Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
My snakes are ALWAYS fed where they live, & no, I'm not covered with bite-scars, lol.

Side bins (1) add stress, (2) put shy feeders OFF eating at all, (3) don't help at all, & (4) make it MORE likely you'll get bit, either handling them before or after, when they're still in "feed mode".

Corn snakes act voracious & they are, but the way to tell a hungry corn snake that YOU are not "dinner" is first, blow air across your hand thru the screen so they get your scent. Most will back up right then. Understand that they chase "motion" but don't identify things visually- they need more cues (scent &/or touch). You can also use a quick mist of cool water to their face to "change their channel" quickly. (keep a spray bottle on hand for this, & also for misting them when in shed) I'm not talking about a fire hose or water-blaster- just a spritz- and not only won't it hurt them, many snakes will drink right from the spray when they're thirsty. Remember they get rained on in nature too.
Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
My snakes are ALWAYS fed where they live, & no, I'm not covered with bite-scars, lol.

Side bins (1) add stress, (2) put shy feeders OFF eating at all, (3) don't help at all, & (4) make it MORE likely you'll get bit, either handling them before or after, when they're still in "feed mode".

Corn snakes act voracious & they are, but the way to tell a hungry corn snake that YOU are not "dinner" is first, blow air across your hand thru the screen so they get your scent. Most will back up right then. Understand that they chase "motion" but don't identify things visually- they need more cues (scent &/or touch). You can also use a quick mist of cool water to their face to "change their channel" quickly. (keep a spray bottle on hand for this, & also for misting them when in shed) I'm not talking about a fire hose or water-blaster- just a spritz- and not only won't it hurt them, many snakes will drink right from the spray when they're thirsty. Remember they get rained on in nature too.
Thank you. Glad through my own research I came to the same conclusion that someone who's been doing this for decades has. That's exactly what I'm doing with my ball python, well no handling as we haven't gotten 3 feeds yet, but letting him get used to my scent and not thinking every time the enclosure opens he's getting fed. I might just be checking his hot spot temperature.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk