When should i take her out of her feeding tub?

I have a new snake in my small collection. Its a Sumatran Blood Python. Shes just short of 4' long (2 or 3 years old). I dont know what she weighs.
I keep her in an aquarium style set up, on large coco chips. Therefore, I move her to a plastic tub with paper for feeding.
How long should i wait before moving her back to the aquarium? I dont want her to regurgetate her food. Shes not like my small BP's, which are easy to support, and move without much stress.
However, this girl is just big enough that its impossible to move her without disturbing her.
Thanks in advance.

The chips are not going to be an issue and feeding in the separate tub is not a good idea, especially with something that usually has a very strong feeding response as a short tail.

In the wild snakes eat just fine with all kinds of debris around their prey. Feeding in another tub is just gonna get you bit. Another thread recently had that exacte thing happen to them.

I would say once the prey is fully eaten and the snake seems settled down and not still appearing to be in feed mode.

Just so im clear, your suggesting i feed her in the aquarium? I do understand what your saying about the debris. I guess Im a little more concerned with her because of the spagnum moss i have mixed in the chips for humidity. Like you said, I guess it wont hurt her.
I feed all my snakes in their aquarium, except this Blood. If I feed her in the cage, Im afraid i will trigger a feeding response every time i open the cage to remover her.
I want the feeding response to start when shes in the tub.
She is well behaved. I have no trouble handling her, however, she is an agressive feeder. She is also the only snake I have that i feed pre killed rodents. The first time she snatched a rat from the tongs, i almost crapped my pants. Im feeding her the prekilled rodents in an effort to minimize any aggressive behavior. Like i said, she is well behaved, but i want to keep her that way.

Im all ears. This is a totally new experience for me. I welcome all advice.

Almost none of your thoughts regarding feeding in the enclosure or live versus pre-killed are based upon facts. :)

You are far more likely to get bit while she's in feeding mode if you move her at feeding the time (either before or after). It has pretty much nothing at all to do with her association with her location at the time of feeding. As far as the aggressive behavior part, there's no difference. A healthy feeding response is a healthy feeding response regardless of the kind of food that's on the way (live or pre-killed).

Well behaved and a good feeding response are two completely different things, but they don't have to be traits in different animals. I'm not the only one who will tell you that I have more than a few snakes that are gentle as a lamb that I wouldn't dare go in fingers first on feeding day. They are also my favorite snakes by far. :)

Best of luck with your blood!

You won't minimize her aggressive behavior by feeding pre-killed or f/t food. Be happy she has a strong food response - you will appreciate it when your picky BP's fast for six months at a time!

If you are truly worried about her ingesting substrate you can put a paper plate or a plastic lid from a food storage container down and put the feeder on that - assuming she doesn't rip the feeder off the tongs again.

I forgot to add, there's a good thread on this topic called "The Age Old Question" that was started very recently. Read through all of it, but pay special attention to Skiploder's contribution on the 4th page. It's worth its weight in gold (as many of his posts are).

Your Sumatran is a Short Tail, not a Blood. Check out the three species here http://bloodpythons.com/cms/index.php/species-info

I have a 30lb female blood python that is near 6ft. She can pound a rat like a freight train. I would hate to have to move her to feed her because she knows by the smell of rat in the air that she is about to get food. I have never fed her anywhere but in her cage and she has never once even made a motion as if she was going to strike. She is very well mannered and a puppy dog in your lap. There is no reason to feed these snakes with their strong response to food in anything but their cage.

I also have three younger bloods that I had to tame down but even they are fed in their tub and always have been. I have never once been tagged by them in a feeding related way. The only times they have given me a bite is when they are being pissy about me disturbing them.

Thank you, very helpful.

I don't use separate feeding tubs. But if you are going to use one, then I suppose waiting 10-15 minutes after she's done swallowing the meal will give her enough time to settle down.

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Originally Posted by TheSnakeEye

I don't use separate feeding tubs. But if you are going to use one, then I suppose waiting 10-15 minutes after she's done swallowing the meal will give her enough time to settle down.

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A snake with a strong feeding response can take hours to settle. On the day I feed my boas I do any necessary cleaning, water changes, misting, etc., feed in the enclosure, and then I don't mess with them again until the following morning.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

A snake with a strong feeding response can take hours to settle. On the day I feed my boas I do any necessary cleaning, water changes, misting, etc., feed in the enclosure, and then I don't mess with them again until the following morning.

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I meant it more as the food would be far along enough not to upset her stomach and cause her to regurge. The snakes I have with a strong feeding response will be in attack mode for hours after eating. But the meal they ate would be nearly invisible after a few minutes. That's when I feel it would be ok to move them and not mess them up.

Thank you for the "species" link. Based on my avatar, it appears that I have a regular blood python.
Would you agree?
Her head is gray, not black like the Sumatra depicted in the link. When I adopted her, I was told she is a sumatran , but that's okay. However, I would like to be correctly informed about my snake.

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Originally Posted by TheSnakeEye

I meant it more as the food would be far along enough not to upset her stomach and cause her to regurge. The snakes I have with a strong feeding response will be in attack mode for hours after eating. But the meal they ate would be nearly invisible after a few minutes. That's when I feel it would be ok to move them and not mess them up.

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LOL yeah, my comment wasn't because I was worried about a regurge, but because while the occasional nip is all a part of keeping a reptile, a feeding response bite from a mature boa or blood python freaking hurts.

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Originally Posted by hijacked

Thank you for the "species" link. Based on my avatar, it appears that I have a regular blood python.
Would you agree?
Her head is gray, not black like the Sumatra depicted in the link. When I adopted her, I was told she is a sumatran , but that's okay. However, I would like to be correctly informed about my snake.

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It took me a while to notice the differences between the short tail pythons and the blood pythons. The easiest way of telling the difference is that the short tail pythons will have small scales separating their eyes from the scales on their mouth. Blood pythons do not have those very small scales.

As for your initial question, I feed all but one of my snakes in their enclosures. Never had a problem with them mistaking me for food, unless it was already feeding day and they smelled the rats. Good luck with your python. They make great lap buddies.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Your Sumatran is a Short Tail, not a Blood. Check out the three species here http://bloodpythons.com/cms/index.php/species-info

I also have three younger bloods that I had to tame down but even they are fed in their tub and always have been. I have never once been tagged by them in a feeding related way. The only times they have given me a bite is when they are being pissy about me disturbing them.

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How did you tame down the young bloods? Just curious. Do you handle them until they chill out? I am a newbie w/ this breed...with snakes, in general.

We have a hefty collection of these guys. Whenever we're about to pull them out to handle, or to clean...for the ones that have exceptional feeding responses...I take a hook and will gently tap them on their upper body to turn off their feeding response. Always works for me.


Sent from my iPad at the Southern Comfort Combine

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Originally Posted by platinumbp

How did you tame down the young bloods? Just curious. Do you handle them until they chill out? I am a newbie w/ this breed...with snakes, in general.

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Well when I first got them I left them alone as much as I could the first week. This proved to be pretty hard since they were shipped with mites. Dealing with young bloods, in a new home, with mites meant I got bit a lot that first week. After getting that taken care of I started short sessions with them keeping them away from my face and neck. These sessions were short and usually only for about as long as it took for them to relax with me. I eventually extended the time I would keep them out and as they proved that they were not into biting me any more I allowed them more freedom when crawling and climbing around me. It has been a very long time now since I have been tagged and I can do all my needed cleaning without having to worry about them tagging me. When I did get tagged I did not stop what I was doing with them. I finished what I was doing and would not place them back home until they chilled out. The two females are great and act just like my big girl now but the male can still get very pissy at times. He will actually actively come at you when he gets like this but most the time even he is pretty calm now. He is a character.

You just have to be steady and make deliberate moves when working with them. I believe they mainly bite when young out of fear and once they learn you are not there to hurt them and their little nips do nothing to deter you they will stop. Now every snake is different and some just seem to be hard to get along with. These species are very vocal and no matter how relaxed they are all of mine hiss, huff, and puff. That's just them.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Your Sumatran is a Short Tail, not a Blood. Check out the three species here http://bloodpythons.com/cms/index.php/species-info

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The OP's avatar is a red blood. I guess I am wondering if you saw a different pic somewhere. ?