) You feed him out of his enclosure, because you don’t want himeating the Aspen chips, along with his fuzzy mouse treat.

I’d prefer to feed him in hisenclosure, because he can drag it to his hide and chow down in private (if he wantsto), and I think the enclosure give him an additional sense of security. Oh!Btw, he eats F/T, and is fed off of tongs (as opposed to thongs, which would begross any way you look at it! Yuk!). :confusd:



tjw

Feed in the enclosure.

I have never had issues with a snake associating opening the tub as food time. It is actually more dangerous to feed out of the enclosure. You have a higher chance of getting bit because the snake is still in hunting-food mode after its eaten. I'd hate to stick my hand in to pick up a snake to move back to their enclosure while they're still in that mode. I like to leave my animals alone after a meal so they can digest in peace.

And a little ingested substrate isn't going to kill or hurt your animal. Impaction via substrate is pretty rare.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Feed in the enclosure.

I have never had issues with a snake associating opening the tub as food time. It is actually more dangerous to feed out of the enclosure. You have a higher chance of getting bit because the snake is still in hunting-food mode after its eaten. I'd hate to stick my hand in to pick up a snake to move back to their enclosure while they're still in that mode. I like to leave my animals alone after a meal so they can digest in peace.

And a little ingested substrate isn't going to kill or hurt your animal. Impaction via substrate is pretty rare.

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x2

My yellow rat snake actually does bring his meals into his hide. He ambushes them the same way a BP does.

Thanks! Thatwas the answer I was hoping for. It's such a cool enclosure and he warmed up toit right away. We had him in a rather sparse enclosure temporally, and now thathe is out and in the living room, he is in his Corn Snake heaven! He burrowedright into his Aspen, and popped his head out on the other side ... I think hewas smiling! LOL!

Now I can putmy thong away! Hahahaha!

Just to play Devil's Advocate, I feed my corns in separate containers. I know I -can- feed them in their tubs, but I choose not to. They way I do my feeding is that I pull the snakes out, weigh them, put them in their container, give their tubs a good scrubbing, feed them, and by the time they are done eating, they can go back into their tubs. This is what works for me and my routine. I've only ever been bitten by one snake and she was ALWAYS bitey...even not eating. The rest of my corns are begging to come out of their tubs after they've eaten and so when I pop off the lid, they are eager to be picked up and placed back in their tub so they can find their hide and digest. I've also never had anyone refuse food (even deep in blue).

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Originally Posted by BHReptiles

They way I do my feeding is that I pull the snakes out, weigh them, put them in their container, give their tubs a good scrubbing, feed them, and by the time they are done eating, they can go back into their tubs. This is what works for me and my routine.

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I can't multi task like that so mine get fed in their tubs. :)

I feed outside of enclosure too. Corns arent as big (obviously) as BPs so I worry more about those aspen pieces. I dont have problems with them accepting food and never have them pop at me or regurge from handling when I put them back. They dont care. Bottom line is as long as your snakes are eating and your happy with and they are healthy, do what works for you.

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Originally Posted by BHReptiles

Just to play Devil's Advocate, I feed my corns in separate containers. I know I -can- feed them in their tubs, but I choose not to. They way I do my feeding is that I pull the snakes out, weigh them, put them in their container, give their tubs a good scrubbing, feed them, and by the time they are done eating, they can go back into their tubs. This is what works for me and my routine. I've only ever been bitten by one snake and she was ALWAYS bitey...even not eating. The rest of my corns are begging to come out of their tubs after they've eaten and so when I pop off the lid, they are eager to be picked up and placed back in their tub so they can find their hide and digest. I've also never had anyone refuse food (even deep in blue).

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x2 I do the same thing.

I feed my corn out of her enclosure, and I have never had any problems with her. Since I got her ( 9 months ago) she hasn't missed a meal. Hope this helps 😄.

I also feed my corn out of her enclosure. Same reason as BH. I don't pick her up out of the feeding tub though. I just tilt the tub into her tank and let her go back in on her own. No food response bites for me, thanks!
I feed my bp in her tank. She's a picky pendleton and wants everything *just so*. I barely get the rat in before she strikes and then I cover her tank with a towel and leave.

I feed ALL of my snakes, pythons and colubrids alike, inside of their enclosures. With a collection of 27 snakes, it's too time-consuming to remove all of them for feedings! I've never had a problem with them being aggressive as a result (one or two are naturally mean), and I don't use Aspen bedding - just newspaper for the pythons, and Carefresh for the colubrids. And the colubrids all eat f/t, mostly off tongs, so I don't worry too much about them ingesting the bedding. For the few snakes who prefer it being left on the "floor," I lay down a piece of paper towel & place the rodent on that.

But to each his/her own, so do whatever you feel is best for your collection.

I'm not a big multi-tasker either. I get so confused! I'd probably pull the snake out to feed in a separate tub, then put the food in the enclosure, and wonder why the snake is getting so skinny! LOL! :confusd:

I actually feed my corn differently than my other snakes. All of my other snakes are great feeders that hit and wrap their prey. My corn is a bit more of a finicky feeder, he takes forever to hit off of tongs because he only takes it if it's holding still. I just put him in a deli cup before I feed, and then I can clean while he noms. I think that there is nothing bad about feeding in the enclosure, I just find it easier for this guy.

"Just to play Devil's Advocate, I feed my corns in separate containers. I know I -can- feed them in their tubs, but I choose not to. They way I do my feeding is that I pull the snakes out, weigh them, put them in their container, give their tubs a good scrubbing, feed them, and by the time they are done eating, they can go back into their tubs. This is what works for me and my routine. I've only ever been bitten by one snake and she was ALWAYS bitey...even not eating. The rest of my corns are begging to come out of their tubs after they've eaten and so when I pop off the lid, they are eager to be picked up and placed back in their tub so they can find their hide and digest. I've also never had anyone refuse food (even deep in blue)."

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Originally Posted by RoseRed

x2 I do the same thing.

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Same Here!

It's all a matter of preference and opinion. When I had ball pythons, I fed them in the enclosure.

My yellow anaconda I fed out, because I preferred mainly because he was a mellow eater and I didn't want him to swallow any cypress mulch, not that she would of, but I just preferred it that way.

My rufous beaked snakes I feed in separate because I house the 3 together and one eats different sizes than the others and I don't want to have two go for the same item.

I feed inside the enclosure for all of my snakes. I do not own any corns. Even snakes that associate the opening of the cage with food (reticulated pythons) can be safely handled if you hook train them. Feeding in another enclosure doesnt solve the problem of the animals "going into feeding mode" either because those animals (if they can) will associate being pulled out of the cage with feeding time.

I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that corns and BPs are capable of associating these activities with food though, I've only heard about it with the larger constrictors.