Question about feeding

[Typical_08]

Ok. Like I said, I am a new to snakes (other than the ones Ive ran into in the wild), and while this is the first BP my wife has ever had, she has had several snakes in the past.

But newho... Ive talked to a few people that I know that have snakes, and I talked to the guy we got Bella from, and they all tell me that it is a bad idea to feed her in her tank because she is more likely to become possessive of the tank, and may end up associating the hand coming in the tank with food. So by feeding in the tank, I am more likely to have her bite if we reach in to pick her up by feeding in tank. The wife says this is the first she has heard of it.

Is this BS, or is it a valid way of thinking?

[Melicious]

-Smiles.- You'll hear mixed feelings on this, but I come to realize over the past few years that if you feed them in their normal enclosures, their feeding responses are much better. You scent the room anywhere from thirty to sixty minutes and then use tongues to feed them.

I used to feed my big female in the bathtub, but a lot of the time she'd refuse food. I started feeding her in her enclosure and she hasn't refused one meal. She's even going into breeding season with a very palpable appetite.

You still have to keep an eye on Bella when you feed her. You still need to make sure that she's okay. She'll feel a lot more secure hunting from her hide, hunting from where she's comfortable. Just my .02.

[Typical_08]

Thank you for responding so quickly. You are a good egg. I would thank ya, but for some reason I can't from my POS home computer. I will remember to do so when I get to work tomorrow.

-Smiles.- You'll hear mixed feelings on this, but I come to realize over the past few years that if you feed them in their normal enclosures, their feeding responses are much better. You scent the room anywhere from thirty to sixty minutes and then use tongues to feed them.

Forgive my ignorance. Like I said I am new to this. But scent the room? Is this something like allowing the box with the food near the air holes so she scents the prey? Or something else?

You still have to keep an eye on Bella when you feed her. You still need to make sure that she's okay. She'll feel a lot more secure hunting from her hide, hunting from where she's comfortable. Just my .02.

One other question. The guy we bought her from has never fed alert prey, and her first feeding was actually the first day she was with us (She was hungry, just came out of hibernation), but he has always stunned the prey before feeding. I have read that you want to watch until the prey has been eaten because bad things can happen if the snake is disinterested. But do you or anyone else have any suggestions to easing her into taking live and alert prey? I do not ask for any other reason other than it is the natural way for them to eat, and am having a hard time wrapping my mind around her not doing her thing naturally.

[skaplan86]

if the snake isnt used to eating live start off small... something that it will be able to dominate, build up her confidence a little.

I would recomend feeding in the normal enclosure... as stated earlier prescent and wait for the snake to be at one end of the tank, then drop the live rat on the far end of the tank behind the other hide... that way the snake never sees the rat in your hands and its all done quickly and the snake just sees a rat walk out from behind its hide on the other end of the tank.... then wash your hands...

I keep some hand sanitizer next to my enclosure and every time I go in there I use it. Gives me a consistent scent that is very very very different from a rat. When handling the snake I am very slow at getting him out of the enclosure and basically do the exact opposite of when I feed.

Whether its true or not, I dont think the snake even notices when I put the live rat in and doesnt really assoscite me with food at all.

[Melicious]

Forgive my ignorance. Like I said I am new to this. But scent the room? Is this something like allowing the box with the food near the air holes so she scents the prey? Or something else?

Well, I buy my rats and mouse(squee!) from the pet store just down the street and I just set the boxes near the rack system that I have for about half-an-hour to an hour. I will turn the fan on if my windows aren't open(summer!) and allow the scent of the feeders to waft through the air for the snakes. This will get them squirming around and ready.

One other question. The guy we bought her from has never fed alert prey, and her first feeding was actually the first day she was with us (She was hungry, just came out of hibernation), but he has always stunned the prey before feeding. I have read that you want to watch until the prey has been eaten because bad things can happen if the snake is disinterested. But do you or anyone else have any suggestions to easing her into taking live and alert prey? I do not ask for any other reason other than it is the natural way for them to eat, and am having a hard time wrapping my mind around her not doing her thing naturally.

-Smiles.- You are more-than-welcome to feed frozen/thawed. I know that a lot of people do, but I have more experience with feeding live. I don't stun my prey. I hold them gently by the nape of their necks with a pair of tongues about three to four inches away from the snakes' heads. (YouTube - 8 Ball Pythons - Feeding Lessons)

As soon as they get a strike, I let go with the tongues, and I close the tubs to give them a few minutes alone. I'll check on them every five or six minutes to check out the progression, and I try to make my presence as noninvasive as possible. Afterward, I give them about two hours to relax and then I check to make sure there are no nicks or puncture wounds. After that, they're left alone fully for no less than forty-eight hours.

Oh, and I'm just here to help. Anyone else here can edit something I missed, but I'm more-than-willing to help.

[boboso]

I think you already got the responses you needed and they are, IMHO, spot on.

We feed frozen / thawed (F/T) and have a little script we follow for feeding time. I tap or open the enclosure, which makes him/her aware (I have got to get this snake popped!) remove our BPs water bowl (as he has dunked his meal into it, then onto the aspen, making quite the mess), then place a paper lunch bag on the floor of the enclosure. Our BP comes out of the hide almost on cue, flicking and moving around, searching.

Once the food items are "done" in the "hot tub" we use tongs to lower to the feed area (the bag) and he/she very quickly locks on, hits hard, we give a bit of a slight tug, and dinner is served

Once jaws re-align, we have been feeding a smaller fuzzy as we have a stock of small adults and fuzzies. He/She will be moving to reg adult mice when these run out next week. The second one is taken very readily as well.

We feed in the enclosure, have not had any issues (I got nipped once this week as he/she is going into shed, and I did not announce my presence). Picking up and handling is done when needed such as cage cleaning time, or when the BP is active. No food scent on the hands as we wash before handling and after, never have had an issue with the snake mistaking my hand for food, unless I place my hand in when the script is followed... (I kid)

[Typical_08]

Thank you all so much.

When she ate her first meal here, we kind of had to coax her a bit. I really didn't know what John (the guy who sold her to us) was doing at first. But he thumped the mouse, and dropped it in front of her. After a bit, the snake was disinterested, so he gently put his thumb on the side of her jaw and she opened and took the mouse.

Later after reading I found that this is called forcing (?) and isn't the best thing to do. But after talking to him, he said that as it had been so long since she ate, it was ok. Hence some of my confusion. While watching her, you could tell that she was hungry, but me thinks she didn't do it on her own because she was so new to the place, and was probably put off by both mine and John's presence.

I will try the methods given here and let you guys know what happens. If anyone else has advise, please give it. There is no such thing as too much information, and much like the debate between feeding dogs raw vs store bought, there are probably a lot of dissenting opinions. I want to hear them all. I am here to learn. And she has a bit of time till she will need to eat again.

Once again Melicious, thanks. And yet another question fer ya, well maybe two.

She is on lab mice now (she is a small thing, you can see her in my gallery), would you suggest we revert back to pinkies, and feed more often to get her to take and kill live, or stick with white labs?

Also, I have read that as white mice are not really naturally occurring, that some snakes are not really triggered by them, and a brown tends to have better results.

Like I said, she has only had one feeding thus far, and as you can tell, it probably was not the best way to go about things. So we probably haven't even seen her normal feeding habits yet.

[Melicious]

Thank you all so much.

Once again Melicious, thanks. And yet another question fer ya, well maybe two.

She is on lab mice now (she is a small thing, you can see her in my gallery), would you suggest we revert back to pinkies, and feed more often to get her to take and kill live, or stick with white labs?

She'll be fine on adult mice. I've got a little girl about her size popping adult sized mice.

Also, I have read that as white mice are not really naturally occurring, that some snakes are not really triggered by them, and a brown tends to have better results.

Like I said, she has only had one feeding thus far, and as you can tell, it probably was not the best way to go about things. So we probably haven't even seen her normal feeding habits yet.

I'm not sure if there's much truth in this, but I'm a superstitious young lady, and I tend to feed all of my snakes those darker mice and rats just because I've never had them refuse them. They've refused the white lab rats and mice. It will all depend on your snake. She may take to any color at all.

[Typical_08]

Once again thanks.

Now you have me interested. I will have to read up on how well their eye works and what not to see if there would be a difference in preference.

Thanks.

[Melicious]

Once again thanks.

Now you have me interested. I will have to read up on how well their eye works and what not to see if there would be a difference in preference.

Thanks.

As far as I know, their vision is pretty poor, but again, I've never had issues with colored rats and mice, so I'm just going to stick to them. I'd much rather be secure in their feeding response than risk them not eating. I'm a little weird, y'know?