maybe i'm crazy, but i've never used tongs. i just dangle the food item by the tail. except for ONE particularly fiesty one, DOCTOR EVIL! he's a 1600gram het. pied male, and he is the hissiest, strikey-est, most angry snake i have ever come across. and when he's in blue? don't even THINK about sliding out his tub, because you'll hear him hiss all the way across the apartment!