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Feeding and handling question

M

Medusa

New member
Alright so this is a bit of a mixed bag question! First of all, a little bit about my snake: about 2 1/5 yrs from what I was told. He's about 3ft long and very gentle :)

I was told to feed him in a seperate bin or enclosure, one live feeder mouse about very two - three weeks, and not to touch him afterwards until he has digested and pooped, about 48 hours. So my question(s) now is, if I can't handle him after feeding, how am I going to get him from the feeding bin back into his cage to properly digest his food?

Also, can anyone give me their opinion on the feeding schedual I was given?? I'v read a lot that people feed them more often than what I was told and not live food.

Sorry for such a looong crazy post, just want to be a good owner :) thanks for reading!
 
You can pick him up long enough to put him back in his viv. Since it's a new snake in a new home, it sure wouldn't hurt to try to switch him to frozen/thawed mice.

A. Live mice/rats can and do bite or chew on snakes, and no matter how closely you watch, you can't intervene fast enough to prevent your snake from losing an eye. I'm sure you're imagining a smple bite, maybe. Think missing eyes, mouth injuries, large sections of skin and muscle chewed off. It's not pretty, and it is avoidable in most cases, by simply feeding FT rodents.

B. The prey animal is terrified and fighting for it's life. Why inflict that on it if you don't have to?

C. Live rodents carry parasites.

D. You're going to get tired of picking up a live mouse every two weeks. Live costs more. It's way easier to just buy a few frozen at a time and thaw them out as needed.

If you need help- plenty of people here can offer suggestions. My suggestion would be let your snake get nice and hungry. Wait three weeks after his last meal with his previous owner. Get a frozen hopper, thaw it under running VERY hot water, blow dry it, put it in the feeding container (SMALL feeding container) with the snake, in the evening, in a quiet room, cover the container up and leave him alone a couple hours, no peeking. If he doesn't eat, reheat and leave him in the container with the mouse overnight.
 
Thank you so much! :) I think I will switch to frozen for sure :)

So it would be okay to leave him in the feed bin over night? I don't have heating or substrate in there.
 
Well, it's not optimal, but if your room is 75 or warmer, he should be fine.

You definitely don't want substrate in there.

Just remember the mouse's body temp is 101F, so you want the first FT mouse you offer him to be HOT, not just warm.
 
If I am not mistaken the snake should be fed every two weeks. I always pick mine up gently and put them back in their vivs after feeding them.
 
Every two- three weeks is fine if it is a male.. if you're not sure, I'd stick to every-other week.
When he is done eating, you can either let him crawl back into his cage from the feeding bin, or just gently lift him up from the front side and the back side, just don't touch where the mouse lump is :)
 
Some of you may disagree, but I've never used a separate feeding bin and I've (knock on wood) never had an issue. It is my understanding that the primary concern about feeding in the viv is you don't want substrate being digested. There is also a secondary concern of your snake associating the opening of the tank with food which will lead to a strike on your hand.

The first one- substrate. I have decorative pieces of slate which offer to the snake a staging area of sorts for the f/t mouse. If you can't find a big enough piece of slate (or don't want one), use a piece of cardboard. Lay it down over the substrate during feeding time. So far this seems to work well. Sometimes the snake will drag the mouse off of the staging area, but most of the time, by then, all but the hind legs and tail are hanging out, and I haven't had substrate stick to that. Also, dry the mouse a bit before offering it the snake, and this will help too.

The second one - biting of the hand. I handle my snakes about 4 times a week. If you're feeding every 2 weeks, then there is an 8:1 ratio of that cage top opening and the snake not getting food. Even if you only handle your snake a couple of times a week, you still have a 4:1 ratio. I doubt it will associate your hand with food, especially if your hand doesn't small, look, or behave like a mouse. Smell is probably the most important one there. And besides, it good practice to wash your hands after your handle any mice.

So, I offer this and it solves the problem of handling the snake after a feeding. After the snake crawls off the cardboard into its hide to digest, remove the cardboard and save it for next time. I did have a snake curl up under the cardboard once, and I just left it in there for the 48hrs.
 
Feeding outside the enclosure gives the owner an excellent opportunity to remove and scrub the water bowl and to search the viv for poop, without the snake's "assistance." Plus, you get to examine and weigh the snake at a set interval.
 
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