# Feeding snakes



## ESPMike (Mar 23, 2005)

I was reading the Red Tail Boa profile and I noticed AB suggesting feeding should occur in a seperate enclosure from its daily living enclosure. He explained this helped keep the sname from expecting food everytime is cage is opened for handling. While it makes perfect sense, I also know handling a snake immediately after feeding is a big no-no. What do you guys do in this situation? If you feed your snakes in seperate encolsures, how do you move them back after feeding?


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## bjmarche (Jun 30, 2005)

I wait two days to pick him up and bring him back to his normal enclosure, just to give him time to digest his food.


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

ESPMike said:


> I was reading the Red Tail Boa profile and I noticed AB suggesting feeding should occur in a seperate enclosure from its daily living enclosure. He explained this helped keep the sname from expecting food everytime is cage is opened for handling. While it makes perfect sense, I also know handling a snake immediately after feeding is a big no-no. What do you guys do in this situation? If you feed your snakes in seperate encolsures, how do you move them back after feeding?


Well, I get your point Mike, but I do this trick with my seven snakes and they dont regurgitate. I put them in 5 gallon buckets and cover it up. I make sure the food is all the way down to their stomachs, then I essentially dump them back in to their homes (gently of course). Snakes are notoriously difficult to control, so I've had some that I had to handle and 'direct' towards their enclosures. Never any regurgitation issues.

Good question. I wonder how Croc does it. It seems like he has too many snakes to bother with this technique.


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

I never bothered moving mine to feed. I've been doing reptiles for 30+ years and never worried about that. Of course when your feeding large numbers or very large snakes it just seems like too much extra effort. Them again a lot of the snakes I fed wouldn't fit in a 5 gallon bucket.


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

Bawb2u said:


> I never bothered moving mine to feed. I've been doing reptiles for 30+ years and never worried about that. Of course when your feeding large numbers or very large snakes it just seems like too much extra effort. Them again a lot of the snakes I fed wouldn't fit in a 5 gallon bucket.


Two views of thought....feed as is, feed in seperate enclosures. For hobbyists with a small collection I strongly suggest seperate feeding...ace's suggestion of five gallon buckets is one I would have made, I also use many 55 gallon trash cans...the reality(as stated by Bawb) of large species, venomous species, and LARGE collections is that this is just not feasible, or realistic. Adult retics, rocks, indians, burms, papuans, amethystines etc..are most of the time too dangerous to attempt to maneuver after feeding, and their size is often prohibitive for moving....I feed all my biggies in their enclosures.I also always have staff in hand when dealing with the biggies, and constantly remind them that I am not food.......

Mike my direct answer to you is yes. Obtain a five gallon bucket (new at lowe's or home depot they are like $5) and feed in the bucket.......imediately after feeding is finished and (again as stated by ace) you should be able to safely handle the snake without any worry of regurgitation, even aftera large meal. Get yourself a spiral bound notebook, and keep records....ate...what it ate..date, crapped... condition of crap, shed....date..and note if normal or problematic, weigh it every month, document it, .....keeping accurite records gets you used to paying attention to small details, it eliminates guess work, and it will help you keep a healthy snake.


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## ESPMike (Mar 23, 2005)

CrocKeeper said:


> I never bothered moving mine to feed. I've been doing reptiles for 30+ years and never worried about that. Of course when your feeding large numbers or very large snakes it just seems like too much extra effort. Them again a lot of the snakes I fed wouldn't fit in a 5 gallon bucket.


Two views of thought....feed as is, feed in seperate enclosures. For hobbyists with a small collection I strongly suggest seperate feeding...ace's suggestion of five gallon buckets is one I would have made, I also use many 55 gallon trash cans...the reality(as stated by Bawb) of large species, venomous species, and LARGE collections is that this is just not feasible, or realistic. Adult retics, rocks, indians, burms, papuans, amethystines etc..are most of the time too dangerous to attempt to maneuver after feeding, and their size is often prohibitive for moving....I feed all my biggies in their enclosures.I also always have staff in hand when dealing with the biggies, and constantly remind them that I am not food.......

Mike my direct answer to you is yes. Obtain a five gallon bucket (new at lowe's or home depot they are like $5) and feed in the bucket.......imediately after feeding is finished and (again as stated by ace) you should be able to safely handle the snake without any worry of regurgitation, even aftera large meal. Get yourself a spiral bound notebook, and keep records....ate...what it ate..date, crapped... condition of crap, shed....date..and note if normal or problematic, weigh it every month, document it, .....keeping accurite records gets you used to paying attention to small details, it eliminates guess work, and it will help you keep a healthy snake.
[/quote]

Cool thanks for the great replies guys. I finally got the gf to give in and say ok the whole the whole snake idea, so I called the friend of mine I was telling you about and got it all set up. He does have a pregnant boa right now, but she isnt due till around January, so it looks like I'll be waiting till then. Although he did just have ball python babies, and he offered me one of them to keep until the RTB gives birth at which point he said I could just return the ball and hed give me a neonate RTB. Not sure if im going to go that route or wait, but I am a bit anxious to get some snake experience.

Thanks again for the help. You guys rule as usual.


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## psychofish (Jun 5, 2004)

I feed my bp in a seperate enclosure, I wait until he has completly swallowed 
his food and is crawling around again. Then I pick him up and place him 
back into his normal enclosure. I have never ever had any problems.


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

Wait for the boa Mike.....you will be dissapointed in a regius...the regius need to be left alone, frequent handling really stresses them out....Boa's seem oblivious to heavy handling....


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## Atlanta Braves Baby! (Mar 12, 2003)

Just like Croc and Acestro said, I move my snake back to her enclosure after the prey has moved down into the stomach. I have yet to have any issues with it coming back up.


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## ESPMike (Mar 23, 2005)

Atlanta Braves Baby! said:


> Just like Croc and Acestro said, I move my snake back to her enclosure after the prey has moved down into the stomach. I have yet to have any issues with it coming back up.


Sounds great thanks. I think I read to never handle the snake immediately after feeding and maybe I took that a little to literally in the regard that you cant even pick them up to move them back.

Thanks for the help guys. Either way I'll definately be getting the boa, he had just offered to let me care for one of his pythons in the mean time to get some snake experience, but I'll most likely end up waiting for the boa.


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## pamonster (Jun 26, 2003)

yep, I feed in a different cage. I have also read that feeding in their normal cage introduces the bacteria onthe frozen/thawed mouse, and say it is on a nice warm heating pad or under a light, it will grow and can give some nasty bacterial infections to the snake. I've never had a problem with moving them after a meel either.


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## greenmonkey51 (Aug 16, 2004)

I feed all my snake in there tub, theres no real benefit of feeding in a seperate container. They myth about them associating opening the cage with cage is bull, you should be opening the cage everyday to check on them, change water, or bringing them out for handling. All my snakes are all calm and never flinch when I open their tub and do maintence.



> I have also read that feeding in their normal cage introduces the bacteria onthe frozen/thawed mouse, and say it is on a nice warm heating pad or under a light, it will grow and can give some nasty bacterial infections to the snake.


That is one of the dumbest things I've heard. What bacteria is in the cage that its gonna give the snake an infection. The cage should be cleaned immediately after discovering any feces/urates and you shouldn't be worrying about feeding if the cage is dirty.


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