How do you feed a snake without it biting you?

[Hardwikk]

I heard that one reason snake owners get bitten by their snake is because it may expect food every time the top is opened. How do you prevent this?

[Lucero87]

That is not true...if you keep them on a feeding schedule they usually know when meal time comes around and also they have to smell their pray...i feed both of my bp's in their tanks and i can still reach in and pick them up.

[dalvers63]

The only time I have seen this be an issue with people who rarely do anything with the snake other than open the tank to feed it.

Most keepers spend more time in the cage/tank/tub changing water, cleaning, viewing/holding than they do feeding. My snakes only expect food when they smell it in the room. At that time, be careful opening up the cages!

[fergie]

I feed both my Kings, my Bairds Rat and now my two corns, since they moved up to small mice, in their vivs. They have yet to strike me when i open up the door to viv at anytime. Both the Kings will come racing towards the door when i open up but i quickly show them the back of my hand and they calm down straight away. The Bairds Rat is that laid back he barely flinches when i open up the door and both corns just sort of look about them when i open up the viv. If their is no prey scent on your hand, you shouldn't get bit. What i have noticed with Kings, that once you feed them and then put your hand in a short while later, whether it smells of prey or not, they will usually strike at anything that moves in their viv

[Hardwikk]

I though there was this whole thing of placing the snake in another place and feeding it there so it doesn't expect food whenever you open the top. I guess there isn't.

[littleindiangirl]

Some people do it, there was a poll a while back asking if they feed outside or in the enclosure. I think feeding inside the enclosure was by a large margin the winner of that poll.

[littleindiangirl]

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...side+enclosure

[mischevious21]

I feed mine in shoeboxes- makes things easier for me personaly.

[ADEE]

duh lol.. never mind

[Colin Vestrand]

i just make sure i'm very deliberate in my movements and i never have a problem feeding in the cage...
to clarify, i dont dangle my hands in front of the snake's mouth (ok i did it once but never again!), i just reach in and grab them without dinking around. once they're in my hands it's obviously not a problem.