Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted this in the boa forum also, so if you've already read this, sorry.

We don't feed our snakes in their enclosures, and it's time to upgrade to a bigger feed tank. We are currently using a plastic storage container, the largest one we were able to find. But it's no longer big enough. We are having problems finding something size wise to accommodate a 7ft snake. We were thinking about one of the Christmas Tree storage boxes, but not sure if that's going to do the job either.

Anyone have any suggestions, other than building one? Has anyone gotten creative and can share the idea? Thanks.

Honestly I havent used feed tanks for YEARS and YEARS. I really saw no benefit to it. I saw no behavior difference and with larger bodied pythons it was a pain waiting the 24 hours to allow the rodent to get far enough down. I saw far more regurg from handling too soon. Plus as the collection grew so did the PITA of the feed cages.

However that being said, there are several large rubbermaid types at Walmart that will work.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Feeding outside the cage stresses the snake and may be dangerous for you. Years ago I fed out of the cage and that is when I got bit on a regular basis. For many years now I have fed inside the cage and have not taken a bite in may years. All of my snakes are tame and easy to handle-including reticulated pythons. Think of this: would you rather have a snake have the instinct that it may eat any time it is taken out-or that it will never eat when handled? Snakes are territorial and may strike when the cage is opened no matter where they are fed. Feed inside the cage. When not feeding touch the snake with a snake hook as soon as you open the cage. When feeding don't even let them see a hook. They soon learn that the hook means no food is coming. You and your snakes will be much better off. Bill.
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...three years ago it was just another snake cult...
The Retic is King.
Anacondas-the other Dark Side.
Afrocks-the dark side of the Dark Side.

We have fed ours in a separate feed tank since we started keeping six or seven years ago and it is a habit we intend to keep as long as stress levels stay low. In all of those years, we've only had one regurgitate. Never any bites while feeding.

But, and this will earn some head shakes, the other reason they are fed in a separate tank is we feed some of our snakes live. Yes, we know, we know. They are never left unattended, we make sure the prey is dead before they are left alone. We've tried to change but the few that are older will not be converted. So we don't want live prey running around the snakes enclosure.

We're in the process of trying to find a larger container until hubby gets the chance to build something. Thanks both of you for the advise.

If you are feeding in a separate cage, you may very well have issues converting from live to pre-killed with some of your snakes. Most snakes will take pre-killed more readily if fed in their primary cages. The movement to another feeding unit can many times interfere with or disengage their feeding response to the point that only live prey is enough to re-stimulate the feeding response. This obviously does not occur with all snakes, but does commonly occur with more shy species such as ball pythons.

Kelly

Im having the same problem. I would love to feed my big snakes outside their inclosures but its just not reasonable, or safe.
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I think Sarge2004 summed it up really well in his post above. Feeding in a separate cage is really unecessary, though if you like to do it that was it doesn't really hurt anything (aside from potential stress and regurge issues).

I've been keeping snakes for over 30 years and have never taken a snake out of its cage to feed it, unless there was more than one snake in the cage (which is not typically how I keep them). When I open a cage to take the animal out, I just give the snake a gentle tap on the head with a snake hook to let it know its not being fed and that has worked just fine.

I remember a breeder I was getting a snake from telling me "oh this snake is cage defensive, that means its previous owner fed it in its cage..." BS in my opinion. That has a lot more to do with a snake being nervous or insecure than a feeding response.