he ate right from my hand (pic)

[cmack91]

i didnt have anywhere to set him today to feed, so i figured maybe he would eat from my hand, and he did! it was awesome

[Jessica Loesch]

Why not just feed inside the enclosure? Good that he feels comfortable with you, but you may get bitten that way out of accident.

[knox]

I feed inside the enclosures, but I love hand feeding my snakes - do it all the time.

And none of my snakes has ever been "conditioned" to bite me. If I don't smell like mouse, I don't get bitten. Now, that doesn't mean that an errant strike won't get me some day - so I never advise newbies to do this.

[771subliminal]

Why not just feed inside the enclosure? Good that he feels comfortable with you, but you may get bitten that way out of accident.

exactly, if the plan is to not have him associate his enclosure with eating then feeding him in your hand would be far worse, not that ive had a inprinting problem.

[AK907]

I'll second Jessica and 711.

[cmack91]

idk, ive never fed in the enclosure for some reason, i always used to hold the rat in front of him to feed, and hes never gotten me, but i figured if he didnt eat while i was holding him, that wouldve been my next option

[Generationshell]

My ball python has always been fed inside his enclosure and I don't believe that has caused him to associate it with just feeding.
However, I'm not sure feeding in your hand is such a great idea. I am not saying it is wrong by any means but there is a possibility it could cause added stress onto the snake.

[jsmorphs2]

That's pretty risky as far as the chancing an accidental bite. Bites aren't fun as it is but a FEEDING response bite can lead to the snake constricting your hand and that REALLY isn't fun!

Definitely not a safe or recommended practice by ANY means!

[cmack91]

this is just a one time thing, but he was comfortable enough to take it, and i set him down right after on top of the box the rat came in, it was big enough to hold him while he ate, just not during the striking process, but he ate fine. i fell for the feeding in the enclosure myth, which i now know is probably only half true, but now, even though a little bit of coco wont hurt him, none is even better imo, so i just take him out

[knox]

It's funny to see all the responses.

As far as I know, zero research has been done on hand feeding, yet all I ever hear is "you better not do that".

Now, I DO understand. There IS a chance of getting tagged. I would never do this with a large Boa or Python. But colubrids are no big deal if I get bitten.

Funny thing... After 30 years of keeping snakes, the only bites I have every had were defensive, or Kingsnakes biting me for no apparent reason at all and chewing on me. I have had more bites from Black Racers than all other snakes combined and that had nothing to do with food.

In fact, Snakebytes did a test. Chewy dipped his hand in a bucket of wet mice, then went to handle some snakes. Some bit, others didn't.

Risk? Sure. But we take a risk every time we handle our snakes.

Relax, people... I know a guy who routinely hand feeds 5 foot Eastern and Florida Kings. With no problems at all.

Then again, I just remembered this is a Ball Python forum, and a bite from a full grown Ball is definitely a bit worse than a full grown King.