Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do you feed it in its cage or in a separate container? Why?

I go inside the cage every other day to change water at least. He knows when I'm thawing a rat or not. Frankly, the thought of handling my 5 year old BCC when he's in "feed mode" is not appealing to me. I've never been mistaken for a rat so far, and just for erring on the side of caution, I always use the hook when I take him out. Not been bit in 4 years(knock,knock!)

I generally feed my boas in the cage/tub with tongs. Once they grab the food/prey item I grab them up and place them in a temporary tub, while I clean their cage/tub and change their water. Then I place them back in their cage/tub when I'm through cleaning. They generally are still in the wrap and squeeze mode, with mouth locked on food, but not swallowing yet.
When I get that "I'm hungry. Are you food?" look and I'm not feeding, I generally tap them gently on top of the snout with a couple of newspaper sheets to let them know it's not feeding time. If that doesn't work, I usually just cover them with newspaper to block their view, then go about my business. The important thing is to always use the same tactile cue, whatever that may be.
All my stuff is in open from the top tubs right now. Cages opening from the front may be a little different.
If my snakes were in a decorated vivarium display cage situation, I would not feed them in the cage. My snakes are kept on newspaper in tubs.
jsc

Yeah, I've read the stuff on feeding in a seperate container so they don't key off cage opening as food time. Pshaw!! I have dozens of snakes and feed them all in their cages. Way too much work for me to move each one to a seperate container to feed. When it's feeding day, they know it and DUH, watch the hands near the cages!!!!! Any other time, no more attention than usual, again DUH, you have to pay attention to moods etc.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

At one point, when I only had two snakes and I hadn't gotten them to eat frozen/thawed yet, I fed in tubs so the live prey wouldn't mess up their nicely decorated cages.

I always worried about moving the snakes afterwards though... but being in close proximity to a live tasty prey item would usually result in quick feeding.

However - once I did get them to feed on frozen/thawed, my ball python just wouldn't eat consistently if I tried to tub him first. Sometimes, the hog island boa wouldn't, either. I think this is (especially in the ball python's case) because they like to feel secure in their hiding spot when in "hunt" mode. If you grab the snake up and out of its cage, and then expect it to eat moments after being handled... I'd imagine other than minor stress, mixed messages might be sent.

Once I started feeding them f/t in their cages, they both started eating more consistently. I use a hook to get the snakes out of their cages, or at least nudge them about with the hook before grabbing with my hand, so they understand no food is coming. Some react like "oh crap, there's the hook, she's going to grab me now, run!" - and that's fine with me as long as they are out of "food food nom nom nom" mode.

I now feed all 9 of my snakes in their enclosures (yay, all are on f/t, gladly). The only thing I don't like about it is for the few smaller snakes I have (baby bp and two sand boas) that have non sheet-paper substrate, I have to check and make sure they don't get bedding stuck in their mouths when they eat. Their substrate is carefresh (cellulose) so probably not a big deal if ingested, but it's just an extra step to check and make sure they're ok after eating. The sand boas would likely not deal well with transferring to a tub for feeding, since they like to be buried when they "pounce" on their food.
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
1.1 Ball Python, 1.0 Hog Island Boa, 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 1.1 Saharan Sand Boa

I started out feeding my 2 boas in separate tupperware containers. Then when I got to 4 boas, I changed to newspaper in the cages and fed in the cages. However, my newly acquired male was getting a little nippy. And then my older female nabbed me. I had reached in to get her out. She was halfway inside her log house. I touched her w/ my left hand to let her know it was me and was about to pick her up w/ my right hand when she came out of the log thinking I was feeding her, she nipped me on the right hand but immed. let go. I decided it was time to go back to separate feeding tubs. At first, the young ones didn't take too well to it, but they are adapting and getting better. The older ones take it in stride. I switched back to aspen shavings. It takes awhile now to get everyone fed, but as they are getting bigger, I don't want anyone assuming I feed in the cages anymore.

Link

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Donna DeYoung
River Mist Reptiles

0.4 Andalusian horses
0.1 Clydesdale/Paint horse
2.0 Crazy Cockatiels
1.0 Cheery Chihuahua
1.0 Hypo Dream Pastel BCI
0.1 Hypo Het Albino (doublehet sunglow) BCI
1.0 Sunglow BCI (coming soon)
0.1 Albino Arabesque BCI (coming soon)