feeding in the tank

[bigmoe192]

Hello I'm new to feeding, and will be feeding my bp for the first time later. Is it ok to feed them in their tank? And I'm going to try and feed him a live rat pup.

[Mark Taylor]

Imop feeding in their enclosure is the way to do it. On the other hand live is not my preferred way F/T is just as healthy and less danger.

[bigmoe192]

What are the dangers in feeding live?

[stephanbakir]

http://www.deviantconstrictors.com/images/care/dont-feed-live1.jpg

[Terranaut]

Yup. That sums it all up right there. Its a fight to the death and sometimes the rat wins.

[Mark Taylor]

You just put me off my dinner.

[Squirtle]

I've always fed live to both of my snakes, have yet to have anything bad happen to either; though' I'm not encouraging it. I always have my tiny snake hook with me and as soon as the snake strikes, I locate the rats mouth and put the hook on it. I'm ALWAYS present when feeding my snakes, too. As for feeding inside the enclosure, I'd say that is the way to go. The "feeding inside the enclosure will make your animal aggressive" thing is just a myth invented by some idiot. I actually believe that feeding outside the enclosure would grant you a greater chance at getting bit than feeding inside the enclosure.

[Lankyrob]

No problem with feeding in the enclosure. For feeding live ensure that you never leave the prey unsupervised.

[Bloedig]

I feed F/T to both my snakes because of the convenience and the fear of the picture above. Both were on live when I got them, but converted both easily to F/T.

As for feeding in their enclosure, I think it comes down to the particular snake really. I feed my Kenyan Sand Boa in his enclosure, and he acts just as he would in nature (very cool btw). I found he doesn't care too much about eating if he is out of the enclosure. He seems too distracted and not "ready" for it. As for my Honduran Milk, I feed in a bin. He seems to do really well with this method, and he is "wiggly" enough that I actually like to hold him for a couple minutes before I transfer him to the bin and it seems to chill him down a bit.

[poison123]

http://www.deviantconstrictors.com/images/care/dont-feed-live1.jpg

This really only happens when somebody leaves food in a cage with a snake that doesn't wanna eat. To me that snake looks a bit thin which makes me believe it didnt wanna eat. It could just be the pic.

Feeding live to a healthy and alert snake and that won't happen. Though i do agree about not leaving food in an enclosure unsupervised unless its a harmless pinky.

[Squirtle]

This really only happens when somebody leaves food in a cage with a snake that doesn't wanna eat. To me that snake looks a bit thin which makes me believe it didnt wanna eat. It could just be the pic.

Feeding live to a healthy and alert snake and that won't happen. Though i do agree about not leaving food in an enclosure unsupervised unless its a harmless pinky.
Please don't say that. Anything can happen in a matter of seconds, sure, it wouldn't be as bad as the picture, but a rat can still bite your snake in its face, or even worse, bite its eye. It can happen faster than how long it'll take for you to put your hand inside the enclosure to separate them.

[stephanbakir]

I had to feed my male retic live once... he constricted it and within seconds its stomach ruptured and there was organs and crap poking out. In the seconds that that took the rat got 1 bite on my snakes face... No real damage but it shows just how fast things can happen.

[DeesBalls]

WHen i fed live, i did in tank, and i waited till the snake had 1/2 the rat ingested before i would even stop looking at the tank. I had a small hammer, and tongs ready at moments notice incase antyhing bad happend, or if the snake had a bad strike an the rat could bite the snake, i would either hold its mouth shut with tongs, keep the mouth away, of bop the rat on the head (which never had to).

just please do NOT leave the rat alone with the snake, a rat can easily hurt a snake if not watched properly..

but yea, in cage is the only way i think.

[KORBIN5895]

I have boa that has a damaged eye from a love feeding. It happened before I got her.

[valid]

A love feeding ? XD that must have been pretty intense. ( I assume you mean live )

Jokes aside - I fed my king live for 17 years. Never had any problems. I found that breeding myself saved me a lot of money and hastle. I would never leave unattended as the others have pointed out.

[Little Wise Owl]

Nothing wrong with feeding in the enclosure but I would caution against feeding live. Baby mice and rats don't pose much of a threat but adults do. Plus, it's more expensive and much more of a hassle (at least in my opinion). If the snake goes off feed, you'll either have to house the rat or kill it.

Buying frozen in bulk is just so much easier and safer.

[Kratos]

I my self dont like to feed live in tank for 2 reasons. 1 being you dont want The snake to start thinking everytime you stick your hand in tank its feeding time. 2 if u feed live food to your snake you want to be able to get to the rats mouth or feet if it starts to bite or kick and stop it till it dies. What I do is remove snake from viv place him in a good size cardbord box and drop the rat in an watch to make sure rat is not biting or kicking. While snake is still in coil and rat is pretty much dead, I pick up snake with rat and place in area where it will eat rat without ingesting the bedding.

[Squirtle]

I my self dont like to feed live in tank for 2 reasons. 1 being you dont want The snake to start thinking everytime you stick your hand in tank its feeding time.

I seriously don't even know where that came from. If you don't smell like food, then I wouldn't know why a snake would think it's feeding time. They're usually just curious every time you stick your hand inside the enclosure, that's why they flick their tongues faster than usual and might even strike. This is where hook training, this is where hook training is needed.

[Lankyrob]

I my self dont like to feed live in tank for 2 reasons. 1 being you dont want The snake to start thinking everytime you stick your hand in tank its feeding time. 2 if u feed live food to your snake you want to be able to get to the rats mouth or feet if it starts to bite or kick and stop it till it dies. What I do is remove snake from viv place him in a good size cardbord box and drop the rat in an watch to make sure rat is not biting or kicking. While snake is still in coil and rat is pretty much dead, I pick up snake with rat and place in area where it will eat rat without ingesting the bedding.

Using the same logic, everytime you take the snake out of the viv it will think it is feeding time.

[Squirtle]

Using the same logic, everytime you take the snake out of the viv it will think it is feeding time.

I love this guy, ALWAYS gives good advice. :)

[KORBIN5895]

A love feeding ? XD that must have been pretty intense. ( I assume you mean live )

Jokes aside - I fed my king live for 17 years. Never had any problems. I found that breeding myself saved me a lot of money and hastle. I would never leave unattended as the others have pointed out.

Lol! See kids? That is why you should never text and drive!

@Kratos

So you're telling me you pick your snake up while it's coiled in the rat?

[TeaNinja]

all these comments are almost too much for my brain. you cannot seriously justify that nothing bad will happen because you are "watching it" i've personally seen a rat being constricted to death take a few good chomps on a snake before. yeah, its not going to skin your snake down like that picture of someone who clearly left a prey item with it all night long, but it can still bite the hell out of your snake in no time flat. in fact, what kratos described sounds to me like someone who is pointlessly rousting a snake out of its comfortable zone (viv), rousting it again mid feeding which is an extra uncomfortable time for them, and then putting it back into a comfortable zone that you never should have bothered to take it from. lol

[Kratos]

So you are telling me that taking the snake out of viv is a bad idea because im taking him out of its comfert zone. So that means everytime you take your snake out to let it streach out and run around for a while isnt taking it out of its comfert zone?

Now i can understand feeding F/T food in cage but not live. The snake can simply injure itself with the decor while stiking and if the rat starts to kick and bite and its in the hardist corner toget to it will be to late because the damage has been done while your trying to get to him to see what the rat is doing. Then their is the blood which I know isn't that easy to find in eco earth bedding.

I see what you are saying about moving him around but to say the least the snake does fine and dosnt seem rousted, after the feed he moves around get his water and hangs out with no issue and let him be till I take him out a few days later.

Sorry if I take steps to make sure my snake dosent get hurt or cuts that can lead to infection later down the road.

[Pareeeee]

http://www.deviantconstrictors.com/images/care/dont-feed-live1.jpg

I've seen this photo tons of times, and it still gives me the willies. Poor thing!! Why never to leave live rodents with your snake unsupervised.

My Rosy Boa will only eat live mice, I wish he'd eat f/t...anyway he's been bitten a couple times, and they can still bite while they were being squeezed to death. The one time I had to grab the mouse's jaw and un-hook its teeth from his side. It can happen very fast, and if you have to feed live, you MUST supervise and be ready to help your snake out.

Mice are nothing compared to rats for viciousness. My cousin who's a farmer told me the rats in his barn sometimes kill full grown ducks... :hmm:

[KORBIN5895]

So you are telling me that taking the snake out of viv is a bad idea because im taking him out of its comfert zone. So that means everytime you take your snake out to let it streach out and run around for a while isnt taking it out of its comfert zone?

Now i can understand feeding F/T food in cage but not live. The snake can simply injure itself with the decor while stiking and if the rat starts to kick and bite and its in the hardist corner toget to it will be to late because the damage has been done while your trying to get to him to see what the rat is doing. Then their is the blood which I know isn't that easy to find in eco earth bedding.

I see what you are saying about moving him around but to say the least the snake does fine and dosnt seem rousted, after the feed he moves around get his water and hangs out with no issue and let him be till I take him out a few days later.

Sorry if I take steps to make sure my snake dosent get hurt or cuts that can lead to infection later down the road.

If you want to feed live that's fine by me. If you want to feed in a separate enclosure fill your boots. That doesn't matter to me because it won't be my snake that is risking injury or not feeding because of being moved. What I do think is crazy is that you are moving him while he is coiled. Your snake is completely defenseless and you decide to move it? That seems poorly thought out and extremely stressful for the snake.

[Aaron_S]

...Mice are nothing compared to rats for viciousness. My cousin who's a farmer told me the rats in his barn sometimes kill full grown ducks... :hmm:

Actually from my experience it's the opposite in captivity.

Mice just suck. Rats honestly sit there in a tub and just wait to be eaten. Mice are evil little things.

I can pretty much guarantee that a mouse did that to that snake in the picture and not a rat.

[KORBIN5895]

Actually from my experience it's the opposite in captivity.

Mice just suck. Rats honestly sit there in a tub and just wait to be eaten. Mice are evil little things.

I can pretty much guarantee that a mouse did that to that snake in the picture and not a rat.

When I was breeding rodents I got bit by mice way more often than my rats. Hence why I use a paint scraper to kill rodents.

[Kratos]

Ok so snake feeding 101 learned. I will start to leave sank till it is done eating. But i have a qustion while i do this. Wouldnt it be more stressful for the snake if i move him after he eats? Wouldnt that make him regurgitate and be even more stressfull than a quick 5 second move.

Im just trying to do it right. When i got this BRB from a friend it was in almost a desert like enviroment and skinny for being 3ft. Now hes is in a DIY terarium with proper temp, and humidity, and cleaness. Eats every 10 days and has grown just about a foot and has gotten thicker and wounderfull colors unlike befor.

I don't mean to sound like you know what, but its what has worked in the past for me with no issue or any signs of stress

[Aaron_S]

Ok so snake feeding 101 learned. I will start to leave sank till it is done eating. But i have a qustion while i do this. Wouldnt it be more stressful for the snake if i move him after he eats? Wouldnt that make him regurgitate and be even more stressfull than a quick 5 second move.

Im just trying to do it right. When i got this BRB from a friend it was in almost a desert like enviroment and skinny for being 3ft. Now hes is in a DIY terarium with proper temp, and humidity, and cleaness. Eats every 10 days and has grown just about a foot and has gotten thicker and wounderfull colors unlike befor.

I don't mean to sound like you know what, but its what has worked in the past for me with no issue or any signs of stress


When people refer to handling after eating that causes a regurge is handling the snake for amusement as some people do.

If you're just going to move it from one bin to the next it isn't a big deal and the snake should not regurge at all.

[Squirtle]

So you are telling me that taking the snake out of viv is a bad idea because im taking him out of its comfert zone. So that means everytime you take your snake out to let it streach out and run around for a while isnt taking it out of its comfert zone?

Now i can understand feeding F/T food in cage but not live. The snake can simply injure itself with the decor while stiking and if the rat starts to kick and bite and its in the hardist corner toget to it will be to late because the damage has been done while your trying to get to him to see what the rat is doing. Then their is the blood which I know isn't that easy to find in eco earth bedding.

I see what you are saying about moving him around but to say the least the snake does fine and dosnt seem rousted, after the feed he moves around get his water and hangs out with no issue and let him be till I take him out a few days later.

Sorry if I take steps to make sure my snake dosent get hurt or cuts that can lead to infection later down the road.
How can a snake get injured by decor? I've seen snakes strike glass with their full force and not have anything happen to them, with glass being the most dangerous thing in most snakes enclosure as it can shatter and create all kinds of bad cuts and what not. I just don't see how feeding outside the enclosure and inside the enclosure comes to mind when comparing how much more the rat is willing to inflict damage onto the snake, why is feeding outside the enclosure more easier for you to prevent rat bites than feeding inside the enclosure, if you don't mind me asking?

[StudentoReptile]

I'll leave the debate to others, but currently, I prefer to feed live in the enclosures if I can help it. Sometimes in the past, economics has dictated me to feed f/t, and also, in the past, I have fed out of the enclosure in separate containers, but overall, looking back, I have found that:
A.) regardless of what they eat and where they eat it, it has no effect on their temperament. Aggressive snakes remained aggressive when fed outside of the cage, and docile snakes remained docile snakes when fed inside the cage.
B.) My snakes (and snakes I was responsible for caring for) had better feeding responses with live than with f/t.

[KORBIN5895]

How can a snake get injured by decor? I've seen snakes strike glass with their full force and not have anything happen to them, with glass being the most dangerous thing in most snakes enclosure as it can shatter and create all kinds of bad cuts and what not. I just don't see how feeding outside the enclosure and inside the enclosure comes to mind when comparing how much more the rat is willing to inflict damage onto the snake, why is feeding outside the enclosure more easier for you to prevent rat bites than feeding inside the enclosure, if you don't mind me asking?

What if the snake hits the rat and drags it into the hide? What if your snake strikes and scrapes its face off of a decorative log? What if the snake strikes and constricts a rat in a corner you can't see? How would you keep it from getting bit? (lol! Like you could prevent that anyway!)

[StudentoReptile]

What if the snake hits the rat and drags it into the hide? What if your snake strikes and scrapes its face off of a decorative log? What if the snake strikes and constricts a rat in a corner you can't see? How would you keep it from getting bit? (lol! Like you could prevent that anyway!)

I can't speak for how others keep their snakes. My snakes are kept fairly spartan, with round water bowls, and plastic light-weight hides with soft-edged entrances so I don't foresee any of those scenarios ever being an issue. I would concur that those who keep more complicated habitats would need to evaluate the matter in kind.

[Kratos]

Anything is preventable if taking the proper safty steps. I have a fair amount of stuff in thier. Three hides afew vines, two water bowls, a good size plastic tree, a second floor with haning leaves to the bottom. With all that in a 4x2x2 its not easy to get to if it strike in the back of viv which usually does. So heacuse of this I would put him in a feeding container.

A while back my 6 ft Burmese got bit very bad and scratches with a similar set up and since then is when I thought to feed outside.

[shaunyboy]

I my self dont like to feed live in tank for 2 reasons. 1 being you dont want The snake to start thinking everytime you stick your hand in tank its feeding time. 2 if u feed live food to your snake you want to be able to get to the rats mouth or feet if it starts to bite or kick and stop it till it dies. What I do is remove snake from viv place him in a good size cardbord box and drop the rat in an watch to make sure rat is not biting or kicking. While snake is still in coil and rat is pretty much dead, I pick up snake with rat and place in area where it will eat rat without ingesting the bedding.

^^^^^
if you apply the very SAME logic to feeding out the tank...

then surely the snake would associate being taken out the tank with feeding,so get bitey every time you took it out

i feed ALL my carpet pythons in the tank and none of them are biters

imo it's a myth that feeding in the tank makes the snakes associate,the door opening or a hand with feeding time

as said apply that same logic to taking out the tank...!!

cheers shaun

[Mark Taylor]

We seem to get a lot of debate on this let me put it another way and we can have a poll if you like.

Who recommends Live?
Who recommends F/T?
Who recommends Separate enclosure?
Who recommends In there own enclosure?

Take note I said recommends it as I know some of you have your preferences but would you recommend it? :)

I would recommend F/T in there own enclosure.

[Lankyrob]

I recommend FT IN the enclosure

[Bloedig]

Put up an "official" poll here http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/food-thought-forum/98858-feeding-poll.html

[mykee]

I have fed many thousands of live rats over the last 15 years from pinky up to about 250g. I toss them in, keep feeding and come back whenever I'm done to take out the rats that weren't eaten.
NEVER ONCE have I had a rat injure one of my ball pythons.
I still prefer f/t.

[Chu'Wuti]

I started out feeding in a separate feeding bin. Then, after a discussion similar to this one, I started feeding without moving the snake. The argument that the snake will associate your hand with feeding if you feed in the enclosure is equally true if you don't feed in the enclosure--when you reach in to move the snake, the snake will think it's feeding time--UNLESS you handle the snake frequently other times without feeding. I don't want my snakes thinking that the only reason I handle them is to feed them. So I actually handle them LESS when feeding.

I feed F/T, too, not only because it's far safer for the snake but also because the killing procedure is far more humane for the mouse or rat. As long as I have them in captivity, I want to use humane methods of husbandry and feeding for both snake and prey.