feed inside of cage. hooktrain. be prepared for a huge snake. my male tiger grewto 8 feet in his first year and is gonna be 2 in a couple months and is at12 feet. be prepared to spend lots of money on food. i spend roughly 150 bucks a month on food for my 3 retics at bare minumum (mostly in winter) in the summer when their metabolisms go even higher they eat more. and be prepared to put him in a big cage by his first birthday (ie at least a 5 x 2) and dont under any circumstances feed him bare minimum to keep his size down, that is unhealthy for you and the snake