How do you feed your snakes?

[tricksterpup]

This past week, I had another reason why to feed snakes outside of their cage. I am like Elle, I keep my snakes on aspen with newspaper on top. But this last week, we have been in a hurry for feeding time. I had a rat that I gave my Black Milk and he grabbed it and I thought he ate it. Usually when a milk or a king grabs there food, its gone. Well this guy didn't eat it. We smelled something in the room and couldn't figure it out, I opened up his cage and in the back was the rat that sat there for 3 days. Whew.. it did not smell pretty and I cleaned out his entire cage with bleach water solution.

Well before you ask, didn't you know?
his cage is dark and the mouse was in the back. His cage is the middle one.

 

[AnnaJackTN]

Feeding Alice

I feed Alice in a Tupperware container.....I get out a fuzzy and thaw it in water for 13 min....As that is thawing I get Alice out and hold her for a few min...Then put her in her container...As soon as she gets put in there she knows it is feeding time...She gets very active at this time..When the fuzzy is done I put it on top of the lid (that have holes in it) where she can smell it..After a min or two I use tongs(long) to feed her....She grabs it and chokes the life out of it all over again....lol :grin01:
OK funny thing happened once.....When we opened the lid on one feeding she started to come out and my hubby reached down to push her back in.She grabbed his finger...Apparently she didn't like the flavor because she let go real quick and grabbed the fuzzy.... :grin01:
Anna
Alice (Okeetee Corn)

 

[pgr8dnlvr]

I feel feeding in the viv has several advantages:

You don't stress the snake by chasing it down and putting it into a strange enclosure.
You don't risk the snake escaping.
You don't have to handle a snake after it has eaten. That aids in the snakes digestion and avoids being bitten by a snake still in hunt mode.
You don't teach the snake that it's going to eat when it comes out of the viv which makes the snake easier to handle.
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Boy I find the comment about teaching the snake that it's going to eat when it comes out of the viv, interesting! I've alway often cited the quote <I call it a quote though even I am not sure where I first heard it...> that it's better to feed in a seperate container, that way it doesn't teach the snake that every time your hand reaches into it's viv it's food time. I wonder which thought might be more appropriate?! lol

It goes to show that there are so many ways to look at the same problem...

Mind you I usually follow the statement with something along the line, if you can truly TEACH a snake something rather than just hope conditioning works! lol

Rebecca

ps- All of my for sale hatchlings get fed in their containers and are on paper towel substrate, my keepers and breeders I usually try to feed in seperate containers, frozen thawed. I have found of late that when in a rush I do feed in the containers but on a large ice cream pale type lid. I haven't noticed any changes in temperment yet by the way ​