Ian, I was recently given a 12ft Burm and my husband decided to feed him outside of the cage the first time. We feed our other snakes outside of the cage, he was already outside of the cage, it seemed like a good idea. Well, it took him about 30 min to eat, and then we had to move the snake back to his cage. The idea of picking up a 12ft snake who had just finished eating was a bit weird and I'll admit, scary. It was a very embarrassing scene because I'd like to think I;m better snake handler than this, but we ended up throwing a comforter over the snake's head and upper 1/3 and carrying him back inside. Never will I do that again. It was just so ridiculously unsafe I can't even believe we fed him like that.



The funny thing is that I feed my 7ft boa in his cage and have never had a problem with him. I don't know why I didn't apply the same principle to the Burm. The boa has a feeding hatch on the top of his wooden cage and a drop down door on the front for handling. I use a hook to manipulate him to get him out of his cage, so he's already used to the hook. When I feed, he's usually in his hide, I open the hatch, drop the rat, and he takes it in his hide after I close the door. There's no association there because he doesn't see me, it's a different door (manna from heaven), and there's no hook.



I'm trying to entice my Burm into a second feeding and I'm using Hillbilly's methods (and others' suggestions). Another reason that I prefer to feed the big boys in the cage is that I often need to move them into another enclosure to do a school show or a vet visit. I like having another enclosure to put them in that doesn't evoke a feeding response.

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