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Feeding-In Cage vs Seperate Container

J

jeffroe334

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I got into snakes in the early 90's when I was about 12-15 years old. Pet store had ball python, burmese, and red tails. Maybe a corn snake, and I had them all minus the Burmese.

I always fed my snakes in their enclosure. I never got bit or had any problems. I never noticed any difference in agression whether I was going into feeding them or going into their house to get them out to hold or clean ect....

About a year ago I got back into snakes and was reading up and everyone seems to be feeding in a seperate enclosure, (maybe 50/50). I thought wow makes sense the snake will think I'm not dinner when I go in the cage vs the container.

Problem I have come across is that when they 3 snakes I have are done eating in the seperate enclosure, I get bit tranfering them back to the cage from the container.

I have two boxes i use for my Kenyan Sand boas. One of these guys is a very agressive eater and he bit me again last night. I'm not an idiot I wear a glove when i go into get them out. He bit me on the glove hand and quickly let go.

I also have an Albino ARab that hasn't bit me yet, but he is telescoping big time after a meal, and I know I've come close to getting tagged.

I have no choice but to feed the sand boas in a seperate container becasue they are on snake aspen bedding, and i don't want them to get compacted.

Can i get some opinions on which is best? It was a hell of a lot easier feeding them in the cage, and I never noticed a difference in agression.

I know people have gigantic burms and retics, and womas and everything else these days, anacondas, etc.....so these require much more expertise and care.

I don't use a hook, the sand boas are not big enough, and the boa is only like 3 foot and he is on newspaper/paper towles most of the time.

What is everyone else doing? Reccommend?
 
I am no expert on this but I can give you my opinion, some may agree and others may not. I have been keeping reptiles for over 10 years and I have done it both ways. I have the same problem you do, they are a little more aggressive when you try to take them out of the tub. I quit doing this and have been feeding in the cage for about 3 years now. I have never had a problem with them becoming compacted. For one, my gravid females I do not remove from there cage UNLESS absolutely necessary, SO, they have to be fed in the cage, if they do feed at all. Also, 2 of my females are over
8 1/2 feet and are very difficult to get out. What I do, since my flooring is lenolium with aspen on top, I push the aspen over to one side, and feed on the other side, works like a charm. Now, if I couldn't move that aspen over I might have to come up with another plan, but this is what works for me.
 
I've always cage fed, it seems more logical to me. You're not disrupting them during feeding time, you're not handling them after feeding (handling a full snake is a no no & you don't have to handle a snake in feeding mode), & they never assume they're getting food when they're out of their cage.

Honestly, I see absolutely no pro side to taking them out for feeding at all.

I clean cages before feeding day, the ones with non paper bedding don't get their water bowls refilled & I just drop the rat in the empty water bowl.

For reference I've kept everything from garden snakes to a burm & adult retics.
 
I've never seen much sense to the feeding in separate containers thing. With good feeders, as you've discovered, there is an increased chance of getting bitten when you want to put them back; and with poor feeders, the disruption is often enough to ensure that they won't eat.
 
i do it both ways. i don't like feeding in bins and different cages. but for my strong feeders (my retics) ill put them in bins so they don't get bedding in there mouth
 
I don't think there's a right answer for everyone, you just need to find the way that works best for you and your snakes. Are you feeding live or f/t? That can also make a difference in their reaction to movement.

I always feed in a separate container, primarily because I HAVE been bitten when I stuck my hand into the tank, primarily by wild caught adults, but also by one clumsy captive born juvenile who just plain got too excited by the movement.

Since feeding in a separate container I've never (yet, I concede) been tagged. I believe this is because the connection between movement in their tank and feeding is broken. I do use feeding tongs in the container, and they mostly take from the end of the tongs, sometimes from the floor (this is F/t food). This further disassociates your hands from food, in fact I have one who won't eat from the floor unless I move the tongs around on the far side of the animal.

Another tip that works for me is that my feeding container is a large plastic box, with a piece of driftwood that they can secure their tails on while feeding. If I do think one is a bit restless after feeding I don't pick him up directly, I simply take hold of the wood and use that to transport him back into his tank.

On the other hand I have friends who drop live food animals into the snake's tank and all seems well, so I'm not saying this is the only way.

By the way, out here in the boonies with no one to tell me how things "should" be done, I often develop habits that work for me, and only later find out this is not supposed to work - for example I often handle my snakes for a while immediately after feeding, before I put them back into their tank and I've never had problem - go figure! :shrug01:
 
Just an add on, I am currently housing a snappy snake for a friend who normally feeds her in her tank, so I'm doing that with her rather than stress her with unfamiliar removal into the feeding container.

In order to keep the food off the bedding, using long tongs I first put a plastic plate into her tank, and then place the f/t animal on that. She takes from that like a dream, so no bedding issues. Maybe that would work for you?
 
The only time I've ever fed in a separate enclosure is when two snakes were being housed in the same cage, which is not normal in my collection but has do be done on occasion.

There are some that preach this philosophy vehemently, but 99% of the time those people have 3 or 4 snakes total. You will very rarely find anyone with a significant number of snakes who use this method just for the sheer inconvenience of it.

The idea that it will prevent a snake from developing the association of feeding when you open the door sounds logical on the surface, but the argument doesn't hold up when you really start thinking about it.
You run into one problem you've already discovered, getting bit putting the snake back. This is actually far more likely with many snakes than getting bit going into the cage in the first place.

Keeping the snake from developing the associations is easy enough without going that far. Just don't limit your getting into the cage to only feeding day. If you change the water a couple of times a week, spot clean one day, maybe get it out for a few minutes a couple of times a week, then it will be much more often that the door opens and no food comes in so no association will develop.

In the end there's nothing inherently wrong with the practice, as long as the snake feeds well and the keeper is content with the extra work. I just have a problem with some of the people on various forums who proclaim that is the only safe way to feed snakes and anyone who doesn't is just foolish.
I've actually seen some people post and mention feeding their snake in it's cage in an apologetic manner as if they had done something offensive.
As long as your snakes are feeding well, just use whichever method you prefer.
 
Yes, I'd go along with that. I have multiple snakes in a large display enclosure, and so feeding in the tank is much more problematic than it would be if they were in single tanks.

I also make a point of removing them from the tank and handling them without feeding at least as often as I remove them for feeding, and this would not be practical with a larger collection.

Mine are pets, and I want to them to be as tame as possible so that I can have close interactions with them, and this is a different situation to those with a large collection that are minimally handled.

I do think that whether you choose to feed in tank or in feeding container, they are perfectly able to learn to distinguish between a feeding situation and a non-feeding situation, as long as you are consistent with your methods and show them the difference.
 
I feed all my snakes outside their enclosures. Every animal is housed in its seperate enclosure so feeding in the cage would make my life a hell of a lot easier but honestly having almost my whole collection consisting of Carpets I particularily think that feeding them in the cage is a BIG no no.

I have bought carpets that have been fed in their cages and all they want to do is bite when I try to get them out of their cages. Its the biggest pain to have to hook them out considering they like to perch on branches and grab onto everything. It would be a lot easier if I could just stick my hands in their and unravel them dont you?

About getting bit once they finish eating in their seperate feeding containers, I have only been bit ONCE after they eat and their in the containers. With all my boas, I just go in and pick them up, never any issues. All my Carpets, I nudge them with a hook so they know another rat isnt coming, then just reach in and grab them. No issues either. I have been bit a couple times and it was my fault because I wasnt paying attention but thats a couple times being bit to thousands of feedings.

Sorry to keep rambling but you also need to think of the substrate your using. As someone mentioned above, if you do use aspen, it would be a good idea to push it to one side before feeding so aspen wont get stuck to a rat (I use f/t rats so they are warm and somewhat wet after thawing/warming them up) so you dont want aspen getting stuck on the rat. Then you run into the problem of moving aspen with a snake thinking its about to eat, so I assume your hand will be bit while moving aspen around.

Thats my take based on my collection of mostly Carpets and Boas. Whichever way fits your needs better is the way you should go. Lots of people I know feed in the cages and dont have issues, but some do. Then with my way, some people have issues as well, but I dont.
 
We feed in cage here and pre-hook everything before handling otherwise.
Minimizing process's also minimizes accidents to both animals and handlers.
 
For me, in the good ol days, I was told to take out of the cage to feed, so I did. After a lot of trial and error, and a tons more snakes, I just feed them in their tub. I handle them less after taking down a meal and I feel its less stressful for them.

I have a ton of snakes so feeding them all separately would take me days, not a couple of hours or so. It gets tiresome to have to clean the feeding tubs after each snake as well. If you only have a couple of snakes, not such a big deal. When you have close to 100, its no longer a hobby.
 
StrictlyExotics said:
When you have close to 100, its no longer a hobby.
Click to expand...

I've kept what most would consider to be high quantities of animals as long as I've been financially able. Solely for the personal enjoyment they bring me.

I can easily handle a lot of critters & still give them the proper care, my brother, he gets frazzled around like six :laugh:

It's always been a 'hobby' for me & remains so. When this stops being something I do because I enjoy each of the animals then I've went to far and need to scale back.

To each their own though.
 
Twizted Paths said:
It's always been a 'hobby' for me & remains so. When this stops being something I do because I enjoy each of the animals then I've went to far and need to scale back.

To each their own though.
Click to expand...

This is EXACTLY why I feed in the cage. I would hate to clean 10 feeding tubs 10 times just to feed. That would be feeding 10 snakes 10 days a week. If we could have a few extra days per week, then I would be game... LoL
 
I've never fed an animal in a different enclosure. Always right in their cage. They aren't as dumb as people think, they learn the difference between come out time, and feed time.

I HAVE fed neos in a paper bag before though, but that was because of feed problems. The close confines sometimes works as a trigger to get them started eating.

Problems to watch for would include ingestion of substrate, but some news print laid down, and food placed on top of that remedies the problem.

Been working for me for more years then I care to admit.
 
back when i was a kid and had boas i feed in a "feed" box which was such a pain. I also found putting back in their cage after feeding could get tricky.
Now I feed in cages without a problem, have yet to be bit (well not by a boa anyway) Plus its much less time consuming :)
 
hhmoore said:
I've never seen much sense to the feeding in separate containers thing. With good feeders, as you've discovered, there is an increased chance of getting bitten when you want to put them back; and with poor feeders, the disruption is often enough to ensure that they won't eat.
Click to expand...

Hear hear!

Yes, cage aggression is real. However, in my experience, the snakes that give me the most difficulty with cage aggression are just plain mean in the first place. You could feed them on another planet and they'd still try to take a bite out of your face whenever you pick them up. And the picky ones, of course, won't strike at you even if you smell like rats. Imo, feeding in a separate enclosure is just a waste of time and a hassle. If you are seriously having issues with cage aggression, hook training is a great option.
 
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