Feeding large constrictors

[Nikki Gervais]

Hey everyone,
I was wondering how everyone feeds their large (8 ft +) constrictors?
I have heard of feeding them in the bath tub, that seems kinda cold to me. Do they put a blanket in the bottom for the snakes? I would. :) Cuz I wouldn't want em to get cold while eating.

I have also heard of feeding them just on the floor, but that seems kinda dangerous if they smelled it in the room and then tried to eat you. :confused:

Then there are those who say "just feed them inside the cage". I feel this would be asking for trouble with a 10ft+ retic that would expect food everytime the door is opened.

I do feed my burm inside her cage, however she is either stunted or a runt (she has been fed properly over the years just never grew. Maybe it was from the trauma/stress from a stupid vet when she was a hatchling? :confused: ). She will not get to a size where she could be considered lethal so I feed her inside her cage. She is 3 years old and 5.5 feet. I love her to death and have no intentions of getting rid of her because she will never be "breedable".

So anyway, please let me know your opinions and ideas. :)

[KolleenJ]

This is a touchy subject.
Here is my opinion and what I personally do with my 50 snakes.

I feel it is MUCH safer and easier on you and the snake to always feed INSIDE the cage.
Here are my reasons for this.

1: When your snake is fed inside his cage, he associates his cage ONLY as a feeding area as opposed to everytime you take your snake out to handle him he is thinking FOOD FOOD FOOD, are ya gonna feed me!! This to me is much safer. To only have an area the size of the cage for them to think of food. I personally dont like the idea of everytime I take my snake out to play with him/her of the possibility of him/her thinking its dinnatime!! The one snake that I used to feed out of his cage still thinks about food in or out so I like to start off by just feeding inside the cage to avoid this problem.

2: I like to soak my snakes in the tub and do not want them associating that area with food.

3: It is MUCH better for the snake to feed and stay put with no one bothering him, because we all know most of them are looking for more after the first or even the second food item,as opposed to feeding then having to aviod getting bit while trying to move him back to his cage.Remember...Movement+Food smell in the air=WE ARE FOOD!!! Also, we all know snaked should NOT be handled that soon after feeding.

4: You should NEVER remove a snake, especially a large constrictor, from its cage without tongs or a hook, so you sould not have a problem with getting bit so long as you use safe practices. We all know it will happen, but its best to try our hardest to avoid it. I have many large constrictors as you all know and I have yet to have a problem with this.

have heard of feeding them in the bath tub, that seems kinda cold to me. Do they put a blanket in the bottom for the snakes? I would. Cuz I wouldn't want em to get cold while eating.

NEVER use towels-blankets while feeding. It is not un-common for the towel to smell like food and the snake to try to eat it. This could cause serious problems if not death from obstruction.

Ummm...I think thats it. If i think of anything more, ill let you know. Im sure their will be more oppinions on the matter:)

[reverendsterlin]

I too usually feed inside the cage, easier to monitor and less stress moving the animal. Sometimes problem feeders are moved to smaller containers for feeding just to help a bit.

[Linds]

The main thing to consider (like Kolleen mentioned) is the lack of safety for both animal and keeper when trying to haul a *large* snake that is in feeding mode back to his enclosure. Just don't feed the snake at the opening to his enclosure and you shoudln't have any problems. I feed all my animals in their enclosures (except for the ones that won't), and havent had any problems with feeding strikes when I open the cage (even the grumpybum ones).

[Jeff_Favelle]

Also, you should have been told that we do not touch/play with/move snakes that have just eaten. So how do you plan to move a snake back into its cage from the bath tub without touching it?


Man, if I had to feed my 70+ adult snakes outside of the cage...? I would go insane and be up to 4am every night feeding!!

[sophia]

We feed all of ours outside their enclosures - it's more of a personal preference. We do our major cage cleaning at the same time as our feedings. We always give them about 15-30 minutes to settle down out of 'food mode' before they are carried in their rubbermaid feeding homes back to their enclosures. The only handling is 1-2 seconds of gently lifting and placing back in their clean homes.

We have had no problems with strike behaviour or aggressiveness and they know what time it is when they are placed in the rubbermaids... especially our Boa, Tia... she's like a lil' youngin' at Chuck E Cheese's.. oooooooooh... gimme a mousie gimme a mousie!!!

We also handle our snakes each and every other one... several times a week... to reinforce that the hand in the cage doesn't mean food as well as to get our snake fix...{G}

I really think it's an individual thing and if what you are doing works for you and your critters - then so be it. I can see the benefits of feeding in-cage as well as the way we do it.

Jon

[PoiSoNouS]

I know that some people feed their snakes outside their enclosure to avoid food response eveytime you come in there..

I think they COULD have a feeding response anytime you come and get them with this method to..
So anyway, I think WE are associated with food time...
So thats why I think Its better that you leave them alone in their enclosure while they eat.. Like Kolleen said, for your own safety.

YOu are avoiding beeing tagged and handling them after a meal...
This is what I do with all of my snakes...
And I never had a problem to pick them up anytime in their enclosures. (just to let you know... here i am not talking about the White lipped python... :P )
And this is what I will continue to do when my 2 burms will be big enough to eat me... :P
(I cant wait, so I could let them crawl in my living room when my mom comes in.. so she wont stay for hours... LOL :) )

-- I do beleive they recognize you.. they have heat sensing pits and readings must be different from you to a large rat of rabbit... (it must be !!) --

its all a matter of personnal choice..
but imagine a big burmese of 15 feet, only his enclosure should be huge, and you would need another huge one just to feed him ? ... :)

[Linds]

Originally posted by PoiSoNouS
-- I do beleive they recognize you.. they have heat sensing pits and readings must be different from you to a large rat of rabbit... (it must be !!) --

The fact is they CANNOT distinguish a rat from a person. They have poor vision and rely mostly on vibration, scent, and heat. If they could recognize people from prey there would never be -stupid feeding errors- or feeding response bites, or a 2' snake trying to devour a person :p. If it is warm and has the slightest scent of prey on it, to the snake, it is prey - weather it is your hand after handling a rodent, or a rodent itself, it is all one in the same. The snake will hit it but won't realize til after he has tasted you that you are not indeed food (lol...and even still sometimes they don't realize that you aren't :p).

[Nikki Gervais]

Whoa! Thanks for all the answers everyone! Since I feed my burm inside the cage she often thinks it's food comin in and zooms over to investigate. After a thorough smelling she decides I'm not edible and is a sweet little thing. :) Thanks for all your opinions and I think it would be best that I feed them inside their cage, since I don't think I want to be handling a large snake still in feeding mode. :rolleyes: :p

[PoiSoNouS]

ohh... Linds.. thank you ! :)

[Dom]

Linds ..

I am not sure if I complety agree with you on that one .. I beleive that Poisonous does have a point. A human emits WAY MORE heat then a small rat .. she may not distinguis the difference with vission but there has to be some minor difference in the amount of heat emmited by us and the prey...

Not a big one - So I guess I kinda agree wiht you then .. As for all the accidents .. in general there always mistaken identitys because of smell .. smell is the key thing a snake uses for distinguishing food from something else .. I beleive that that is why ppl get killed.. Ussually always the owners fault by being neglegent or simply forgetting to wash his hands...

I re read your post now .. and u make complete sense lol I guess I am just rambling on then!

[Lisa]

We feed our Burm and Guyan in a seperate feeding tank. this way they only have the feeding response when in the tank. We tend to handle our snakes every day unless they've just had a meal in which case we let them be for 24 hours or so.

They know that when they are in the feeding tank they're going to get food. The are sedate in their cage yet alert and sometimes agressive (our guyan has a feeding response that would have her starve to death in the wild) in the feeding tank.

The Burm actually stands up (can a snake stand?) when she sees us come with the rat. I don't know if she can smell the rat from 5' away but she responds quite agressively. In her normal tank she doesn't react at all to our presence.

[sophia]

From Reptile Biology:

Jacobson's Organ is an extrasensory organ in the roof of the snake's mouth that sharpens its sense of smell. It consists of two hollow, highly sensitive saclike structures. The snake's acute odor perception allows it to track both prey and potential mates.

Snakes do not have limbs that allow them to reach out and touch things, so they need to be able to monitor their environment by some other method. They possess a forked tongue that flicks in and out of the mouth to sample scent molecules. The tongue transfers these molecules to the Jacobsen's organ located on the roof of the mouth. Chemical information is transferred to the brain, which allows the snake to interpret the smell. Scent trailing is used in locating prey, finding mates and returning to hibernating areas.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Hence this means that snakes have a highly developed sense of 'smell' and can discern prey from a mate, and a mate from a predator.

Just thought that perhaps this should be posted, not trying to start a debate. Hadn't been on in a day or so and saw this debate going on, even noticed my honey posted herein *G*. Ah well... pardon me while I go back to the grindstone!!!


Tay