Do you think I'm eventually going to get bit?

[Emilio]

Yes you will and it might come from the one you least expect. Thats what happened to me, I got over confident with a very shy feeder and bang he got me. I'm glad I got it out of the way though it wasn't that bad.

[2kdime]

Is he in feeding mode or is he just defensive?

Well, my King snake ALWAYS thinks I'm feeding him right when I even come up to the cage. Since he's in shed right now, he doesn't do anything. Though, I need to take him out daily for just a second so I can inject his antibiotics into him to get rid of the RI. He almost tagged me a few weeks ago when I was trying to pick him up. I held onto the middle part of his bosy to pick him up and he rushes over open mouthed and ready to bite. I'm just too quick for him xD

[Kaorte]

You can't compare kings to ball pythons. Kings are known for eating anything and everything. Ball pythons (in mine and many others experiences) are not aggressive feeders and don't develop "cage aggression".

[CoolioTiffany]

Is he in feeding mode or is he just defensive?

Feeding mode, for sure. He has that "where's my food" look on his face and he really shows it by the way he moves.

[CoolioTiffany]

You can't compare kings to ball pythons. Kings are known for eating anything and everything. Ball pythons (in mine and many others experiences) are not aggressive feeders and don't develop "cage aggression".

Ya true, I just don't really want my snakes to swallow the substrate. I know it won't harm them (switched to Aspen now) but I know the substrate really isn't meant to be swallowed so just avoiding possible future impaction from swallowing the substrate cuz it always can happen. Especially when I had the Cypress Mulch.. I would never feed in the enclosure with it. The Cypress was dry, sharp, and rough so I was afraid that if swallowed it would tear the insides of my BPs and possibly cause a painful impaction.

[Denial]

if you keep snakes more then likely eventually you are going to be bitten.

I feed all my animals in there cages and 99 percent of all my animals have HUGE feeding responses but it is more dangerous moving a large snake to another cage to feed and then having to move it back to its cage after it has fed. So instead I hook train my snakes so I dont run into any problems. BUt I have a few snakes that will strike out of there cages as soon as the glass is open so I have to be super careful with them.

This guy has the worst feeding response out of any animal I have EVER kept



He will come out of his cage mouth open and everything. And I have to be extra careful because his cage is the very top cage in this pic so when I open it im on a step ladder lol trying to manage a hook to get him out. So its really interesting when I have to clean his cage to see what he is going to do. BUt once hes out hes the greatest snake in the world

[CoolioTiffany]

He will come out of his cage mouth open and everything. And I have to be extra careful because his cage is the very top cage in this pic so when I open it im on a step ladder lol trying to manage a hook to get him out. So its really interesting when I have to clean his cage to see what he is going to do. BUt once hes out hes the greatest snake in the world

Lol if a big snake like that struck at me while on a step ladder, I would most likely fall off of the step ladder

[Kaorte]

Ya true, I just don't really want my snakes to swallow the substrate. I know it won't harm them (switched to Aspen now) but I know the substrate really isn't meant to be swallowed so just avoiding possible future impaction from swallowing the substrate cuz it always can happen. Especially when I had the Cypress Mulch.. I would never feed in the enclosure with it. The Cypress was dry, sharp, and rough so I was afraid that if swallowed it would tear the insides of my BPs and possibly cause a painful impaction.

They swallow animals WHOLE. teeth, nails and bone. Their mouths are meant to take a beating. A little piece of substrate will not harm them.

As for substrate ingestion, because snakes can digest bone and hair, a small bit of substrate will not cause impaction. If you feed F/T just lay down some paper towel and put the prey item on that.

[Denial]

Lol if a big snake like that struck at me while on a step ladder, I would most likely fall off of the step ladder

its not the snake you need to watch out for. Its the ceiling fan behind you. When we first moved in to that house I was cleaning cages and I leaned to far back and that fan smacked me in my head and knocked me off the ladder lol. I didnt know what happened

[CoolioTiffany]

They swallow animals WHOLE. teeth, nails and bone. Their mouths are meant to take a beating. A little piece of substrate will not harm them.

As for substrate ingestion, because snakes can digest bone and hair, a small bit of substrate will not cause impaction. If you feed F/T just lay down some paper towel and put the prey item on that.

Alright thanks :]. All of my snakes are so horrible when it comes to feeding in the enclosure. My colubrids always swallow a piece or two of the substrate. Though, my King snake is very smart. Probably one of the smartest snakes of my collection. When he eats, he tries to get the pieces of substrate on the side of his mouth so when he finishes only a little bit of the pieces are in his mouth so he'll go over and rub his mouth against his hide or the water dish to get the pieces out of his mouth. Throughout the entire time I've had him, he really hasn't been in a whole lot of stress and he deals with things pretty well. Like his visit to the vet, he gave the people a hard time to open up his mouth, but he did pretty good and was completely friendly. The vet said since we put him through some stress he may regurgitate the food items you gave to him yesterday because when snakes are stressed they will sometimes regurgitate their food items. Though, when he got back, no sign of a food item spit up in the cage. He has never regurgitated a mouse either, so he does pretty well.