Feeding: inside vs outside the tank

Hi everyone, i'm just wondering which way you do it, and which option is better for the snake and myself?

Moving an animal in feeding mode (this can start and end hours before and after feeding) increase the risk of getting tagged, in some species such as BP it can also lead to stress which in turn leads to refusal.

There is no benefit in feeding outside the enclosure.

Honestly, it depends, I do agree it adds stress and the potential of being tagged. Personally before I learned it is okay to feed in the enclosure I started feeding in separate tubs, and still do since my snakes are used to it, but in the future I'll most likely feed in the enclosure. If you have and animal used to being fed in a separate tub and that works for you then do what works. I handle the baby with a hook on feeding day, and that's also when she gets weighed, and I'm pretty sure my adult was raised being fed in a separate tub because he doesn't really enter feeding mode until he's in the tub (I'm not sure, I bought him as an adult and continued what I was told he was used to).

I also use the time they are feeding as a deep cleaning day of their living enclosures.


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This has nothing to do with the question I asked, but should I start weighing mine when I get it? I had one but he passed away a few days ago and I never weighed him. I'm trying to learn more about Ball pythons before I get another.

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Originally Posted by JadeSisson

This has nothing to do with the question I asked, but should I start weighing mine when I get it? I had one but he passed away a few days ago and I never weighed him. I'm trying to learn more about Ball pythons before I get another.

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It's good to weigh them so you know if they're gaining or losing weight. This can be helpful if they stop eating or get sick.

i think in the debate between tub feeding and cage feeding there are a few things to consider:

cage feeding: less stress on snake, less likely to get bit, can replicate natural stalking behaviors more easily (by, say, dragging the food around the cage and hiding it somewhere, making a trail), snake is more relaxed and less likely to refuse food

container feeding: no risk of snake missing and getting a mouthful of dirt that they could suffocate on, or getting a piece of bark stuck in their mouth. no risk of substrate getting stuck to the food item and causing blockages. snake won't be as likely to associate the cage opening with food and snap at a hand near their feeding day. maybe you can also see and help with any feeding problems the snake has?

really i think it comes down to personal preference, there are pros and cons with both, it's just whichever you think is safer/easier on the snake

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Originally Posted by Bea

snake won't be as likely to associate the cage opening with food and snap at a hand near their feeding day.

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This is a myth. Feeding snakes in their enclosure does not create or increase cage aggression. In fact, as deb pointed out, it can lead to you being MORE likely to be tagged because you're putting your hand into the snakes cage on feeding day when they're likely to strike. I made a short video about how to properly initiate a handling session with a snake. Long story short, you should learn how to give your snake cues on purpose (I guarantee you're already giving them cues every time you interact, you just might not know it, or understand what they are).

Honestly it really won't cause a snake to be more aggressive towards the cage opening unless the only time it is opened is feeding time.


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I feed in the cage, but I take the hides and water bowl out first if I'm feeding a live mouse. Years back I saw a snake grab a mouse by the belly, because the snake was in its hide and the mouse ran up and put its paws on top of the hide... It had a much more difficult time killing the poor mouse. Since I keep mine in tubs, and they're babies still, that just means removing three hides and a bowl, which takes about ten seconds.

All of mine are fed in their enclosures. Haven't had a problem yet.

Could I address ALL who feed their snakes outside of their tubs/enclosures?

I have never once been bit by my ball python, when feeding in his vivarium, I feed him with tongs. He has never once shown any sign of aggression towards me when I enter the vivarium, after a year of being fed in the enclosure by tong. When food is present, he strikes at that, nothing else.

A way to put this into a question that you can relate to would be; How would you like it if the police stormed into your house, grabbed you from your bed, and took you to this brand new, never seen, mysterious place where you have nowhere to go because every few feet there's a wall?

Cage aggression from feeding inside the enclosure is a complete myth... The fact that you open his enclosure many more times in comparison to clean his cage, sometimes to take him out, sometimes to refill water, etc. is evidence enough that he won't associate "opening the tub" to food at all.

You can take a gander at this article for all the details on why feeding outside the cage is not beneficial at all, but only potential harm/risk: http://www.arbreptiles.com/lastword/snakefeeding.shtml

Also, it's a good idea to get a scale... like someone said, so you can keep close track this time whether your snake is losing or gaining weight. Especially in the first 4 months of a baby ball python, they should be gaining weight pretty fast.

Just to give you an idea, my albino male BP is 6 months old right now and weighs ~430g. He's been eating an appropriate-sized meal once a week. Hatchling ball pythons right out of the egg are usually around 50g~90g.

When I first started keeping snakes I did the move to feeding containers thing.
We all know very little in the beginning but that is what the forum is here for.
With about 40 snakes and 51 hatchlings I couldn't imagine keeping that kind of craziness.....

i think the idea is that the snake would snap when its near its feeding day, since it's hungry and knows food will be arriving soon... a guy talking about REALLY big snakes (retics and stuff) mentioned that he used a snake hook to avoid that issue, since a snake that big taking a snap at you could be risky, and myth or not it's probably a situation you'd want to avoid. obviously if you have 10+ snakes it's a bit impractical, but this still doesn't address the choking on substrate issue. if you've only got a few snakes and they're on indigestable substrate, and they're not of a species that's extremely shy or prefers to hunt in a particular way, then tub feeding is probably fine, just to avoid potentially dangerous blockages. if you've got a snake on newspaper/paper towels that there's no way it could end up in the snake's mouth, or you have a bunch of snakes and it'd be rediculous to feed them all in tubs, then there isn't really a reason TO tub feed. it seems like a matter of circumstance, hence why i pointed out the merits of both.

I believed the myth of feeding inside the cage up until I started 3 months ago and still no bites!

I've had good luck with feeding inside exxelt for these darn vermin grabbing on to parts of the decor.

If you're feeding F/T, there's absolutely no point in feeding in a separate container.

With that said, I feed live and ONLY feed in a separate container. I will never feed inside their terrarium. Not only is it dangerous if the snake doesn't kill the prey right away, it's very unsanitary because rats and mice pee and defecate on everything.

I feed 5 snakes weekly and don't have a problem with "stress" or them ever biting me (or even trying for that matter). They are actually conditioned to "know" that once they're in a separate container they will be fed.

People make feeding in separate containers sounds like bad practice but it's really not. Everyone has their way of doing thing. Just have to figure out what works for you.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

If you're feeding F/T, there's absolutely no point in feeding in a separate container.

With that said, I feed live and ONLY feed in a separate container. I will never feed inside their terrarium. Not only is it dangerous if the snake doesn't kill the prey right away, it's very unsanitary because rats and mice pee and defecate on everything.

I feed 5 snakes weekly and don't have a problem with "stress" or them ever biting me (or even trying for that matter). They are actually conditioned to "know" that once they're in a separate container they will be fed.

People make feeding in separate containers sounds like bad practice but it's really not. Everyone has their way of doing thing. Just have to figure out what works for you.

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I have to say I agree with this. I too feed live so the tub makes more sense to me in that particular case since I can't control where the live mouse goes and they are disgusting creatures as far as their rodent bodily habits go.