Rack tub sizes? AKA: Am I reading all this right?

[dr del]

Hi,

Erm, I think you need to do your research, m'dear Deborah. Live and dead feeding, as well as WHERE you feed them (feeding tank opposed to their own cage), do factor in rather a lot as to whether or not your snake will bite you. Any snake. Period.

Sorry but your not correct about that.

Any snake can bite you no matter where or what you feed it. How you feed it can have a marked effect on the likelyhood of that happening however.

I suspect you are talking about the old wives tale saying a snake fed in its tank will be more likely to bite when you reach in to clean etc? And that snakes fed live are more aggressive?

Neither one holds much water when you look carefully.

There are a few angles to consider about both these points - feeding in a dedicated enclosure means you are having to handle an animal that is either expecting to be fed or just has been. In some cases this can mean it is more excited and keyed up than normal. Feeding in its regular tank means reaching in to its tank where it is in the habit of being fed.

Now, snakes can learn the feeding routine fairly readily and they can certainly smell the difference between a human and a rat/ mouse - which means that, done correctly, they know when dinner is about to be served (this is why we pre-scent the area on feeding day) and when it is not.

I fed all my snakes just last night (Frozen/ Thawed ) - every one of them knew it was coming and not one of them bit me. I feed in their tubs dangled by hand ( yes I know it's not wise ) and I can put my hand into any tub and not get a feeding bite as long as I do not smell like a mouse or a rat. On any non-feeding day that is just as true.

I also know however that the babies are still full of wind and vinegar and will hiss up a storm and try and bite me if I don't go away.

Since they know what is food and what isn't then the state of the prey isn't really a relevant factor either once they know what to expect.

When I first came here I was co-habiting four adult royal pythons in a five foot by two foot by two foot vivarium and, therefore, seperating and feeding in seperate enclosures every week.

I didn't get bitten very often then either - in fact most bites we see are what we call SFE's (stupid feeding errors ). My last one was turning round to talk to someone thus moving the rat while she was striking making her miss. Entirely my fault.

I now keep all my adult ball pythons in three foot by two foot by seven inch tubs in a rack system and feed them all in their tubs - and I have to tell you my snakes definately seem happier than they were in the bigger enclusure crowded on top of one another.

To be honest - we really aren't the ones needing to do the research on this point.

@Nixer: Even if I did have 50 balls, I couldn't see not giving them limited handling time. But then, I believe in snake breeding in the same way as most view canine breeding: breed violent canines, probably going to have a violent pup. Breed violent snakes, probably gonna have a violent clutch. That and if I were to start breeding, I would do it not only based on those oh-so-pretty colors, but also on whether or not the snake had a decent temperament. But that's just me.

That's a point we have seen discussed on here before and, if memory serves, there are people trying to see if it holds true. It will be intresting to see the results in a couple of generations.

But ball pythons aren't known for being bad tempered either - most (but not all ) calm down really quickly once they are in a stress free environment and make wonderful snakes to handle.

**edit**

Yup - I spent so long writing this 5 other posts happened

**end edit**


dr del