agression and inside tank or outside tank

[bdc873]

I have read much on here about this topic but im confused...


is it more beneficial to feed a tank live or deead mice and does agression come from feeindg one over the other?

for example my python eats dead mice. I actually bought him from petco and i read that normally snakes take a while to eat. I have had him 2 days. I tried the first day to feed him he seem interested but never striked. I then took him out put him in a hermit crab tank and he ate the dead mouse. I didnt have any trouble at all getting him to eat! So I wanna know which will make him less agressive cuz id rather not have him bute me.

Now the dreaded do you feed him inside his tahnk or in another. I dont wahim thinking everytime i poen the tank its to get food cuz then he'll bite me. My python is about a foot and a half. SBut i hear moving him is bad too cuz it causes stress. So which is better?

Are there any tips for my first time trying to handle him? I got scared cuz he made an S shape but he could just be being dumb

[rabernet]

Usually you should let him acclimate to his new home for at least a week before you consider feeding or handling.

Since you've already fed him, I'd give him a week of no handling now so that he can settle in.

Live vs f/t or prekilled - it's up to each individual keeper to decide what works best for them AND their snake. Mine all eat live each week like clockwork. None of them make your snake more or less aggressive.

Feed in the enclosure or a separate enclosure. Presumably you'll be in the enclosure for many other reasons besides feeding (tidying up, spot cleaning, freshening water, getting out to handle, etc). Your snake will learn that open enclosure doesn't necessarily mean feeding. However, if you go into the enclosure after you've handled rodents, and you give off a heat signature and you smell like a rodent - you're probably a rodent.

I feed all 40+ of mine in their enclosures each week. None of them expect me to feed them on any other day but feeding day. (Except the overachievers who are hoping the rodent goddess will bestow a rodent on them every time she opens their tub and would eat more often if I let them.)

I prefer to let my animals hunt from their hides, and many of mine would probably refuse food if they were moved into a separate enclosure with no hides for protection. I personally think it's less stressful to them to feed in their enclosure - they don't have to be moved twice, and once they are done eating, they just curl up in their hides and take a nice nap.

As for the S shape - get a water bottle and just lightly touch the top of the head and that usually will get them to duck their heads.

[frankykeno]

Great advice Robin!

So everything Robin said to you plus this...

Give your snake a chance to settle in. It's a whole new world in your home from what this animal is used to full of new vibrations, new smells, new ways of being handled, etc. Any animal but especially an animal as perceptive to it's environment like a snake and as instinctive as a snake is, is going to need some time to adjust.

As far as hissing/biting/nipping/striking goes, any snake can do it and will do it. Maybe not often, maybe hardly ever but it's a part of keeping snakes to accept that occasionally your snake is going to try and tag you or not be in the mood to be messed around with. Most bites occur because you've put your snake in a place that it feels the need to defend itself and most are avoidable but some are not. Accepting that is just part of owning these wonderful and fascinating animals.