Hmm, been doing some "rainy day" reading since posting the above, and it appears that many keepers pooh pooh the "old wives tale" of feeding snakes outside of their enclosure, and it seems I am in the minority. I've heard many myths, rumors and bad advice going on out there over the years, but feeding a snake outside of a primary residence enclosure is a well-known, and more or less proven husbandry practice. The view that it is "bad husbandry" is wrong, it is a tried-and-true method for handling a captive snake, and like so many other things in life is a matter of preference

Having owned pet stores, owned reptiles for many decades, (other than the last one that is), and having worked in, (as a keeper), and closely with zoos in my day I will ask this......why then do many zoos promote this technique whenever possible, and require their keepers to do exactly that? Yes, however, most zoos feed their "hot" animals in their enclosures to reduce the risk to keepers from unnecessary exposure to the animal, but many feed their larger Boids and Pythons, (and even Colubrids), outside of their residential enclosures as a matter of established routine. They do this for various reasons, but it is an accepted husbandry practice, not an "old wives tale". In zoos a lot of it has to do with keeping the keepers focused on a safety routine to keep them from harm, but a secondary effect is to keep the reptiles predictable to a certain degree, (again, a safety measure for keepers and kept both). Yes, many bites are defensive in nature, but many are also "mistaken-for-prey" responses. I've known many a snake owner who dreaded reaching into their snake's cage because they were afraid of getting bitten, and I always advised them to feed outside of the primary enclosure. Getting bitten is always a possibility when handling any "wild" animal, (and yes, our beloved BP's are indeed "wild"), so anything we can do to mitigate accidents helps not only the snake, but we the keepers as well. Snakes can, and do remember, (not like us, but they do use their Jacobson's organ for more than mere basic senses.....they can "recognize" the difference between prey/non-prey, or between keeper/prey for example), and can be "trained" to a certain degree, (trained to be handled, etc, etc). Maintaining a routine ingrains behaviors into snake and keeper both, and feeding outside of an enclosure is simply a husbandry practice which has merit when dealing with certain snakes. Of course, being wild, and not "domesticated", snakes can bite at any time, for seemingly no reason at all, and if we want to keep reptiles we need to accept that possibility.
Knowing your animal(s) and establishing routines keep both the keeper and the kept safe.

So, you may disagree with me regarding whether to feed in, or out of the cage, but that's my routine and that is what I'll keep doing, (because it works for me and my snake). So, please don't consider me an "old wife" spreading tales!!!!!