is it dumb to feed on repti-bark?

[KD35WIN.AS.ONE]

Originally Posted by NennaMeerkat

You know it is funny I have to often nudge my snake into wakefulness to let her know it is chow time. If I didn't nudge her I think she would just miss dinner all together. Today in fact she came out and gave me the WTF look (at least that is how I perceived it) before she realized the smell of toad in her hide.

hahah not mine, there looking at me before i can even get there enclosure open LOL.

Toad?

[NennaMeerkat]

Originally Posted by KD35WIN.AS.ONE

hahah not mine, there looking at me before i can even get there enclosure open LOL.

Toad?

Hognoses are toad eaters in the wild so it is often a way to get them to eat mice to scent them with toad. I got a couple of small toads I froze and I thaw them (not in the water just enough to get a bit of moisture off of them to use it) when I need them and rub them against the pinks. She attacks those pinks with all the fury a more or less pencil sized snake can attack something. All hissy and strikey. So funny to watch.

[KD35WIN.AS.ONE]

Originally Posted by NennaMeerkat

Hognoses are toad eaters in the wild so it is often a way to get them to eat mice to scent them with toad. I got a couple of small toads I froze and I thaw them (not in the water just enough to get a bit of moisture off of them to use it) when I need them and rub them against the pinks. She attacks those pinks with all the fury a more or less pencil sized snake can attack something. All hissy and strikey. So funny to watch.

hahaha video tape it.

[NennaMeerkat]

Originally Posted by KD35WIN.AS.ONE

hahaha video tape it.

Ha ha I will try next week to lure her out of the hide a little with the pinky so you might get a better shot. Its hard to get sometimes.

[Lankyrob]

I have reptibark in all my snake enclosures - ground feeders get fed with the prey on a plate to minimize risk and arboreal feeders just get the prey handed to them as they rarely if ever reach the floor of the viv anyway. My personal thought is that with a dry prey item it is rare for repti bark to stick to it so unless the snake picks up the prey and dunks it in the waterbowl and then drags it around on the bark the risks really are minimal.

[Coffee Black]

I stopped using feed boxes as I found them kind of pointless. I don't understand how the snake is supposed to be able to differentiate between the cage opening for a rat and the cage opening so you can take it out to be put into a box with a rat. Then you get to try and move a feed mode snake from a box back into their enclosure. BITES WILL HAPPEN. My carpet refuses to be a less voracious AND defensive feeder ( she HATES being watched) and if given on a plate she just drags it across the substrate into her hide. Ended up getting her a bamboo cylinder for a hide, which she loves, so I just hurl the rat in there. If I were feeding chopped up fish or chopped up pinky for a garter or similar sized animal I would definitely use a feed box, though.

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by mykee

Yes.
Impaction can be very dangerous and could lead to death.

I always feed outside the enclosures because of that risk.

[SkYyaMe1623]

Thanks for the input everybody! One of the reasons I posted this is that I see my idle viperkeeper feeding on what appears to be reptile bark regularly...

Thoughts on his methods?

[infernalis]

With a viper, well taking it out is less of an option.

I would not be reaching in there any day soon..

[VaranidLover]

When I moved my RTB to a cypress bedded enclosure Monday, It only took me about 30 mins to come up with the idea to put some newspaper down for feeding

and 25 of those minutes were spent defrosting rats, so it was actually like 5 mins

Just put some newspaper down and everything will be okay

[Ch^4]

Originally Posted by marionsclan

Another reason that speaks for feeding in a separate area. When it is feeding time at my house they go in, feed, and within 20 minutes they are back in their own habitat. Quick, pain free and stress less.

I'm sorry, but I disagree with those 3 points. I feed my non-nervous snakes in separate containers mainly due to the risks of impaction (partly for sanitary reasons). However, this is STRESSFUL for the snake. This also takes far LONGER than feeding in their enclosure. And 95% of my BITES were during removal from the separate feed box.

I feed my nervous BPs (about half of them) in their enclosure; they are typically in their hides when I open the tub. Using tongs, I hold the prey item in front of the hide opening and BAM. I then move the hide, pick up the coiled snake, put it on newspaper, and shut the tub. The snake can return to its hide under the newspaper after it finishes its meal without having to wait for me to come get it.

[marionsclan]

Originally Posted by Ch^4

I'm sorry, but I disagree with those 3 points. I feed my non-nervous snakes in separate containers mainly due to the risks of impaction (partly for sanitary reasons). However, this is STRESSFUL for the snake.

What kind of stressful behavior should I be observing?

[marionsclan]

Originally Posted by SkYyaMe

Thanks for the input everybody! One of the reasons I posted this is that I see my idle viperkeeper feeding on what appears to be reptile bark regularly...

Thoughts on his methods?

I've seen close to half his videos and there are multiple occasions when they snakes come close to ingesting bark, but because he watches them he is there with the tongs to remove it. There have also been a couple of episodes where he has to literally take out the bark with tweezers once they swallowed it. He does say that it is very stressful for him and the snake to do this procedure but because of the way his feeds them and gives them water reptile bark works best because it lets the water run through and retains the moisture without molding.