feeding question - snake biting

[twisted poke]

Hello. I have a ball python around 20 months old which i have had for 18 of those months. My general feeding routine is i take the ball out of the habitat, place him in a newspaper lined box and drop the mouse in. He eats and i place him back in his habitat. I have been bitten twice doing this. The first was several months ago and the second time was yesterday. Both times, it has been while taking the snake out of the habitat to move him to the feeding box. The first time was when i reached into the habitat and yesterday, i was carrying the snake to the feeding box and he bit the hand i was not holding him with. (latched on pretty good and did not let go for a bit). Both times the bite bled a little but was not painful.

What I have noticed is that the snake can almost sense it is feeding time before it happens if that makes sense. He will generally come out of his hide and become active as soon as i enter the house with the mouse. I have never had an issue when reaching in the habitat to pick up the snake for handling during non-feeding times. I have also never had an issue when picking the snake up in the feeding box immediately after he has eaten to returning him to the habitat. Yesterday, the mouse (in a small cardboard box) was never closer than 25 to 30 feet to the ball in the habitat when i moved the snake. I did not touch the mouse before handling the snake. Any ideas on what i need to do to make the transfer of the snake to the feeding box easier? Is the snake smelling the mouse from across the room? Any advice / insight is appreciated.

[swansonbb]

My suggestion is to stop feeding him in a separate box. Despite what you've probably heard, BPs don't develop cage aggression by feeding them in their enclosure.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

What you really need to do is feed the animal in his enclosure

Snakes can easily be conditioned to know when feeding day is, a simple 7 day routine will do that, then on feeding day your snake knows it will be fed. Knowing that the last thing you really want to do is move your snake.

Moving or trying to interact with a snake in feeding mode will lead to what you have been experiencing, you will get bit, so the best thing is to feed the animal in his enclosure.

There are things I do not do on feeding day, I do not handle snakes, do not clean their cage and do not change their water

[4Ballz]

no more mice, should be on rats now, and tongs to make sure your hands aren't in the picture. he will see a larger heat source, and go for the hands.

I used to move my snakes into a "feeding box", but I am getting better results while they are in their bins/environment. I don't use tongs yet, but I have never been bitten.

increase your meals though to rats, just weigh your snake, then do the proper percentage for him/her.

[heathers*bps]

As everyone else has said, keep your snake in its enclosure to feed him

[DooLittle]

As everyone else has said, keep your snake in its enclosure to feed him

X2

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

[twisted poke]

Thanks for the responses. I will transition over to feeding him in his enclosure. As the first person who replied theorized, I had indeed "heard" that it was better not to do this.

[mustang91302]

ifeed mine in the enclosure a few of my snakes wont eat if you move them they just look for a way to escape

[swansonbb]

ifeed mine in the enclosure a few of my snakes wont eat if you move them they just look for a way to escape

That's unusual. Why don't you describe their enclosures or post pics?

[AK907]

That's unusual. Why don't you describe their enclosures or post pics?

How is that unusual? That is very common, actually. Ball pythons are easily stressed by such things. This is one of the many reasons we advise not to feed in separate enclosures.

To the OP, your ball shouldn't be on mice at 20 months of age. Most of us, myself included, start our balls on appropriately sized rats right out of the egg, although some of us favor hopper mice as their first couple meals. Underfeeding is a major issue in this hobby and one of my biggest pet peeves. Your snake should be eating 10-15% of its body weight every 5-7 days. As was suggested, get yourself a small digital scale and weigh your snake and its prey.