Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi
i am very keen to have my kingsnake eating from my hand, he is very tame and always warns me with mouthing if he is unhappy about something.
How do i go about introducing him to feeding this way, if its not too late to start, and will feeding him by hand make him more likely to bite when entering his enclosure? (connecting my hand with food)
I currently feed him outside his enclosure on a baby changing mat, is he ok being picked up and placed back in his viv after eating? i have been doing this a few weeks now.

Once he starts eating on the mat, just gently pick him up.

And yes, if you feed him this way he may accociate your hands with food and thus try to bite you.

so from a pet point of view is hand feeding not a good idea, as i am now starting to think, because i have children i do not want a hand eating monster, and if this is so, what purpose, if any, does hand feeding have?

People who hand feed usually only do it for pictures, often just as a way to keep the snake occupied while shooting.

Most of the time they feed in tubs.
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11.14 L. getula californiae (Cal. King)
2.3 L. getula nigrita (MBK)
1.0 L. getula floridana (Brooksi)
1.1 Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (Corn)
0.1 Pituophis catenifer catenifer (Pacific gopher)
0.1 Heterodon nasicus nasicus (W Hognose)
4.2.14 Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata - (Cal. Alligator Lizard)

Hand feedings only purpose really are pictures.
They will not make your snakes more tame...
Some people will feed snakes in their hands to make sure the snakes don't ingest substrate...
But that's about it.

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Mike
KingPin Reptiles Inc.
www.kingpinreptiles.com
^ Updated 7/21

>>And yes, if you feed him this way he may accociate your hands with food and thus try to bite you.

I've hand fed all my snakes, and only one is aggressive enough to mistake my hand for prey. But, he was like that before I started hand feeding.

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Ace

If snakes were meant to eat from hands, God would have given them some. HAHA!!! Derek

>>If snakes were meant to eat from hands, God would have given them some. HAHA!!! Derek

Same could be said about them eating in a tub.

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Ace

It's more of a photo op "thing". The snake could care less where it eats the meal so long as it eats. When you have a colony of over 30 snakes feeding day could be very extended if you hand feed everything!