Can you re-condition how an adult ball eats?

[atomicwave]

Temps are good, 90 on his hot spot and 77 ambient on his cool side with a humidity of 65%. I've seen some underfed snakes, and he's definitely not looking too skinny, but he's also not quite as bulky as he could be, I'm not sure of his weight.

I'm open to keeping him in his enclosure for feeding. The only reason I'm so gung-ho about feeding him in a separate box is because of the tremendous success we've had doing that with our other ball. Our younger ball's behavior clearly reflects that he knows where it is he feeds, he goes into an aggressive posture, into strike mode and looks up, waiting for his food. He never behaves this way in his terrarium, and despite arguments to the contrary this provides us with a sense of security that he's not going to strike us when we get in his cage to handle him and so far this is true. As I said, we're open to feeding our new one in the enclosure if this makes him feel better. We'll happily give it a try, just some tips as to how to ease him into it would be good.

We have been handling him. Previous owner told us he was held daily, thought we could offer him the same routine to perhaps comfort him. We've covered 3 sides with rainforest background paper that we got at Petco, and I've covered the top with duct tape and aluminum foil to control his humidity and cut a hole in it for his heat lamp. He also has a nice dark hide that is the perfect size for him.

The last terrarium he was in was not overly larger than the tub he used to live in, the main difference being room for a hide and some extra head room, but as far as area it was about the same, and it seemed clear that he was cramped. That's why we opted for the 30 gallon and not a 40, less head room. So far, he seems to really like his new terrarium. He was very curious about it at first and now he seems to love being sprawled out, almost like he's stretching out for the first time in a long time. Given that he's been kind of sprawled out in the middle of his terrarium for the past couple hours, it seems clear that he's enjoying it and doesn't seem to feel threatened at all.