A brooding mom will eat while on her clutch, but from the sound of it you remove your snakes in order to feed them in a separate enclosure..? Once you have these snakes in individual enclosures, they can be fed in their enclosure. It's easier for the snakes (and the keeper) to feed snakes in their enclosures. In the case of your female, you'd want to offer a smaller than usual meal. My snakes usually eat medium sized rats so a brooding female here if offered rat pups or small sized rats on a weekly basis.