Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do you feed in or out of the enclosure? Pros and cons of both? Any info appreciated!

Both! The chondro is 'inside' the enclosure...and I'm outside...well outside!!!

Joking aside, I'm not sure there is anything to be gained from taking the chondro out to feed it. If it's hungry you are only risking getting bitten if you try to take the chondro out of its enclosure. You'd be better to get a set of 'long' tongs/tweezers and use them to offer the food, etc.

Good luck,

Stu

One school of thought is that if you feed the animal outside of the enclosure you have less chance of being bitten while entering the enclosure for other reasons since the animal doesn't develop a feeding response to just having the enclosure opened.

Hi:

You'd still have to remove the chondro to get him out of the enclosure to feed him. You might as well let him stay inside the enclosure. Long tongs/tweezers are what prevents the chondro from mistaking you for the food. And a chondro can only strike so far. And the added benefit of the tongs is that it keeps the heat from your hands away from the chondros heat sensing pits.

I can say for sure that if I went to the trouble of getting my chondros out of their enclosures to feed them I increase the risk of being bitten quite a bit.

Stu

Hi:

As far as getting in the enclosure to do any non-feeding type stuff I have observed the following with chondros:

During the day almost all chondros can be dealt with if one is careful. If it turns out you have a nut job for a chondro then you still run the risk of getting bitten for whatever reason you need to go in the cage. I'm lucky I have only a couple of chondros that are not trustworthy but, during the day I can handle even the nasty one. It's at night that you have to be careful. I still believe it's safer for me to keep the chondros in their cages for feeding. I feel much safer on the other side of their enclosure...with them on the inside.

Good luck,

Stu