First time Ball Python owner feeding tips.

[jadab123]

I got my first ball python about a month and a half ago so I'm still a "newbie" so to speak, but I always feed her right in her enclosure. I keep her in a sterilite bin (I live in Colorado, where the climate is very very dry, so the glass tanks with mesh tops are out of the question). I feed her on Wednesdays, give her a day off on Thursday, and handle her daily Friday-Monday. She is super friendly, has never tried to strike at me, and she has only hissed at me once, when I think I just took her by surprise (again, no move to strike). I think people run into issues if the only time they have interaction with their snake is when they feed them - then, of course, the snake will associate opening the enclosure with feeding time. But as long as you do things in the cage on non feeding days (ie changing the water, handling the snake, etc), then most people have said that they have no issues with their snakes becoming mean. There are also concerns about the snake possibly digesting substrate and causing blockages, but that's not really an issue either - If the digestive juices in a snake's belly can break down bones, then I don't see a little bit of bedding being an issue. Plus, I know every snake is different, but my snake isn't one to drag the rat through the substrate. Because of the way she coils around it, the rat doesn't really come into contact with the substrate, and then by the time she gets it into her mouth she sort of lifts up, going into that "cobra stance" as she swallows. I just fed her today (yes, I know today is Tuesday, but I am having guests on Christmas who want to see her and I want to be able to handle her haha), and there were a few pieces of substrate on the rat by the time she swallowed, but I'm definitely not worried. In the wild, I'm sure their prey have MUCH more dirt, grass, etc on them than the rats we feed them at home .