Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When we bought my son's burm almost a year ago the shop owner told him not to feed his burm in his cage. He will think every time my son puts his hand in he is getting fed. He is now almost 5 ft and we still feed him live stunned rats outside in a large box. We are also building the brm a wood 6' x 2' x 2' cage. So, do we feed him inside the cage and do we try to switch him to dead meals. Thanks.

Son raising 1 burm and wintering 1 baby burm for a friend

Feeding in the cage is the only way to go when feeding a large constrictor. If the snake is handled regularly then the snake should not develope a feeding response everytime the cage is opened. The main reasons to feed in the cage is safety. Of both you and of the snake. If you have a large snake then everytime you get him out to feed him you must handle him again to put him back. This is stressfull to a snake and can lead to regurgitation. More importantly the snake is still going to be in feed mode when it is done and now you have a large snake that is still looking for food. This can be dangerous when the snake gets larger. It is safer and easier and less stressfull on the snake if it is fed within its enclosure.
I would highly encourage you to switch from live(stunned) prey to F/T. A couple of reasons is it si going to get harder and harder to stun or kill the prey as it gets larger. What it took to kill a small rat will only hurt and annoy a rabbit. Switch to frozen. Rodent pro is a pretty good source for frozen rodents. At five foot he should be eating collosal rats ro small rabbits. I can not say about the rabbits but I know that I can get a box of 30 collosal rats shipped to my door for about $70. That comes down to a little over $2 a rat. The same size rats at the local pet store are $9 apiece. So after you even add in shipping charges it si much cheaper to feed F/T if you go with the right suppliers. Anyway, I am sorry it is long but I hope I answered some of your questions, Todd

Todd:

Thanks for the reply. He might be closer to 4'. we feed him large rats, in fact the last large rat looked too big but he had no problem with it. He is getting eady to shed now, hus eyes are cloudy so tell me the best way to switch him over to
F/T?

First do nothing different. Just thaw the rat out and toss it over to him. Make sure he sees it. I usually toss it pretty close to its head. I have had very little problem getting my burms to eat F/T. If that doesn't work, try heating the rat up with hot water. You can put the mouse in a baggie and just let it soak for a little while untill it is hotter then room temperature. This will allow the snake to get a heat signature on the prey. If that also doesn't work, you can try to rub a fresh killed rat on the frozen on, sprinkle a little blood and urine on the frozen on. Try these methods and let us know if it works. Honastly most burms in my experience go right after the F/T with out any problems. Good luck. Todd

I just become amazed as to how much terrible advice is on the internet and at pet stores (and even so called experts who breed them)....and the question of feeding inside or outside the cage is one that I feel has only one right answer....INSIDE. When it comes to keeping big snakes, there are certain absolutes once must follow and this is one of them. There are many, many, MANY reasons to feed inside the cage but here are just a few important considerations (and we are talking about full grown adult burms; sure, you can get away with feeding outside the cage for small burms under 10', but not with 15' animals):

1) stress: feeding outside the cage puts a huge and unnecessary stressor on a burm who may have just take a large meal. Once done, the last thing a large burm wants to do is to be moved around. This has been known to even cause regurgitation. Have you ever seen a 12' lb rabbit puked up...it is one of the stinkiest odors known to mankind.

2) safety: think about the idiotic logic of feeding a burm outside of its cage. You put the burm in a separate container/cage/whatever (even at that moment, you risk danger because the odor of food will be in the air). You feed it a large meal. It eats. There could be the odor of rabbit/etc still waffing in the air (or worse, on the keeper). The burm could still be hungry and it it smells rabbit nearby and sees human movement, well, put one and one together. Not only do you greatly increase your chances of taking a nasty bite, but in the form of a stupid feeding error, you take an even great chance of being killed (at that point, the burm isn't striking in a defensive manner, it is striking to grab hold and constrict)....and there are documented cases of this happening. Additionally, once that burm has fed in another cage, it may not want to be messed with. Have you tried moving a 16' burm that doesn't want to be moved?...good luck.

3) Last, I have been keeping burms for over 20 years (as a professional), in all of those years, I have NEVER been bit as a result of a burm mistaking me for food when I open the door. BUT, you need to take precautions. You don't just open a cage door and reach in and grab a snake....then you are asking for disaster. Instead, I have pull tabs on the sliding glass doors. I typically have some sort of shield device that keeps me between the snake and myself (even a hook will work). A resting snake doesn't always know that you are right there...you never want to startle a big snake! Instead, I use a hook to gently stroke the burm so it knows that I am there. I use a hook to keep the snake's head away from me so that I can gently lift the snake at midbody to coax it out of the cage. Or, if I am simply changing the water, I use a shield...once again, to provent a SFE.

Come feeding time, I ALWAYS offer frozen/thawed prey (usually rabbits) via LONG and sturdy tongs. Feeding inside the cage is FAR better and really the only responsible way in my opinion.

But, someone will try to prove me wrong and I will only say this....YOU WON'T CONVINCE ME.

Cheers,
Rob Carmichael

Rob, Two things real quick. I completely agree with you and that is the exact advice I already gave her. secondly, your title is really misleading. It says"do NOT feed inside cage" If i jsut glance along the threads it gives me the impression that you recommend to feed outside the enclosure. Just an observation. Todd

I am sleep deprived due to my daughter's recent hospital stay so I wasn't thinking clearly. Thanks for catching that!

I am sorry to hear that your family member is in the hospital. I hope everything is ok. Todd

Hello mysonsburm -

I'm not trying to pick a fight here, so please take this only in the best possible way but could you tell us how old your son is and why he isn't the one posting the questions. I sort of have the feeling that your nick should be "usedtobemysonsburm" or "startedouttobemysonsburm" or "whatamigoingtodowithmysonsburmwhenheleavesforcollege"

-Joan
P.S., You definitely want to be feeding that python in its cage before it gets too much bigger!

My son had read this forum but he is not really interested in posting. His days are spent on Gaming forums or Gaming. He takes care of both snakes, he will probably end up with his friend's snake. We are keeping it over the winter since his friend's mom won't let him bring it inside. He doesn't visit mucha nd my son has been handling the snake to get it used to people.

.

DONT FEED IN CAGE. I have already been bitten by my 10ft. 23lb burm doin that. Even if your burm is very docil and nice when it comes to feeding time tey turn into a different snake. Just feed it in a seperate box. and yes you will probably need to start feeding it pre-killed food because you wouldnt want it to get bitten.

If you have got bitten by feeding your snakes within their cage then you erred. Feeding outside of the cage is an accident waiting to happen. So many aspects of feeding outside of the cage are disasterous that I do not know how any person with any experience with reptiles would give the advice to do this. As long as you do not neglect your snake and only open the cage to feed him, then your burm will not develope a conditioned feeding response to the cage being opened. If you regularly get your snake out and develope some sort of routine, ie, rubbing the snake with a hook before removing him then it will be conditioned to the differences between feeding time and playtime. What ever you do FEED YOUR BURM IN THE CAGE. Todd