Using tile as feeding area in terrarium?

Mom of a cornsnake owner-to-be here. Getting him the setup for Christmas, and going to the reptile show in Indianapolis in January to pick up the snake.

Looking through info on the best substrates, I'm going with shaved aspen, but with that it recommends to feed in a "different area"... could that be an area of floor tile (like the kind recommended for bearded dragons, ceramic with a surface that isn't slick) in the same terrarium? I am guessing the best spot would be on the end opposite the heating pad.... does this sound like a good idea, and if not, do they mean to feed in a totally different (bare) tank/plastic tub?

beckys19 said:

Mom of a cornsnake owner-to-be here. Getting him the setup for Christmas, and going to the reptile show in Indianapolis in January to pick up the snake.



Looking through info on the best substrates, I'm going with shaved aspen, but with that it recommends to feed in a "different area"... could that be an area of floor tile (like the kind recommended for bearded dragons, ceramic with a surface that isn't slick) in the same terrarium? I am guessing the best spot would be on the end opposite the heating pad.... does this sound like a good idea, and if not, do they mean to feed in a totally different (bare) tank/plastic tub?

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No .. a feeding tile is a great idea !!

I just put a piece of card down until after the feed but some use saucers ..

If you can get a tile that blends into the background it would be great .


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Personally, I’m unfamiliar with feeding on a tile. Yes, if you’re keeping on that type of substrate I would feed in a different container. Depending on the size of the snake, you can place it in a deli cup or plastic container with lid attached. When it’s done feeding, place back in enclosure.

Does anyone still feed in separate container ??

I presumed that was an old 80’s fad ??

You can’t do it with Retics , Burms and King snakes , well not if you value your looks ... so why do it with Corn snakes ??


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I’ve done it with kingsnakes and boas as well. I guess it just comes down to how careful you want to be. If I were to have an animal on a shredded wood substrate, I would be concerned about it accidentally ingesting a splinter of wood with the prey item.

Dennis Gulla said:

I’ve done it with kingsnakes and boas as well. I guess it just comes down to how careful you want to be. If I were to have an animal on a shredded wood substrate, I would be concerned about it accidentally ingesting a splinter of wood with the prey item.

Click to expand...

That’s why you feed over card / paper / a plate / a tile ...


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What we used to do, at least with the young snakes, was to first go through and clean the containers on all due to be fed that evening. Then on the second time through when the container was again opened, offer food. The snakes very quickly learned to recognize that the cleaning stage was not the dinner bell ringing which really helped reduce the premature feed response. But look out during stage 2! They had time to think about it, and were cocked and loaded waiting for the trigger pull!

With large numbers of animals, feeding in a separate container was just not feasible because of time constraints.

Personally, I never liked using substrates like aspen or pine shavings. Heard quite enough stories from people of one or more of their snakes ingesting a large mouthful of the substrate, and some wound up getting intestinal impactions and expiring from that mishap. So using some sort of clean platform surface to reduce the possibility of that sort of thing taking place would be well worth the effort, if the number of animals you are dealing with is relatively modest.

YMMV, of course.

I feed mine in its enclosure. I don’t think it’s necessary for a separate feeding tub unless maybe the snake refuses to eat in its terrarium. What I do is I use a ceramic soap dish that I put the mouse on, so the corn won’t ingest any substrate when eating. It’s a perfect size for the mouse. A tile is a nice idea too!


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