Do you feed in separate container?

[toofDocta]

I've heard both sides of the story...

one side of the story: feeding in a separate container so snake doesn't associate its viv with food and is less likely to strike at you when you're going to get him the times you don't have food...

the other side: feed in same container (its viv) so it doesn't associate the OTHER container with food and strike at you when you're going in and out of the other container... and also feed in its own viv so that you don't handle it right after it ate (to put it back in the viv) and probably induce regurgitation.

What do YOU do??? What's recommended???

 

[nicali84]

I feed in a seperate container so he doesn't consume any aspen. That's my only reason really.

 

[JohnR]

I feed in separate container so that he won't strike when my son wants to see him.

And I let it sit in the container for a little bit before moving him to the main cage.

 

[sober_serpents]

i have soooo many snakes that i feed most in their tanks. the hard headed ones who run away from the f/t mouse instead of eating it gets a feeding tub.
also lil babies get feeding deli cups. i take the babies out of the shoe box tubs and place them and a pink inside a deli cup. Pinks tend to get covered in aspen when they are close to each other and not even touching!! but for most my adults, subadults and yearlings they get fed in their tanks
~kin

 

[RobbiesCornField]

I feed in their own cage. To me, it's easier than having 26 feeding bins to put everyone in, and then take them back out to put them back in their viv. It's a lot of extra work, and I feel that it does stress the snake out to be handled directly after eating. Granted, I also have a few boas that are over 5 feet long, and do NOT want to be anywhere near them after eating. But if you are feeding in your own viv, I also recommend hook "training" snakes. This is basically done by using just a snake hook to remove them. My snakes all know if it's "play time", because they get picked up using a hook. If I reach my fingers in there, I can almost guarantee I'd get bitten by certain ones.

 

[torsten]

i feed in there vivs, they have kitchen roll as a substrate and the mice are dried before being offered to the snakes ad the food is placed on a natural flat piece of disinfected cooked and washed slat. they are supervised until they have mostly finished eating the item of food, it would be a lot of hassle to put 36 snakes into separate containers and i feel the risk of the snake ingesting the kitchen roll is limited as the food is on a slate as well. also i am yet to be struck at by a snake as a feeding response even from my adults when i have thawing food in the room and have just handled the thawing mice and then i put my hand in a viv.

 

[The_Thunderer]

I feed all my adults in a separate container... but I feed my hatchlings etc in their tubs (paper towel substrate). The adults know me and I don't want them ingesting any aspen. But for the hatchlings, I don't want to stress them out before they eat.

 

[strawberry_bunny]

I do both, and I havent had a problem, I dont put my hand in the viv with the mouse, I open the door and kinda throw it at him, he gets all excited as the mouse is flying he grabs it and wraps himself around it, really cute

 

[wade]

I don’t think it is necessary to use a separate tub. The explanation I have always heard is so that they don’t ingest substrate with the mouse. If that were really a problem it would be very simply to deal with. Rip a sheet of paper into fourths and place the mouse on a piece of paper.

There are lots of reasons to reach into the cage besides feeding. Cleaning, water, check on snake, and pick snake up. To avoid the snake associating your hand with food, always feed with forceps so the snake never sees the food come from your hand. Don’t reach in when you have the smell of rodents on you. Whether it’s in the cage or not.

People with one snake can take the time to do lots of strange things. People with many snakes are more inclined to be efficient.

 

[Susielea]

I feed all my adults in a separate container... but I feed my hatchlings etc in their tubs (paper towel substrate). The adults know me and I don't want them ingesting any aspen. But for the hatchlings, I don't want to stress them out before they eat.

Exactly what I do!

I also use the time the adults/sub-adults are in their feeding containers to spot clean and change water etc

 

[Emanon]

when I had 6 snakes I fed in seperate containers... now with about 50... in the viv is the only way to fly... no time for all of that... I put newspaper in the front section of the viv (if the snake is not solely on newspaper), make sure it is clean, feed away.

 

[caz223]

Yeah, no time for that.
On snakes that eat pinks, I usually try not to touch the pink with my hands, and offer them inside a 4 oz disposable souffle cup, so they don't get contaminated with bedding and it makes the snake look for a deli cup, and not fingers. Also, the pink doesn't smell like fingers, and fingers don't smell like mice.
They are also much easier for the snake to find.
Once they graduate to hoppers they get fed with long tongs or hemostats.

 

[Jenstar]

I use separate tubs, because I have personally seen my boyfriends ball pythons eat substrate and it makes me nervous. I also have had to get bark out of there mouths after feeding because it's stuck. I don't want to get bit or my snakes to be hurt during feeding.

 

[caz223]

It also doesn't make sense to me that you're not supposed to touch them after they've swallowed a meal, but you have to move them back into their cage after they ate.
Now they are either in 'feeding mode' or have settled down and and shouldn't really be disturbed.
I make exceptions for REALLY unruly snakes that want to EAT YOU and won't calm down ever, and ONLY handle them when they have food in their mouth. (They can't bite you without spitting out their food.)
I can't spot clean their tub, but instead keep them on shredded paper, and just have a sanitized tub with fresh shredded paper and a fresh deli cup of water, and wait until they have a big meal in their mouth and have it well started, then smoothly pick them up and put them in their clean tub, and put them back in the rack before they figure out what just happened.

 

[Nanci]

I feed in separate containers. Then I can scrub waterbowls, pick out poo, weigh the snake...

 

[snakewispera snr]

Good thread, We do a bit of both. The scrubbed slate mentioned earlier is a fav of ours.. It's in basking spots and the guys love them. We also use cards to cover 2/3 of the viv with some of the violent eaters (you never know where they end up). Babys are on kitchen roll so thats easy. The carpets love to feed in the branches or from a perch, so a card covering the substrate in case of dropped food.
I do agree on not handling after eating, so thats our solution to the problem of impaction.
We never use tongs to feed...we introduce the food slowly to the snakes, letting them get a whiff of it to excite them and then getting nearer. When handling we go straight in with no hesitation and pick them up from the middle, and they never strike out as they seem to know the difference between the two disturbances.... Well up to now anyway....
We have been struck by over zealous feeders though, but thats part of the fun I think.... Especially when Joel gets bit...LOL

 

[knox]

I do either.

If I have aspen in the viv, I feed in a separate container.

If I have paper towels, I feed in the viv.

 

[Lestette]

I only have 1 snake right now, so I take it out and feed it in a seperate container. I just got her though, so I've only fed her once. lol.

 

[torsten]

yea, the slate i use acts as a basking place as well as it is above the heat mats, also it helps keep the temps constant.

 

[bekers71]

Nice topic.

When I only had a few snakes I took the time to put them in feeding containers. Now that I have approximately 100, mixture of corns, milks, kings and boas, there's just no way. All of my babies are kept in sandwich containers on paper towels. On feeding day, every 5 days, I have clean containers ready. I move the baby to the new container, drop the mouse, fresh water and close it up. They can eat and just relax with out having to be disturbed. Any snake eating fuzzies or hoppers also has paper towels for bedding so they get fed in their homes too. The adults are on aspen so their mice are placed on paper in their tubs.

The majority of my snakes are cornsnakes and I have not found any of them to get aggressive because they are fed in their homes. We have 5 kids from ages 2 to 12 and they take out snakes all the time. IMO if the snakes are handle on days other than just feeding days, they wont get aggressive. Granted, some will bite no matter what you do because they just don't like being messed with. I have a grey rat snake that can vouch for that. LOL