Excellent group of pictures from everyone who's contributed!
Mangrove,
I know Alias had pretty much covered this already, but in my opinion it's somewhat of a wive's tale. I think the biggest concern with feeding in the viv is ingesting the stray bit of bedding material as opposed to associating the hand with food. I have a very very aggressive feeding male that is just a doll when taken out and handled. I can have thawing mice smell wafting through the room, go into his viv and take him out and he's as docile as can be. Put him back, close everything up, reopen it two seconds later with a mouse in my hand or tongs, and he instantly turns into a raging serpent of power! After eating his meal, and giving him a half hour to calm down, and I could reach in again and he's a little 'teddy bear' again. With feeding up to 50 corns a week, this is pretty standard. I've never been tagged by a snake when it's not feeding time, I'll get some tail rattles, but that's about it. I've only been tagged once during feeding when one of my little girls was just entering shed and missed the mouse . . . should've used the tongs that day!
Anyway, just personal experience to relate concerning the feeding in the viv stories. I'd heard that too when I first started out, but the reality is for anyone with a considerable number of snakes, what's the alternative. How much extra time is involved (not to mention housing equipment) with taking everybody out for feeding each week?!
D80
