When I first got back into herps I decided to get into Ball Pythons. I raised Veiled Chameleons for a number of years so it was not that big of a transition. Under the advice of two seperate PET STORES I fed my guy in a seperate container. BIGGEST MISTAKE was listneing the the pet store. Our little normal was a very problematic eater at best. He went off feed for 3 weeks when we first got him then ate good for a couple of months then back off feed for three months lost a lot of weight and was not looking good at all. Under the great advice I received from this forum I offered a live hopper mouse (thanks Lgray in his enclosure and he ate with out a problem. He is now a great eater in his enclosure and packing on the grams he is up to weanling rats and eats every week with out fail. We took in a rescue who was again being fed ina seperate container and same thing difficult at best to feed the only thing I changed was feeding her in her enclosure and she has gained 250g+ in the 6 months she has lived with us. My pied has never been fed out of her enclosure and she is an absolute pig only one refusal from her but she was in shed. I have only been bitten once and well that was my fault. The big normal girl ate 3 weenling rats (all I had at the time) and she would drag them into her hide to eat. SO I wanted to make sure they were all gone and when I reached into her enclosure she was still hungry and mistook my hand (which I am sure smelled like a rat) for food and struck she let go right away and has never struck at anyone again. S I ALWAY FEED in their enclosure have had absolutely no signs of cage agression and have actually tried to reproduce the one bite just to prove to myself she was just really hungry and well no one will strike at my hand even if I scent it with a rat before. So I guess what I am saying is if your are not a complete idiot like I was then there should be no issues with feeding in an enclosure and it seems to make the snake feel a lot more comfortable about eating