Feeding & Bleeding

[David Evans]

Well it woudl appear that im gonna have to eat my words. I have been carrying on recently about how well my jungle has been calming down recently but tonight he proved me wrong! I still managed to remove him from his tank calmly without any fuss and fed him a nice tasty fuzzy rat which he struggled down but then returning him to his tank he decided that one rat wasnt enough and thought that my arm looked tasty! I think it was mostly still to do with being feeding mode though but here are some pics of him eating and some blood of mine, not much but some people on here seem to have a fetish for bite pics.....

How do people return their snakes to their main enclosures after feeding? by hand? hook? throwing them? especially for a large snake i woudl be interested to know.

[SlothHead]

If he just bit your arm, it was probably more of a fright response than feeding i would think. After eating they are vulnerable and therefore a little more toey.

Yeah a hook is the easiest way to return them, but with bigger animals i usually feed them in the enclosure, bigger animals if used to being fed on thawed rats will easily take the rat just sitting on the floor of the enclosure rather than have to be dangled etc.

[David Evans]

thanks sloth head, will have to invest in a hook me thinks. Wouldn't it make them hard to get out of the cage if they are used to being fed in it? I have been told by several people to feed them in a seperate container. I guess if the food is just left on the floor it might not make much of difference tho....

[jay76]

I do the same as solthhead use a hook for the smaller ones and feed the bigger ones in there enclosures

[SlothHead]

yeah it could, if all that was ever done is the enclosure opened and food came in. With adult snakes, since they arent being fed every week. you generally will probably need to do something in and around it more than just feeding .

For example, suns out, so you get them out for a bit of sun, water bowl needs water, they poop so need a change of nappy. So the food isnt all the time, i open the enclosures more to actually fix something.

Obviously with smaller animals, if all you do is open the enclosure and in comes food they can become acustom to this. hence the reason for feeding away from the enclosure.

[David Evans]

good point sloth head.......i am regularly getting my couple of snakes out for various reasons other than feeding so i guess, as you say, as long they dont just think "cage open = food" it shouldn't become a prob.

Cheers,
Dave

[The Devil]

Simple answer, don't take him out of the cage to be fed.

[Serpant_Lady]

Don't blame him. From the muscle on you arm I would have bitten it too... and you wouldn't have gotten away so lightly either

[kimba83]

ive been told if u feed a snake live feed, they become more snappy and tend to bite after meals..

is that true ?

[jay76]

I have found with my snakes they all are snappy after food. doesnt matter if is dead or alive food

[David Evans]

not much muscle on my arms serpentlady, i have little girly arms! haha! i dont blame him and the bting doesnt really both me, i figure its just all part and parcel of having a snake, or any animal for that fact, my cat loves attacking my ankles for some reason.....

[David Evans]

Devil - short and to the point! no offence intended.

i find it interesting how many opinions there are out there about what to do and what not to do. I guess experience is the best teacher.