Feeding Time Means Biting Time (Yes, Pictures).

[Vypyrz]

I also almost got tagged by the 6-7 foot Dumeril's girl, but she grabbed the jumbo rat right near where my hand was.

My Dum is the nicest little girl you will meet but once feeding time comes around , that switch turns on and she turns into a demon. I always check to make sure each snake finishes their meal and when I check her she strikes at me and goes nuts so I figure ok she is still hungry but when I try to feed her all she does is get defensive and practically rips apart the rat pup. Lol

I really need feeding tongs for my Dumeril's girl, I definitely don't want to be bitten by her.

Same goes for my Dumeril's! She's like a puppy dog, but when she's in feeding mode you hear the loudest pound on the rat when she grabs a hold of it. She does have a feeding response so I have to take this home-made snake hook I made and touch her with it so she knows she isn't eating.

She has a pretty good striking range..

Last night, while I was reading all these quotes on the Dumerils aggressive feeding response, I was thinking that I must have a special case. He is 2 yrs old and 45 inches long. I've had him for 6 weeks and he has spent most of that curled up in his hide. Very seldom would I catch him out. Feeding consists of me putting the rat in his enclosure and leaving the room. He wouldn't eat if I didn't. The last 2 or 3 nights I have seen him out exploring his enclosure so I figured this was a good sign. Tonight was feeding night so I figured it would be routine. His tub sits on a top shelf at my eye level. I haven't been using the hook to open his tub because normally he will just lay there or shy away from me. Not tonight. I had barely got the lid raised maybe an inch or so when, all of the sudden, the lid and substrate went flying and that snake shot about 2 feet out of the tub and hit the rat so hard that it knocked the tongs out of my hand. Then when he got it back in the tub he wasn't just constricting it, he had that thing completely wrapped up.The thing that stunned me the most was just the speed, power, and distance he had. I guess I'm just used to the other snakes making short, quick strikes, and not exploding out of their tubs like that, and I'm pretty sure he had the rat back in the tub before the lid hit the floor. The thing that I am most thankful for is that he had good aim because, at the angle I was standing at, my face was well within his strike range. I definitely have a new found respect for Dumerils and completely understand the above posts. I will also be moving his tub to a lower level this week and from now on, his tub will also be opened with the hook on feeding day... Lesson learned...