Feeding Question

For those of you that feed your BP in a different container than their normal enclosure, how long do you wait to move them back after feeding? Do you just pick them up and move them or do you use a hook since they are in "feeding" mode?

I will start feeding mine in a different container when my T3 comes and I switch to a "prettier" substrate.

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Hi there, I feed both of my snakes in a big rubbermaid, I put them back in there tank as soon as they have finished there meal.

Ohh and I do not use a hook, I pick them up and put them back in myself. I think ONE of the good things about not feeding in there tank is that after a few feedings the snakes are pretty much trained to know that when they go in there rubbermaid that is there feeding time.
Good Luck

When I was feeding in a separate enclosure, I just waited until they were done with the gravity dance and started cruising again, then I picked them up by hand, making sure to support them well, and put them back in their homes.

i can usually tell when nellie is finished eating and pushing the mouse to where is needs to be in her belly. after a minute she starts flicking her tongue again and "cruising" like marla said. once she does that i pick her up with one hand under her belly where the lump is from the mouse and i just set her right back down in her cage with no problems.

The only time i fed outside of an enclosure, i picked Andy back up after he went crusing around again. Just make sure that you support that lump in their belly :)

Same here...when I fed in a different container I waited until they had the ratsky all the way down and were tongue flicking and crusing a bit. I'd just pick them up, minding the lumpsky, and put them back in their house. :)

Thanks. Why do you folks no longer feed in a different container?

I, personally, have heard the arguments from both sides about feeding in the enclosure vs feeding in a seperate enclosure. I have never had a problem with feeding in my enclosures. I am in my snakes cages everyday for cleaning purposes ( changing water and spot checking for p00 ) reguardless of whether or not i am going to get them out for some handling. I personally feel that as long as i am in there everyday, there is no way they are going to associate me with feeding. Its just my personal feelings on the subject. Others may have had other experiences which lead them to feed in seperate enclosures. Bottom line, in my opinion, no two snakes are the same and no two keepers are the same. As long as your snake is eating ( which is the important thing afterall ), i dont see a problem with either way :)

I no longer feed any of them in a separate container because all my snakes will happily feed on prey left in with them now, instead of requiring the mouse zombie dance.

I agree with the notion that no 2 snakes are the same. My bp won't eat inside her enclosure, she just gets scared and won't come out of a hide. She automatically goes into food mode as soon as she hits the floor of her box-o-death.

I tried feeding my young boa in a seperate container as well. It was too freaked out and didn't want to eat. I placed him back in his normal cage and offered the pinky again, and he took it without a problem.

Bottom line: do what works for you and your snake. Theres no real right answer to this question, except just to do what keeps them eating.

PS- Be carefule removing them after they eat if u feed in a seperate container. I saw a BP latch onto and constrict the hand of one of my co workers the other day. Wasn't pretty. We had to pour alcohol down the throat of the bp to get it to let go. This was a juvi bp that was about 2.5' long. I never thought a bp that size could cause the the amount of blood that was coming from the hand that it bit.

I heard you could pour water on them to get them to release, is this true?

I don't know if it would phase them enough. The owner of the place I work has had experience with larger boids like retics and burms, and he always keeps a bottle of alcohol around, just in case. He said getting that poured on their face is like us getting sprayed with pepper spray.

Yes, either very hot or very cold water normally will cause any snake to release.

I use a seperate container to feed all of my snakes, but i never have any handling problems before or after feeding time, i guess i just have some really sweet herps :D

p.s.
that sounded bad, lol

i just wait till its in there belly and they start wandering around again

i have never had any problems with them thinking my hand was food becuase they were in "feeding mode" either

i dont know if its really neccesary but i dont pick them up from behind where i can tell the mouse/rat is.I grab them a little bit before and suport thier bodies