• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

feed in viv or not

T

threadbear

New member
comments please !! too feed in viv or out ??? im sure this as been ask't before but carnt find anything read quiet a bit but seems all the ideas seem different ??? thx
 
There are two camps:

A. It doesn't matter, no one can point to a snake that ate substrate and died and

B. Except under special circumstances I don't feed in the viv


I don't feed in the viv, generally. Removing the snake on a set, regular schedule allows me to get a weight on the snake and physically check snakes that otherwise wouldn't be out. While the snake is out I can remove the water bowl and scrub and disinfect it, and spot clean the snake's viv without the snake's help. It's also orderly for me, feeding larger numbers. I have a list. I set out all the feeding bins. That way I know everyone on the list gets fed.

If you feed outside of the viv, you don't have a surprise rotting mouse, or wait- is that a regurge? waiting for you if someone doesn't eat.

Obviously people with hundreds or thousands of snakes aren't removing them to feed, and they haven't suffered great disasters.
 
I feed in my vivarium, because I don't have an extra tub for feeding, and haven't experienced any issues so far. I also was afraid to pick my snake up after feeding in fear of causing a regurgitation or stress. I use aspen substrate, but place a magazine cover in the vivarium and put the mouse on top of it. I have tons of old magazines, so it's a good way to recycle them. I've never had any issues with substrate getting on top of the magazine covers, even when my snake burrows under the paper before eating his meal. Once he gets bigger and I get a new tank, I might need to rethink my strategy, but for now I'd say it's pretty flawless.

I haven't experienced any cage aggression that I can see.

Hope this helps :)
 
Nanci said:
I don't feed in the viv, generally. Removing the snake on a set, regular schedule allows me to get a weight on the snake and physically check snakes that otherwise wouldn't be out. While the snake is out I can remove the water bowl and scrub and disinfect it, and spot clean the snake's viv without the snake's help. It's also orderly for me, feeding larger numbers. I have a list. I set out all the feeding bins. That way I know everyone on the list gets fed.

If you feed outside of the viv, you don't have a surprise rotting mouse, or wait- is that a regurge? waiting for you if someone doesn't eat.

Obviously people with hundreds or thousands of snakes aren't removing them to feed, and they haven't suffered great disasters.
Click to expand...

We follow the exact same schedule. We have about 60 corns, and while it does take some extra time, it is worth it to us. I recommend feeding in a separate feeding container.
 
I'd personally rather weigh etc on days they aren't being fed. Because once some have been fed, the rest are ready to be fed as they can smell it, and I'd rather just get everyone fed as quick as possible and leave them alone to digest. I have one corn that goes into a feeding frenzy a bit, the rest are calm and would be fine with being handled before/after feeding. But I have a few ball pythons that once they know everyone is eating just want to EAT.
That said I do different things or different snakes. My ball pythons that are on aspen, I give a mouse then once they grab it pick them up and put them in their large hide so they swallow it off aspen. Some of my corns i feed in their hides, one really calm corn I pick up and let eat on her viv lid. And the rest of my snakes are on newspaper or papertowels so that's easy. But, I also only have 14 snakes so it's easy to keep track of /checking after to see if I have a regurge or if someone doesn't eat.
 
hi gals and guys ....a few question to the informed ....if i feed Kaa out of the viv in a 18L Really Useful Box ( with air holes ) lol how do i get him back in do i pick him up when he has got the mouse down and place him in the viv OR offer the box to the viv and let him slither back in on his own ???
 
You can pick him up to put him back in his viv after feeding, or you can let him put himself back if you like. The prohibition against handling after feeding doesn't literally mean you can't touch the snake. It's a caution against handling as one would do for pleasure, to reduce the likelihood of a regurge.

I've generally fed mine outside their vivs, and that's what I prefer to do. I did feed inside the vivs on large sheets of newspaper during my non-weightbearing weeks after surgery and it did make things easier to manage with crutches. Even then, there was a individual who was consistently fed in separate containers. Elva (Upper Keys caramel diffuse yearling) has a "strike first, ask questions later" kind of attitude and I didn't want to contribute to her mistaken ideas about where (and of what) meals should be taken.
 
I fed in separate bins for a long time, then I started feeding in the vivs. One of my snakes kept ingesting aspen, and it scared me, so I went back to the separate containers. You can try putting down a paper plate, or whatever, but many snakes have a tendency to drag the food around while they eat it or take it somewhere more hidden and they will always find a way to drag it through the aspen. Usually, even if aspen is stuck it will kind of get pushed off as the snake eats it, but sometimes they get the edge under their mouth and down it goes! It just wasn't a chance I was willing to take anymore, despite reading many stories about snakes who pass aspen all the time it just gave me a bad feeling.

It is also a really good time to clean/weight the snakes as others have said. I put the bin on the scale, put snake in bin, get weight, move bin & insert mouse, cover and continue! Very efficient :).
 
hi people well took on board yours advice and pop't Kaa into a box and gave him his mouse left him alone to do the deed and on return Kaa had a very full belli lol lol thx very much your all GREAT ...x
 
I fed my first corn out of his cage (this is sadly the one who my cat got a hold of). He would eat right out of my hand if I would let him too. I know a big concern is picking the snakes up after eating, but I would just let him get the mouse all the way into his stomach and then grab him above the lump and then support his tail as I lifted him up. He never once regurged or anything. Heck, when I first got him I didn't even know they shouldn't be handled for 48 hours after feeding and would just keep holding him! With the corns I have now, however, I feed in the cage. It doesn't make a difference with my male. My female, on the other hand, looks like she wants to grab a hold of me every time I put my hand in there, so I'm probably going to start feeding her out of her cage. For the most part though... I'd say it really doesn't matter and I'd feed out of the cage only if you're using substrate like aspen where it's a risk for him to ingest it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top