Feeding, alone or with a friend?

[crocsnhots]

For those of you whom keep adult large boids, when you feed your animals, do you make sure someone is there during feeding as a safety percaution?

If yes...
At what size did you feel it necessary to begin having a second person there as a measure of safety?

If no...
What procedure do you follow to insure your safety while feeding these large potentially lethal animals?

I would never feed my burms alone, I would however like to hear others' opinions. They have the most amazing yet psychotic feeding habits of any of my snakes, going from big lazy couch pillows to psycho "if it moves I must bite it" snakes when they catch a whiff of Rodents. ;) :rolleyes:

..........

Another question...
Here where I live I have plenty of ppl (at least half a dozen, not including my father) who would be willing to come by if I needed them to be here during feeding, but if I moved I wouldn't really know anybody, what would you do? I really do not want to look at finding my large constrictors a home as an option, I'm too attached to them and I'd rather stay here in this pitiful small town then loose them. :rolleyes: :)

[burmer]

There's nothing wrong with being extra cautious when feeding a large boid. You can use the same rule of thumb that is used for handling. Anything over eight feet, have someone there. For my albino burm who is the biggest I have right now (14ft) I have cut a square hole out of the top of her cage and made a door out of it. It has a lock latch on it. I can just hang a rabbit in the hold and let her snag it.

[Invictus]

If you feed in-cage, I see absolutely no reason to have a friend there when you feed your giant, assuming you have an efficient means of getting the prey into the enclosure without getting your hand taken off. :)

[liltattyprinces]

years ago when i had my giants a burm and retic but due to having kids i rehomed them i always had someone there when feeding, but i am also only 4'11'' and at the time maybe 95 lbs soaking wet, I knew that someone my size would never stand a chance. So i always played it safe.

[Mike177]

my burm is not yet a "giant" yet but she is well on her way. I feed all my snakes in their cage and i use my 40 inch gental giant tongs to reach way into the back of the cage. If you are feeding out side the cage it is a good idea but better safe than sorry.

[Retic chic]

The 2 basic rules we follow are:

Always have at least 2 people in the immediate vicinity when feeding large snakes.

Always use tongs to feed.

For our retic and burm cages, we have a door at the bottom at one end of the cage for changing water, cleaning the cage, and removing the animal. We have a door at the top of the cage, on the other end which we use for introducing the food.

Many times, the large snakes will miss the food with a strike, and in .1 seconds they can strike again, at whatever they see close that moves - which very likely could be the person if the cage door is not set up well.

We can nearly close the cage door whith the tongs inside, and I like to - because the big snakes do seem to have a ravenous 1 track mind at feeding time, and I never want to see 4 or 5 feet of snake out of the cage, mouth wide open. There is no real safe way to deal with that situation if it comes that far - and I've heard countless stories of just that happening.

As far as what size should be considered large. That is very debateable and mostly open to opinions, but once you've seen a 4' boa constrictor have a hissy fit and overpower a 250 lb man, you would want to be very cautious with anything twice that size I would think.

Ryan