Feed in cage or out of cage?

[slither9192]

Who here feeds in their snakes enclosure and who feeds out of the enclosure. I feed mine in the enclosure. Is it really necessary to feed out the enclosure?

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[trendkill]

I used to feed my snakes outside of their enclosures in rubbermaid bins. But once you have more than 10 snakes, it becomes time consuming. 20+ snakes and it becomes almost impossible to do.

Feeding outside of the cage does help eliminate in-cage feeding response MOST of the time, though in my experience that wasn't always the case. And on a couple occasions, I was bit removing the snake from the rubbermaid, even with a hook, probably because the smell lingers and remains so strong inside the enclosed bin.

The only other benefit was elminating the chance of the snake swallowing any substrate (if you use lose substrate like aspen or bark). But I've never had a problem with blockage, and many other keepers feed on substrate and haven't had any problems either. IT DOES HAPPEN though. So I'm careful to use heavy aspen chips rather than little flaky ones, and to feed the snakes dry rats (thawed in ziplock bags) decreasing the chance of substrate sticking to the prey.

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[RioBravoReptiles]

People often say they feed in a seperate enclosure to train the snake not to bite when they open the cage. If that is so then why isn't the snake being trained to bite when it is taken out of the cage?
.
I feed each boa in it's own cage and none have any trouble deciding if I'm spot-cleaning, exchanging the tub, just goofing with them or feeding.
.
That's my thoughts on that.

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[slither9192]

Alright thanks. I feed all my snakes in their enclosures and I've only been biten once and it was completely my fault. I didn't really think it was necessary to feed out of their enclosure.

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[Needles]

I tend to side with Pavlov, so I always remove them from the cage and feed in the same sterilite tub, plus if the rat bleeds its easier to clean, along with the water the rat was soaked in...

Though I think it's in some snakes personalities just to bite more often than others.

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[Rust316]

Originally Posted by RioBravoReptiles

I feed each boa in it's own cage and none have any trouble deciding if I'm spot-cleaning, exchanging the tub, just goofing with them or feeding.
.
That's my thoughts on that.

We feed over two dozen snakes in their cages. Every now and then, one or two will take a swat at me when I'm changing the water bowl, etc. I use a hook with these guys when I'm messing in their cage by giving them a little touch on their head so they know that I'm not dinner. Then I go about my business without incident by either removing them from the cage for playtime, or cleaning it with them in there.

I used to feed in seperate tubs when we had a smaller collection. It was a waste of time and like Trend says.....you can still get bit. That seems worse though because you are upsetting the animal right after a meal.

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[bleeding_sarcasm]

Depends on what I am feeding, For my dumerils I take them out, For everything else I feed them in the cage.

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[Rust316]

Originally Posted by bleeding_sarcasm

Depends on what I am feeding, For my dumerils I take them out

Why?

Just curious because we feed ours in the cage without any problems.

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[Smits]

I've tried both, and been successful both ways. I honestly don't believe in the whole "train the snake" idea on opening the cage. The way I see it is, if you are regulary opening the cage for replacing water, spot cleaning and taking time to hold you reptile every so often, I think all will be well. You only feed "so" often. Which is why I think that if you open the cage for the above reasons, the snake won't "think" that each time food is going to be introduced.
A lot of it might depend on the species of snake. A managable sized snake (IMO) will be easier to place back into their cage, rather than a large species such as a retic/burm/conda after feeding outside the enclosure.
Danktat told me that moving a retic after feeding back into the cage...well, it just isn't fun

And as Gus mentioned above, (from my interpretation) if the snake is being taken out of the cage to feed, wouldn't you think that it would be prone to strike once outside?

Good thread topic!

[bleeding_sarcasm]

Originally Posted by Rust316

Why?

Just curious because we feed ours in the cage without any problems.

Because I currently house my male and female together, and I dont want them to accidentally bite one another.

Besides watering, cleaning and feeding, I have very little contact with my snakes, I dont pull them out and cuddle with them all the time. Something I should PROBABLY do more of, if I want a calm adult, but its just never been a priority.

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[Rust316]

Got it. Thanks.

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[Allysen]

For me it depends on the enclosure, and it depends on the snake. For most of our snakes, we use newspaper for substrate, and we usually feed in the enclosure for those guys. The rainbows are on cyprus, so with the exception of the big male who won't eat anywhere but in his cage, we feed them in separate tubs. (The big male gets his f/t rat on a section of newspaper delivered right outside of his hide). Our big BCI gets fed in her feeding tub just because she's always been fed in a feeding tub and she gets flighty and weird if we try to feed her in her enclosure. Our BCC is the same way. We just try to treat each snake as their own little individual and feed accordingly! Also, I definitely haven't noticed any sort of aggression issues with the ones who I feed inside their tanks.

	Boa Constrictor Constrictor Red Tail Boa Constrictor (Boa constictor constrictor). Refers to "true" red tail boas such as the Guyana and Suriname locales.

	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

[Needles]

If one were to believe that handling more often, would make a snake more tame, than why would that not be true of a feeding response?

Just food for thought

I've done both, but prefer outside, as far as upsetting the snake after it ate, I typically let them sit for 30mins to an hour before quickly placing them back in the cage. Never had a regurge, ever.

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	regurgitate Throw up. Reptiles will regurge when they feel they are in danger or if they have some sort of health issue. If your reptile has regurgitated his/her food please seek help!

[Stargazer]

I just fed Veronica out of the cage. Got bit anyway.

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[Rust316]

Bottom line---do whatever floats your boat.

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[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by Rust316

Bottom line---do whatever floats your boat.

If only, Rust. It would really float my boat to switch my snakes to a vegetarian diet (j/k of course).

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[dhonaker]

Originally Posted by Needles

If one were to believe that handling more often, would make a snake more tame, than why would that not be true of a feeding response?
Just food for thought
I've done both, but prefer outside, as far as upsetting the snake after it ate, I typically let them sit for 30mins to an hour before quickly placing them back in the cage. Never had a regurge, ever.

try this with a large burm or a large tic when they stay in feeding mode for 2 days

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	regurgitate Throw up. Reptiles will regurge when they feel they are in danger or if they have some sort of health issue. If your reptile has regurgitated his/her food please seek help!

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by dhonaker

try this with a large burm or a large tic when they stay in feeding mode for 2 days

No thanks, I don't think I will try that. But thanks for the visual!

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[LS84]

all of my corn snakes and king snakes and all tiny babies eat inside their cages because i find if i take them out and place them somewhere else, they are nervous and dont want to eat. My boas eat outside their cages. They tend to be messier and take longer, so i plop them in rubbermaids and leave them for a few hours. My burm will not eat outside of his enclosure and even in his enclosure is just not interested in eating ever. Each snake is different, and I also find that some will just find the food and eat it, and others need to be shown where it is. If i just left a rat in my one corn snakes cage, he would not eat it. I need to let him catch a glance of it and then he will go to it and start swallowing.

	Corn Snake The Corn Snake or Red Rat Snake (Elaphe guttata) is a species of Rat Snake.

[Whammytap]

I'm not sure about bite response, but I use a light and fluffy aspen bedding (because my snake is HEAVY and I like to make sure he is well-cushioned) so I feed him in a Rubbermaid, too.

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