Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi,

in reguards to feeding in the cage. how do you deal with snakes that make their food a blood feast? with feeding in the cage and having blood all over im sure as hell not going to stick my hands in there to try to clean it. also if i was to take him out i might as well just feed him out of the cage to aviod the above. what advice do you have for this type of situation?

...I also prefer feeding out of the cage. I understand what Todd says about not moving your snake once he's full also. Lately I've been feeding in but the subsrate gets in his mouth to often. When I feed out of the cage I use a small (4 foot) kids pool right next to the cage. The blood bath ensues in the pool, then when he's done I don't lift, rather direct him back into the cage. Obviously a snake stick is a must. So far it's worked well and the pool rinses out nicely in the yard. The snake merely moves to his basking spot like he normally would.

Good luck.

Im also not Todd,

But I do feed inside the cage. I usally let mine roam the house to get some exercise while im cleaning the cage. I dont really notice a problem with the snakes stayin in feeding mode because of the blood. I dont know if its cause theyre full, or what, but mine dont really seem to care if there is a little blood inside.

Are you feeding frozen thawed? if not, that may help cut down on your mess.
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1.0 Albino Green Burm
0.2 Normal Burm
1.1 Java Retic

Everyone that posted earlier are right on. Feeding is the only safe and responsible way to feed any large snake. Here are my reasons why I feel this way and they are in specific order.
1. Moving a snake after a feed (even several hours later) is extremely stressfull on the snake. Snakes will occassion regurgitate their food when they are stressed after consuming a meal. This is hard on the snake (just as vomiting is hard on the human body) and can cause irritation to the throat and on rare occassions the snake can "choke" to death on the regurged prey item. Also, regurged prey is not pleasant to clean up.
2. Most snakes will stay in hunting mode and maintain a strong feeding response hours after thye initially consume their food. They can easily misidentify your hand (arm, face, etc...) for another prey item and your usually placid and gentle giant is now unleashing a strong and aggressive attck on you. This WILL happen eventually. After feeding your snake you must come into contact with it to move it back to its cage. Whether you actually pick the snake up or just coerce it really doesn't matter. You are presenting yourself to a hunting snake and the results could be extremely bad.
3. Most people believe that if you feed within the cage then the snake will get conditioned to food every time the door is opened. In all my experience this has never happened for two reasons. I open the cages often for many reasons and they get used to that. I develope a sign to them that they understand that tells them that it is not feeding time, such as scratching them on the head or under the neck with a snake hook. The only time that a snake would get conditioned to the door opening and food would be if you never interacted with your snake and the only time that the door was opened was for food. Another way to rectify this problem is with cages that have two doors. Use one dorr for removing the snake, cleaning the cage, changing the water, etc..., and use the second door only for feedign. This truely works and for the last 2 years I have been using this method with great success.

As far as the blood and mess created within the cage just wait a couple fo days after the feeding and then remove the snake and thoroughly clean the cage. It won't hurt the snake to wait two days. I hope this clarifies some of your questions. Todd

Todd hit all points right on the head and I couldn't say it better than myself. Having kept many large burms over the years, and still keep quite a few, I truly feel that there are some absolutes when it comes to keeping large constrictors responsibly....and feeding IN THE CAGE is one of them and is the safest and most effective method for keeping large burms...there's really nothing to argue about this. FEED IN THE CAGE. Rob

A snake that thinks it's getting fed whenever the cage door opens, or a snake that thinks it's getting fed whenever it is taken out of the cage? As mentioned below, there are ways to tell a snake it is not getting fed. I use the hook method as well and once that hook touches the snake, you can see the feeding switch turn off. If you feed outside of the cage, you run the risk of the snake associating feeding with being taken out every time. you don't want that, especially if you have kids or if other people will be interacting with it.

Allow the cage to be the snakes domain. It is where it eats, sleeps, craps, etc. No hands in the cage with the snake in the cage and use hooks all the time. I have personally experienced that this makes a much more manageable animal when they are out of the cage.

I have been bitten by a burm ONE time from a feeding response and that snake was fed outside of the cage. I have not even been sticken at by one of my burms outside of the cage after i switched to cage only feeding 7 years ago.

Take care.

Dave
Mosaic Scales

i JUST got one of those vision 4ft cages so i will def try the one door for feeding and the other for removing. i was more concered with the smell and if that would bother her. also i do feed frozen. even when i feed f/t to my bp she some how manages to have a bloody face some times. thanks for all the advice and i plan on getting a hook in oct at the hamburg show. that and some longer hemostats.