thoughts on feeding in there enclosure?

Hey everybody I was just wondering what everyones thoughts where on feeding your ball pythons in there enclosure if your using aspen shavings for the substrate.

Thanks
Alex

I feed eery one of my snakes in there enclosures.:D

I am unable to to get my snakes in my hand, they would have me for lunch!

I've always fed in the enclosure - including when I used aspen. ;)

I also feed in the enclosure and use Aspen, I have never had a problem.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rabernet

I've always fed in the enclosure - including when I used aspen. ;)

---

Ditto

Everything gets fed live here... My boa is the only one on aspen and we havnt had an issue with it. Its the softer aspen made for small animals instead of the more woody/toothpick aspen. We use the aspen for my bunny so the extra stuff goes to the Boa who likes to burrow. I too would likely be lunch (or at least tasted strongly) my snakes have amazing feeding responses, I certainly am not moving them so they can eat ;) more stress to them and me then what its worth IMO.

I feed all my snakes - whether live or dead - in their enclosures without issues.

Heh, I think you mean whether live or dead PREY. :)

And I, too, feed inside enclosures now. Everyone. I used to do separate enclosures, back when I was paranoid after owning a gecko for years and I thought it would be great to be able to clean their cage while they ate. It's MUCH easier, on them and on you, to just feed them in their homes. You just have to set up a clean date later in the week.

And there is nothing to the myth that the snake will 'mistake your hand for food' if you feed in home. All you have to do is establish a routine (same day/interval for feeding), and pre-scent the room on that day and the snakes will always know when feeding time is. :)

Besides everything else metioned, when you eventually aquire a good-sized collection (you WILL, don't even question it lol) - you'll find the idea of taking every one of your ("I know darn well it's feeding night and I want it NOW") snakes out to feed them in a seperate enclosure ...... well, terrifying lol.

Seriously, when they get on a schedule, your little sweatheart becomes a blinded-by-hunger striking machine one night a week. :rolleyes: This is my experience. But, the rest of the week, back to cutie patutie! So I feel that feeding them in their enclosure is beneficial to their eating habits, and with proper handling, are still well-behaved 6 days out of the week ;)

Aspen shouldn't severely harm a bp if it's not ingested in large amounts. Because ball pythons are so shy, it is best to feed them inside their enclosure where they feel safe and undisturbed.

Always in the enclosure. When we get a new snake we don't want to stress them out just before feeding by switching tubs. Then they get into a routine and we just keep feeding that way.

Also, not all aspen is created equal. there is the cheap kind that's really fluffy, and the more expensive stuff that settles down in a nice firm base. I've never had any problems.

I'm going to be using the Zoo Med aspen bedding, is it ok to feed them on this type of aspen?

Thanks
Alex

I feed my male in his enclosure with aspen bedding...he has ingested small amounts of aspen from time to time - now i throw down a small piece of cardboard and that seems to work fine.

I feed my female in a separate tub...for some reason she won't eat in her tank she just stares at me. Once I put her in the feeding tub she hits that mouse with authority ;)

I used to feed my BP in a separate tub. I didn't do this because I was afraid he'd strike me if he associated the opening of his tank with food... rather, I did it because I thought he might associate the other tub with feeding. I decided it'd ultimately be a lot less stressful for him to eat in his house and to just pre-scent to let him know it was food day, rather than shuffling him about to give him the clue. So I switched over to feeding in his enclosure. I use aspen bedding. He's gotten some in his mouth but not enough to do any harm. The feeding response, by the way, didn't change in the least. :)

(Owning a BP, I've found, is a constant learning process... but you eventually get to know your snake, find out what works best and form a great routine.)

Today was only my second feeding of my first BP, but I had a MUCH better feeding response from him this time when I fed in his enclosure (I removed to a feeding bin last time). He smelled the mouse, came out of hiding looking for it, and when I offered it, he actually struck for it, whereas last time he just sniffed around it and kept trying to eat it backwards. There were a few other factors that could have affected the change in feeding response, but I believe that leaving him in his enclosure was a big part of it.

We feed everything in it's enclosure here.
The corns and the hoggie get tehir f/t set in a very shallow plastic sandwich keeper...they come over and eat up...no substrate.
Our BP takes the f/t off of tongs still...when I drop the mouse in to give it a try I drop it onto a shallow sandwich keeper.

I have heard that if your snake/lizard etc is hydrated they will be able to pass the nominal amount of ingested substrate...
We have a 11inch Rankin Beardie that walks around eating his substrate...it always passes (he's 5 years old now).

The catch is not to place the food item on a paper towel. I have heard people say that the paper towel stuck to the rodent and the snake either ingested the paper towel or the keeper tried to intervene to help out and had a very crabby snake:weirdface

The argument used to be that the snake would associate you opening the tank with it being fed so you would get bit.
But it seems more people now subscribe to the idea that unless you just reach in and try to yank out an unsuspecting snake that is not much of an issue...
It would seem a bigger issue that the snake associates being taken out with being fed:weirdface

All I know is our baby BP still wants to kill us when we take him out and he has a great feeding response...
Our corn snakes are great eaters but do not include us on their menu.
Our hoggie would eat every day given the chance anywhere;)