Feeding in the cage vs separate feeding area

I'm part of another much smaller and less active bp forum, where everyone uses a separate container for feeding. I noticed that everyone here seems to feed in the snake's own home.

So far I'm feeding in a tub (like the ones most of you keep your snakes in full-time) and not having any problems, but then again I've only fed her four times. I keep my snake in a fairly deep tank though, and if I needed to reach in for some reason, it would be much more difficult. Also, the mice poop all over and I can just rinse out the tub when she's done eating.

What are your arguments for feeding in the normal enclosure? I'd like to read both sides!

If a person is currently feeding in a seperate tub and having success at it, I don't feel any need to argue differently. LOL


That being said, I'll tell you why I prefer to feed in their own enclosures...

One: Some snakes are extremely shy eaters and the process of moving them into an unfamiliar tub can quite easily put them off feed. (My gopher snake falls into this category for sure!)

Two: It significantly reduces the chance of accidently causing your snake to regurge its dinner due to the handling required to move it from the feeding tub back into its own tank.

Three: It's just simpler for me personally, and anything that doesn't hurt them while makes things easier for me is a "plus" in my book.

Four: I have no idea if it means anything to the snake or not, but I get the feeling that it could be stimulating (in a good way, rather than stress inducing) for them to actually get to "hunt" for their food. Even if you feed pk or f/t...they have to come out of their hides and find it. That is pure speculation on my part.

I personally have tested this theroy. Most of the time people are concerned that the snake will associate feeding in the enclosure with your hand and cause aggression concerns. Two of my snakes are tub feeders, the other four are not. I have noticed no difference in aggression in anyway.

All of mine feed in the tub...No aggression other than what's directed towards the rat.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

All of mine feed in the tub...No aggression other than what's directed towards the rat.

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Same here.

If one could make a convincing arguement that feeding in the snakes cage would cause aggression to the keeper going into the cage, one could make an equally convincing arguement that the snake would become conditioned to expect to be fed each time it is removed from its cage.

ive done both and they both worked out the same in IMO. feeding them in their tubs is more conveinent for me although i dont like the rat poop in their enclosures but thats usually easy to ake care of. i just remove the newspaper that the feces is on and its fine.

Not to mention 5) handling a snake around feeding time is probably a great way to get tagged.

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Originally Posted by JLC

If a person is currently feeding in a seperate tub and having success at it, I don't feel any need to argue differently. LOL


That being said, I'll tell you why I prefer to feed in their own enclosures...

One: Some snakes are extremely shy eaters and the process of moving them into an unfamiliar tub can quite easily put them off feed. (My gopher snake falls into this category for sure!)

Two: It significantly reduces the chance of accidently causing your snake to regurge its dinner due to the handling required to move it from the feeding tub back into its own tank.

Three: It's just simpler for me personally, and anything that doesn't hurt them while makes things easier for me is a "plus" in my book.

Four: I have no idea if it means anything to the snake or not, but I get the feeling that it could be stimulating (in a good way, rather than stress inducing) for them to actually get to "hunt" for their food. Even if you feed pk or f/t...they have to come out of their hides and find it. That is pure speculation on my part.

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I feed half of them in the tub and half in their cages, and mostly just because it seems to be what their most comfortable with and how they'll eat.

Ma-tsu gets weirdly distracted in her tank when I'm trying to give her more than one food item. I put her in the tub, and she downs them both like it's nothing. She even pounced her last meal from off my arm as I was putting her in and proceeded to start eating while still wrapped around me! But no worries about getting bit or regurge with her.

I put Neptune in the tub and he spends forever ignoring his dinner and trying to escape, all stressed out. I think it just depends on the snake.

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

If one could make a convincing arguement that feeding in the snakes cage would cause aggression to the keeper going into the cage, one could make an equally convincing arguement that the snake would become conditioned to expect to be fed each time it is removed from its cage.

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I currently feed ALL of my snakes in a separate feediong tub except one.....and it's not a BP. I have never had a problem doing it this way, and just like elevatethis said, that they may be able to be "conditioned" to expect food to be coming when removed from the cage.....I truly beleive this statementto be true, because whenever it's feeding day, and I place a snake in the feeding box, it seems to "turn on the feeding button".....I have been feeding my snakes this way for years, and I have never had one go of of feed because of stress from being fed in separate container, as well as I have never had a snake regurg from feeding in this manner.

I fed Gem for a while in her enclosure, with no problems at all.

One feeding day though, she just wouldn't eat it, showed no interest, almost like she didn't even see it. So, i tried using a tub, and zing, she downed that rat. And since then, i've just been feeding in tubs, Gem and Cyrus, (aka Citrus) don't mind at all.

What works for you, is what works best.

it seems to me like there are more negatives to feeding in a seperate tub then feeding in the cage. when feeding outside the tub there is the stress issue and also the possibility of a shy feeder not wanting to eat. when feeding in the cage I can't think of any really. if anything, I would think the snake would be more comfortable in its own cage.

Sounds like most feed in the snakes enclosure, however my question to them is: what are you using as substrate?

I've heard the stories of impaction in the snake from eating Aspen, or something along those lines. I personally feed in separate feeding tubs for my cornsnakes, however my husband just bought a BP and loves the thrill of the "hunt". It's just natural he says. So, can someone here attest to using Aspen or Cypress Mulch and not having any impaction problems with the snake? What if they do swallow a little bit, will it cause problems later?

I currently use newspaper but have used Cypress and Aspen in the past. While small pieces won't cause problems with a bigger snake, with corns I would put down a piece of newspaper in the enclosure before feeding so he eats over it.

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Originally Posted by cornylover2

I've heard the stories of impaction in the snake from eating Aspen, or something along those lines. I personally feed in separate feeding tubs for my cornsnakes, however my husband just bought a BP and loves the thrill of the "hunt". It's just natural he says. So, can someone here attest to using Aspen or Cypress Mulch and not having any impaction problems with the snake? What if they do swallow a little bit, will it cause problems later?

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I'm on paper now, but I fed a large colony of ball pythons for many years on an aspen type bedding and never had a problem with impaction. I think that there are obviously some bedding size vs. snake size issues to think about, but a snakes stomach acids are strong enough to break down rodent hair, bone, and the cellulose contents of their stomachs ... a couple of small pieces of bedding ingested during feeding aren't going to be a problem.

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

I'm on paper now, but I fed a large colony of ball pythons for many years on an aspen type bedding and never had a problem with impaction. I think that there are obviously some bedding size vs. snake size issues to think about, but a snakes stomach acids are strong enough to break down rodent hair, bone, and the cellulose contents of their stomachs ... a couple of small pieces of bedding ingested during feeding aren't going to be a problem.

-adam

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My concern was like you mentioned, bedding size vs. snake size being that they are Corns. I have had BPs and Boas ingest bits of Aspen or Cypress with no harm.

I seem to have trouble with corn myself...What? Too much info!? :tricho:

I feed in a seperate tub, mostly because that is what Dax was used to when we got him and we decided that it was a good idea to continue on with what he was used to. He eats very well for us.

I feed in their tub and use newspaper substrate. Hate the newspaper for how it looks but i love how it functions....clean, cheap, and easy.

Jamie!!!! eeewww.......we do not need to know what happens with you and corn....LOL

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Originally Posted by 4theSNAKElady

Jamie!!!! eeewww.......we do not need to know what happens with you and corn....LOL

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Glad somebody caught that! Just keepin ya on your toes...

hello

so i will be attempting the first feed in a few days. seller said vernon has been eating f/t and it will be a week wednesday since i got him. anyways, i have been reading the replies on this thread and it seems it is ok to feed in the enclosure right? i have aspen bedding and what i intend to do is lay a f/t pinkie mouse on a piece of newspaper (just so he doesnt ingest some aspen) and just put it in his viv. i used to feed my corn in a separate tub, but want to try same enclosure feeding as it seems more convenient. what do you guys think?

thanks.

ed

Hey Ed...welcome to BP.net! :handshake: Your plans sound fine to me...with or without newspaper...whatever seems to work best for ya. Good luck with your first feeding, and don't hesitate to ask for help if you need it!

thanks for the welcome. i do hope he eats. will try to post pics soon.

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Originally Posted by junji98

(just so he doesnt ingest some aspen)

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Your snake can digest rodent fur and bones.... Don't worry about a few wood chips... he'll be fine.. :)

Welcome to BPNet Ed, glad you joined us here! Best of luck on your first feeding. Let us know how it went.

Ineresting thread considering I was dealing with this yesterday... LOL

So anyway, Sunday is Monty's feeding day so I thawed the mouse and did the zombie dance in her enclosure as usual. She seemed interested so then I put the mouse down in front of the hide she was in and closed the top of her enclosure. So that is her normal routine. Weeeelllll, I woke up yesterday morning and the mouse was still there. Hmmm... So I re-freezed the mouse and thought nothing of it. Sometimes she decides that "she will not be eating this week".

So I took her out yesterday for her handling session (since she didn't eat). Well, she was obviously hunting. I could tell that she was hungry...lol. She was going around my room in hunt mode (which is soooooo cute BTW) so I discussed it with Lisa and we decided to offer her food again. So I re-thawed the mouse and went through the "routine". she seemed interested but just slithered over the mouse. Well, I took her out and put her in her "snake shuttle" a tub I made for transport to places like the vet and what not. Lisa did the zombie dance and BAM! no hesitation!...She didn't even release the mouse before she started eating! she usually drops the mouse and re-positions herself before eating it.

So I think that I am just going to start feeding in the tub. As far as stress in handling after eating goes...I just put the whole tub in her enclosure so that she can get out of it when she wants to...and she is still in the tub this morning...LOL

I will make another tub for her exclusivly for feeding because I don't want her to go in to feed mode when I put her in her travel tub. On a seperate note, I have recently discovered that she loves to travel....it is so weird. She is very calm when traveling and seems to really enjoy it. It sounds strange and goes against the whole "BP Shyness" thing but she loves it!

well here is the update. Vernon ate! i first tried the separate tub feed (as this was what we did with our corn). he struck at the hopper, but then after that, sort of lost interest. he stared at it from time to time, and smelled it, but never really went for it. this disheartened us a bit. we decided to put him back in his viv and just leave the mouse on a piece of paper on the aspen. he subsequently struck and continued to consume the hopper. so i guess i know what type of feeding method he goes for now. :)

ed

Parabuzzle, I have a male (Havoc) that is the exact same way.....whenever i pass by his cage and he is crusing around, he simply "begs" to be taken out and played with...and he loves to travel too...such a curious snake!!!...nothin' shy about this guy!!!

Ok i have a question also i'll be having a baby female BCI to add to the collection and im wondering how all these people with big snakes take them out and feed them in a tub then put them back. I think im going to feed her in the enclosure because i don't think im going to chance it when she is an adult getting her out and then putting her back in the enclosure after feeding. I mean it's ok for a corn or a bp smaller snakes but for the larger snakes it's just to risky isn't it?

I've seen some boas get very amped up after feeding. Anyone I've heard of with larger snakes (8' and up) feed in the snake's enclosure.

Ditto what Brad just said. Feeding large snakes in a separate enclosure is asking for trouble. For one, if they're really big, you have to manhandle them a lot more to get them from one place to another...which can cause regurge. And for another, as Brad says, they can become quite aggressive on feeding day, and you want to avoid anything that increases the chance of an SFE. (Stupid Feeding Error)

There is no way in haydes you'd get me to try to remove Rauri the hungry 6 ft BCI to a seperate feeding tub....I'm not that brave LOL. Feeding day for him is all business and with his long strike range I'd rather just not risk it. Even after he eats, he's still hyped out a bit till he gets out of his hunting mode. He feeds in his enclosure which seems to make us all happy. :) :snake2:

Does a sterilite 1960 have enough hieght (6") to feed a bp?

That is plenty of height. Snakes don't need height to eat..

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Originally Posted by krackerJack

Does a sterilite 1960 have enough hieght (6") to feed a bp?

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I can understand the question because sometimes they rear up tall...I guess to let gravity help them get the mouse/rat down the hatch. LOL However, I've seen my snake do that...as well as stay in her hide to coil, kill, and proceed to eat her rat. And her hide is less than 2" deep. So they'll manage fine, regardless of the height of their enclosure.

Thank you everyone for their input on feeding.


Just thought I'd share something about my cornsnakes (the bp is for my husband to enjoy). I've been feeding them in a separate enclosure, however for one of my snakes, he just seemed deathly afraid of a live mouse. He'd go sniff it and when the mouse turned towards him he would jump and go slither to the other side of the feeding tank never to come back. He's currently on small hoppers. Snake is about 5 months old now so I have to prekill the mouse for him on feeding days.

I have a sterilized sour cream container with the lid on the bottom of it as a hide in his tank. Last night was feeding time so I took the aspen out of the container, put the live mouse in, showed the snake the opening and he slithered on in. It usually takes more than 20 minutes for this snake to go sniff out a prekilled mouse just because he seems so skittish, but he went in there like a champ. Next thing I know I'm hearing the squeeling of the mouse. I was so surprised (and happy) and feel very confident that because the snake was in his own enclosure, he felt more secure about everything.

So...I now have an option to feed in the enclosure without having to worry the snake is going to chow down on Aspen and don't have to kill the mouse myself. YAY!!

I'll say it again- Snakes have powerful digestive juice that can break down prey items to gel, including the bones. A few aspen chips aren't going to cause an impactation, so you should not worry.

I must say Elizabeth seems to enjoy her feeding tub. When I take her out on feeding day and place her there she knows exactly what's going on. She crawls to the same side every time and waits for me to drop the mouse. After the feeding she always just pops her head down and lets me take her back to her enclosure.