Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I'm a new snake enthusiast and was wondering if you guys have a separate feeding area for your snake? I read at anapsid.com that having a separate feeding area helps prevent your snake from biting you. The reasoning is that if you feed your snake in the cage, then the snake associates the opening of the cage with feeding time. I don't want to get bitten often (especially if I put my hand in to play with my snake). However by reading the articles on the this site (mostly the fact sheets which are very helpful) I don't see anyone else suggesting a separate feeding area. Also the pics that some of you posted clearly shows the snake eating in its cage.

I always remove my snake from it's enclosure when it's feeding time and put it into a rubbermade bin with some carpet on the floor . This way it will get used to being handled and in time will learn not to bite when being removed for feeding. It also helps your snake from ingesting any wood chips or other materials wihch might harm your snake.

As far as I'm concerned, there are only two reasons to feed in a different container:

1. If there are two or more snakes in the cage.
2. If there is substrate that could be harmful if swallowed.

For #1, you shouldn't house two or more snakes in one cage for several reasons. If one gets sick, they all can get sick; Stress; Fight till death; etc...

For #2, a potentially hazardous substrate shouldn't be used to begin with. There are possible exceptions, as in a display cage.

There are many ways to condition a snake to reduce the risk of a feeding response strike. "Feeding snakes in their cage causes feeding response strikes" is probably the #1 misconception among new enthusiasts.

If the only time someone opens their snake cage is to feed their snake, guess what that tells the snake? Open cage = food.

Handle your snake before feeding it, making sure that you don't have prey scent on your hands. Use long tongs or grabbers to put prey in cage, not your bare hands.

You can even condition your snake by using a snake hook or something of that sort to rub the snake, to make sure it's awake and train it to know that you're going to handle it when you touch it with a snake hook.

I've got an 8-ft and a 10-ft Burmese Python I've had for almost 3 yrs now and not the first bite. When I go to feed them I open their cage and rub them with a snake hook a few times. They then come to me, crawling out of the cage to get to me. I handle them for awhile, put them back in and then feed them. I use 3-ft long grabbers to hold their frozen/thawed prey for them to take it. They don't see my hands, all they see is the grabbers and the prey.

There have been many discusiions on this in some of the forums, like the Corn Snake forum & Ball Pyhton forum. Look in these forums and search the archives of both forums for more input.

Have a good one!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

you should have a feeding area seperate for snakes if they are pets due to the fact u stated i dont do it but havent been bitten yet soon too happen though so i would suggest feeding them seperate from the cage they are being housed in just incase they decide ur hand is a mouse/rat