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How long to wait after feeding before moving back to the cage?

B

Bree

New member
Bunny had her first meal (with me) tonight. She very enthusiastically gobbled the pinky right down. Hurray! :) I also weighed her; She's a whopping 6 grams, lol.

I waited until the lump had moved down to her middle and put her back into her house so she could find a cozy place to digest, but she was pretty squirmy and I wondered if I should have left her in the feeding tub longer? I know to leave her alone in her cage for a couple days after eating, but in the future, how long should I wait before returning her home after a meal?

Thanks!
 
Cute name!!

Not a whole lot of experience here, but i feed my new buddy outside of his viv and put him back right after he finishes swallowing it down to his middle. I make sure to wait until after he fixes his jaw as well. He's not too squirmy at this point.

If you don't want to pick him up and his feeding container is small enough, you could just put the feeding container in his viv and let him crawl out in his own time.
 
I love the name!! I think that it was fine to move her. I do the same thing with my snakes. Wait till it is in their tummy and then put them back in their house. A few of mine do the same thing were they are just moving all around. I often wonder how they heck are you moving around with that big ol belly but by the next morning they are acting like the others and quiet for a couple days.
 
Thank you!

I was worried that she might make herself regurgitate with all the flailing about she did on her way back to her house, but I knew she would need the heat on her warm side for digesting... So good to know I wasn't doing anything wrong. Hopefully she'll get less squirmy as she gets older and gets used to being handled (I haven't really started handling her just yet).
 
I wait until the lump stops moving - about one-third the way down the snake's body. The snake then generally starts cruising the feeding tank looking for a way out, at which point I put them back in their normal tank.
 
Bree said:
Thank you!

I was worried that she might make herself regurgitate with all the flailing about she did on her way back to her house, but I knew she would need the heat on her warm side for digesting... So good to know I wasn't doing anything wrong. Hopefully she'll get less squirmy as she gets older and gets used to being handled (I haven't really started handling her just yet).
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Your Welcome. They do get better with age. They start to get use to the routine and they are bigger a less flighty.

I am a little OCD but when it comes to feeding tubs. Everyone gets the same feeding tub everytime, they are different colors (not on purpose), but I think that it has even helped. They know as soon as they are in their tub that food is going to be coming soon and they do not move. I have even walked out of the room because I forgot the mice when I came back they were all still just sitting there. Well the adults the babies I don't trust just yet so they get a lid.
 
You don't really have to feed in a separate container. They are not going to eat any of the bedding, and if they did it would digest with the mouse. I have been feeding thousands snakes for over forty years and not one was fed in a separate container. Can you imagine all the hundreds of extra containers being stored! It has to be so much less stressful to feed them in their own cage.
 
Actually, dickdeuel, snakes can and have accidentally ingested their substrate and do not always digest it. They are not designed to digest wood. It is a possibility and that is why I always recommend feeding in another container. Not to mention the benefit of not associating anything coming into the cage as food.
 
Of course they will get in pieces of bedding, I've seen that myself! Further, I have had a snake with apparently problems from eating bedding with the prey (she would not eat in a separate tub). The vet took a sample of stool, and found out there were about 5 pieces of bedding in her cloaca with the stool. She pressed one bit at the skin on the back of my hand and it felt way hard (I use hemp bedding). I can imagine having that in your intestines being a tiny snake (in comparison), you'd get problems. After administering some oil orally, a little period of rest, I started feeding again and there were no problems anymore.

Escpecially for this person owning only one snake, feeding separatley is no hassle, yet reduces risks without any disadvantage.
 
dickdeuel said:
You don't really have to feed in a separate container. They are not going to eat any of the bedding, and if they did it would digest with the mouse. I have been feeding thousands snakes for over forty years and not one was fed in a separate container. Can you imagine all the hundreds of extra containers being stored! It has to be so much less stressful to feed them in their own cage.
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With a huge collection it's probably easier to just feed each in his home. But for having one or a few, i prefer feeding in a separate container. Especially for hatchlings and for keepers new to the hobby. If you must leave it while it eats, a quick glance can tell you if its eaten or not, whereas in its home, you have to first find the snake in one of its hides to make sure its eaten. If you want to watch it eat (like me), a smaller container with no accessories is ideal.

Some other arguments for feeding in separate containers is to keep the animal from associating the lid of his home opening with feeding. For fussy eaters, the snake has nothing else to focus on but its dinner.
 
bitsy said:
I wait until the lump stops moving - about one-third the way down the snake's body. The snake then generally starts cruising the feeding tank looking for a way out, at which point I put them back in their normal tank.
Click to expand...

I do this as well. I wait until the snake starts trying to get out before I move them. :)
 
Thanks for the replies!

I will wait for her to be moving around before I return her home next time.
 
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