Feeding in your tank...

Brently · 01-01-12, 11:30 AM

So I have only had my RTB for a few months and have established a fairly decent routine with her. How does everyone feel about feeding in the enclosure? I currently need to feed Athena in her enclosure due to the kids wanting to get too close. Aside from the possibility of impaction which I watch for pretty closely what other lagitimate down sides are there to this type of feeding? I don't believe that she will learn to strike everytime I open the cage door since I open it more often to handle her then to feed her, so that argument doesn't hold much ground to me. But is there actually other down falls?

knox · 01-01-12, 11:52 AM

I feed in my tubs. I use Sani Chips. I dry the mice as best I can, but they do ingest some, and some gets caught in their teeth and they have to work to get it out - just as they would after eating in leaf litter and other types of environments they find themselves in out in the wild. Most of the chips, however, get scraped off as the mice pass through the mouth.

The reason I still feed in their enclosure? Because the guys at BHB do the exact same thing - feed on Sani Chips. And with THOUSANDS of healthy snakes and ZERO impaction, I don't worry.

BHB also did a semi-scientific test of feeding in and out of enclosures. They found no correlation between snakes biting and not biting.

shaunyboy · 01-01-12, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brently

So I have only had my RTB for a few months and have established a fairly decent routine with her. How does everyone feel about feeding in the enclosure? I currently need to feed Athena in her enclosure due to the kids wanting to get too close. Aside from the possibility of impaction which I watch for pretty closely what other lagitimate down sides are there to this type of feeding? I don't believe that she will learn to strike everytime I open the cage door since I open it more often to handle her then to feed her, so that argument doesn't hold much ground to me. But is there actually other down falls?

i feed carpets pythons into double figures in their tanks.with no problems mate

i have never heard of any problems associated with feeding in their tanks

feeding in their own tanks is where i think the snake feels most secure

cheers shaun

**Aaron_S** · 01-01-12, 12:02 PM

I agree with all comments above.

I believe Shaun said it best that these animals feel most secure in their own enclosures.

SnakeyJay · 01-01-12, 12:16 PM

I've tried feeding out of the viv in a feeding tub but found that my brb was to scared to eat, she'd rather sit in there staring at it. Now I feed in the viv and she never misses a feed.

alessia55 · 01-01-12, 12:43 PM

We had a similar discussion not too long ago... Feeding tank or not?

shaunyboy · 01-01-12, 12:51 PM

if you apply the SAME LOGIC to taking out the tank to feed,as you would for feeding in the tank,regards the biting theory

then surely everytime you took your snake out the tank,it would associate it with feeding and bite

alessia,the op has already said he don't think feeding in the tank makes them biters,he was asking about any percieved disadvatages other than that pal

cheers shaun

Shmoges · 01-01-12, 01:26 PM

I feed all our snakes in there enclosures. The pesky ones get taken out and isolated with the food. Our snakes seem to focus on the food item faster in there enclosure rather than taking them out and scaring them. There is no way I could feed the Lucies out of there enclosure, they are just way to defensively aggressive. I see it this way If Barchek can feed a huge berm in a tub I can do it with a cornsnake lol. Theres nothing wrong with feeding in the snakes enclosure.

youngster · 01-01-12, 01:33 PM

I feed in the viv on plates/ flat hides.
Then again all my snakes are generally ready eaters.

Lankyrob · 01-01-12, 01:57 PM

I feed all seven of mine in their vivs - the little ones get an upturned hide to feed in and the larger ones get a plastic picnic plate to feed on - the two arboreal snakes just hang from their perch so i dont worry about them ingesting substrate.

knox · 01-01-12, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

I feed all seven of mine in their vivs - the little ones get an upturned hide to feed in and the larger ones get a plastic picnic plate to feed on - the two arboreal snakes just hang from their perch so i dont worry about them ingesting substrate.

Too bad all snakes can't eat hanging from a perch!

KORBIN5895 · 01-01-12, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shmoges

I feed all our snakes in there enclosures. The pesky ones get taken out and isolated with the food. Our snakes seem to focus on the food item faster in there enclosure rather than taking them out and scaring them. There is no way I could feed the Lucies out of there enclosure, they are just way to defensively aggressive. I see it this way If Barchek can feed a huge berm in a tub I can do it with a cornsnake lol. Theres nothing wrong with feeding in the snakes enclosure.

Can I get a link to this burm feeding?

EasternGirl · 01-01-12, 05:17 PM

We often have the same discussion on the garter forum about feeding in the enclosure vs. feeding tanks and the risk of impaction from substrate. My snakes get freaked out when I try to move them to feeding tanks so I feed them in their tanks and just take extra precautions...I put paper towels under their dishes, and I feed my female with tongs. I have been bitten a couple times and I do realize that this is a much bigger risk with a large snake. She only bites though if she gets over excited and if I am not careful to get my fingers out of the way in time...this is something that I have learned to be more careful about and I haven't been bitten by her in a while.

Brently · 01-01-12, 07:33 PM

You know I am surprised that everyone so far agrees. I have fed out of the viv and she ate just fine. But I had a woman at petsmart (not experts I know) tell me that feeding in the viv was the biggest mistake you could make. Took that with a grain of salt and just wanted to see your opinions. Lankyrob, I have had my RTB feed from her climbing stick and eat without going to the ground but for most terrestrial snakes I imagine this isn't a common thing. I am happy to see all these responses and happier to see that I have apparently made good choices thus far.

Shmoges · 01-01-12, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

Can I get a link to this burm feeding?

Sure SnakeBytes TV - All Episodes

Start at the beginning and you will see many times they feed there huge monsters in there huge tubs.

I have seen him do it many times in many episodes I just can't pick which one lol, so if you haven't seen these grab a beverage and take a few hours and watch them all.

Brenty tell that lady the biggest mistake anyone could make is listening to petco employees. I can't say that its a mistake to get animals there though. Just yesterday I went to petco to get some krickets for our white lips and they had a bunch of decent sized dumpy tree frogs for $20 so I sayed hey how long have you had these "oh for awhile now", So i said, I will buy 4 if you can mark them down to $15. IT WORKED!!