Best place to feed

I just wanted to to get some advice from different people on a feeding sisuation.I wanted to know is it best to feed a corn snake in its home or take the snake out an feed it in a different enviorment.I still pretty new to the cornsnake world,i've had my snake for 2months now an have been feeding him in his home enviorment.Some people have been telling me I should feed in a different enviorent so the snake won't mistake my had for feed when i'm going to handle him,and some people told me its not nesscery to remove the snake to feed.So i want some input from people who have been dealing with cornsnake for a while, and know what they are talking about.So any and everybody out there in the cornsnake world I'm waiting to hear from you.

Thanks,
Gamest

There are a ton of threads discussing this issue. I would suggest a search. Feeding in the viv shouldn't be a problem as long as you are feeding on a paper towel or something to avoid substrate ingestion and if you regularly have your hands in the viv to do things other than feeding. If you're getting in there to handle/clean on regular basis there is less chance of problems. Putting in a seperate container eliminates the substrate ingestion problem and puts the snake in a smaller environment where it is in close contact with its food.

well first off what substrate is he on right now?if he on aspen then you should deffenetly feed him outside the enclosure and if hes on another kind of substrate then still feed him out of the encloser cuz your risking him eating some of the substrate and that could lead to impaction and then he will probably be in alot of pain so the best way to go is to feed outside the enclosure

Gamest,
My guess is more people than not, feed outside of the viv. Two reasons come to mind: one is as you stated. To disassociate your hand entering the viv as the entry of food into the viv. The other is that feeding in the viv increases the odds that any small substrate material becomes 'stuck' to the food item and then gets ingested by the snake causing gastric problems or maybe even death.

Good Luck!

JaLan

You should always feed your snake outside of its viv for the reasons mentioned above. When i feed my snake i place him inside a small plastic container, a tup aware, it has worked fine for me everytime. I suggest you try the same.
-Good Luck :wavey:

best place to feed

Im not using a substrate right now,im using a astroturf mat i bought from petco.So dont have to worry about him eating any substrate right now.Also i use long tongs to feed so i dont have to put my hand to far in the tank,hopefully i was thinking that would avoid him from mistaking my hand from feed.

gamest said:

Im not using a substrate right now,im using a astroturf mat i bought from petco.So dont have to worry about him eating any substrate right now.Also i use long tongs to feed so i dont have to put my hand to far in the tank,hopefully i was thinking that would avoid him from mistaking my hand from feed.

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That lizard mat thing is junk. It's too hard to clean efficiently. If you want to use something simple, I'd suggest either paper towels, or newspaper.

I feed all of my older snakes outside of their vivs, and my hatchlings inside their vivs in a deli cup.

best place to feed

Thanks for your response joe jr i might consider newspaper, but also i thought about the small rocks it would seem to be easier to scoop out poop.My is about 5months old im still using a 10gallon tank.I have a 30gallon waiting just waiting for him to get a little bigger.From all the responses i been getting to night i think im going to start feeding outside the home envirment.


thanks
Gamest

gamest said:

Thanks for your response joe jr i might consider newspaper, but also i thought about the small rocks it would seem to be easier to scoop out poop.My is about 5months old im still using a 10gallon tank.I have a 30gallon waiting just waiting for him to get a little bigger.From all the responses i been getting to night i think im going to start feeding outside the home envirment.


thanks
Gamest

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Small rocks? I don't like the sound of that.

Use any of the following forms of substrate:

Aspen, eco-earth, bed-a-beast, reptibark, paper towels, newspaper, newsprint, coconut bark.

Do not use pine, cedar, astroturf, gravel, or sand.

Feeding outside the viv is fine when you have a moderately small collection. If you have hundreds of animals the cost for bedding becomes too expensive, and there is too much time involved to move snakes from one container to the next.

The choice is ultimately yours to make. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way.

yea I'd say deffinetly not in the regular viv, you dont want anyhting sticking to it and having your snake swallow it. I picked up a smaller critter carrier thing for my two. and it works great for feeding, I made a little hide so after whatever one is eating in there is done she can hide.

I also feed outside the vivs for the reasons stated prior. Another reason to feed in another container is fewer distractions.

Joe does have a point with the number of animals though, I am considering using cut sterlite lids to feed on so I can have room to move during the feed rush.