Just curious

[EL-Ziggy]

What time of the day or evening do y’all normally feed your snakes? I typically feed late at night, but I tried something different this time. I thawed my feeders overnight and fed the snakes this morning. I think I’ll do this more often.

[Bogertophis]

Mostly I do what's convenient* for me, since most of my snakes are & have been very "open-minded" about meal-times. *Over the many years of snake-keeping, this has most often been evening hours, but afternoons also worked fine. It can depend on what you're keeping though- some snakes are diurnal hunters in nature (Pituophis comes to mind, as do many other colubrids) but they didn't seem to care about the time. Things like coachwhips would likely show a preference for daytime & I do remember feeding mine in the afternoons. Many snakes prefer night hunting, at least when temperatures are conducive. I've kept many kinds of rat & king snakes & they don't care; Trans Pecos rat snakes are definitely nocturnal, but all of mine happily eat any time, once I wake them up. Rosy boas are considered crepuscular in habits, but very few of the many I raised ever cared what time dinner arrived. I suspect the snakes most likely to prefer night feedings are things like ball pythons. The large BCI I had sure didn't care, & for the snakes you're keeping, I wouldn't give it a second thought.

[EL-Ziggy]

@ Bogertophis- You’re right, the snakes certainly don’t care. I usually tap their enclosures when it’s time to eat and they’ll always come right out if they’re not already perched and waiting for food. The main perk with feeding them this morning was it was very convenient for me in the flow of my day. Usually, I wait until after dark so the feeders have been thawing all day, and just when I start to kick back and relax for the evening I remember, oh geez, I’ve got to feed the snakes, and even though it doesn’t take very long it’s usually right when I’m ready to wind down so I have to summon up one last burst of energy. This morning’s early feeding was just super easy.

[Bogertophis]

Yup, I know exactly what you mean. Your snakes are big & you really don't want to be sleepy when you're feeding them. I'm not so much of a morning person, but I can remember plenty of times feeding late night when I really didn't feel like doing it (the trick for me was not to let it get too late). And also, since your snakes are large, their prey takes a lot longer to thaw than mine did, for all my snakes except the BCI. It sounds like morning's a win for you. It's not an unnatural time for the snakes either...I think they'd mostly be hunting at night, but they're still ready at sun-up.

[Homebody]

I feed at night, but I have one small snake. My feeder (singular) defrosts in minutes. Oddly, my snake often refuses on the first attempt. So, I close him up and try again in an hour or two. That, usually, does it. I wouldn't have time to do all that in the morning.

[bcr229]

I feed in the evening as I have large snakes. A rabbit takes days to defrost in the refrigerator because bunny fur is a great insulator, and then it takes a while to warm up.

Plus if I fill the house with feeder smell in the morning my snakes will all be hungry all day, which makes cleaning enclosures challenging.