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Table Service or hunt for the food?

Kermit262

Kermit262

Cornball
In one of the million or so snake books I've read in the past month, someone suggested placing the mouse in the snake's vivarium and let the snake find it. They've been hunting for their food for millions of years, and this allows them to replicate that behavior (given the obvious limitations of captivity).

I've been placing the frozen pinkies in the vivarium, and our snakes eat them during the night, if not much sooner.

However, I know a lot of folks feed with tongs. Is there an advantage to this, or does this fall in the abyss of personal preference?

I'm feeding frozen, not live, and only have four snakes, so expediency is not a concern.
 
The main problem with feeding in the tank, is getting substrate stuck to the mouse as it's swallowed. That can cause impaction and health problems.

To be honest, the snake isn't hunting live food, so it's not actually a replication of wild behaviour. The Corn doesn't care as long as it has something to eat. And no captive-bred Corn will ever have hunted its own food, so it's not like it's missing anything.

I feed in separate small tanks, outside the living tank. I've rarely had to resort to hand-feeding with tongs. It's a bit of a nuisance if they get into the habit of insisting on being hand fed.
 
Thanks bitsy, but I prefer to feed them in their tank. So with that condition, I'm curious how others feed their snakes.
 
I use to feed in the viv/tank. And I never had any issues.

I now feed in seperate tubs. This allows me to check the snakes while tranfering to the feeding tub. Then I place the food in the tub, after getting there attention with it. Close up the tub and then go to the viv/tank and clean, change water, ect.. I know a lot of people feed in their viv/tanks and there is nothing wrong with that. It seems like a personal peference. I hear the horror stories, from escapees when transfering to tubs to substrate blocking intestine.

So far I have yet to experience any of these problems.
 
We feed the majority of our snakes in their viv on plastic plates. We used to do the seperate feeding tub,but, ALL of our adult corns were rescues that were fed inside their enclosures for years. We found that we had a hard time getting them to eat in a seperate container. However when we fed them in their own viv,they ate wonderfully. We just make sure the plate is large enough for them to constrict and coil on. The only one who refuses to stay ON the plate is Voldemort. He will constrict and coil on it but then drag the mouse into his Lair o' Death where he eats in darkness. I worry about impaction but so far so good.
 
I hadn't thought of a plate! I've been putting the pinkies on flat rocks. May have to try the dinner plate routine. :)
 
We feed in the viv on a large hard surface as well.....
I let them smell the food and then hunt it down, ending up at the feeding spot...
I also pull at the food to get the extra constriction out of the snakes....
 
We do that too,Mike,or my lazy snakes would just slither on over and start swallowing! We still do the whole wiggle zombie dance even though,technically, it's not needed anymore,but, it gets them to constrict.
 
Ok, so I get it - a knife, fork, fine china dinner plate, and I'm the waiter working for tips. But as I'm a greenhorn to all of this, why do you care if the snake constricts? Is it the difference between frozen and live?
 
Constricting just gets them to use their muscles. This of course only applies to f/t mice. Some snakes already know that the mouse is already dead so they stop constricting and just eat. My amel girl was always fed live by her PO's and when we got her we switched to F/T. After a couple of meals, she stopped constricting and would just start swallowing as soon as she got to the plate. She was starting to get pretty hippy, so on top of her baths, we also make her "fight" for her food. Just extra excersise for them.
 
Do you give baths to help her exercise? My anery doesn't constrict, but I saw two cornsnakes eating live pinks on youtube who didn't contrict, either. I just assumed pinks can't really injure a snake so they just eat them alive. Though he's not in any kind of "overweight" area, quite the opposite.
 
I give her baths every once in a while. She really is not fond of them at all and that's about the only time I get a rattling tail and S-coil out of her.
 
I feed in the viv as well in small plastic bowls or plastic tubes...I find the extra handling unnecessary and have never had substrate problems...
 
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