I feed in the enclosure. I have a few snakes that would be likely to feed in a tub but not all. Most of my 11 snakes I would not be likely to reach in to the enclosure on the evening of feeding day with the smell of rats in the air. I am 100% sure I would get tagged by many. However if the sounds and more importantly smells of feeding day are missing I have no hesitation or concern to reach in and pick up move hides or whatever I need or want to do. I have never been tagged by one of my snakes unless there was food involved.
IMHO the idea that snakes will become cage aggressive fails to acknowledge the abilities of the snake. They have very very fine sense of smell, heat pits show body temp shape and size. They know a mouse from a rat immediately, They have (generally) very good perception of distance and size (accuracy of strikes) The believe they are likely to 'mistake' a human as food I have a hard time buying. An animal capable of tracking a small rodent from 15 -20 m away it is certain that it will be able to discern a human, smell, shape, and size from a rodent.
The idea that they are being fed in a cage makes them aggressive simply makes no sense an aggressive snake is an aggressive snake in or out of a cage and a passive snake remains passive. there are snakes that are simply willing to strike out of fear but it is unconnected with feeding. They just are, and often with care and patience they learn that the keeper is not a threat. (often not always... sadly)
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