merosmenagerie:

i-m-snek:

wheremyscalesslither:

followthebluebell:

[disclaimer: I don’t currently keep snakes, but i kept them in the past]

So my personal experience is that feeding in tank did NOT result in a higher bite risk.  But handling a snake DIRECTLY after feeding it?  Yeah.  That could cause a nasty regurgitation, which seemed much more harmful than being bitten.  I’d rather be bitten than cause a snake to regurge.  A snake bite would hurt for a few minutes, but a snake regurging could damage its health.

The thing that gets me about the whole ‘omg the snake is GOING TO BITE IF U FEED IN THE ENCLOSURE’ is that the snake is in feeding mode regardless.  It knows that there’s food.  It smells that m.ouse or r.at.  So it seems to me that it’s much more likely to bite you when you’re trying to haul it out of its viv, put it in a feeding bin, and then trying to put it BACK in the viv. 

if I felt particularly worried about being bitten, I’d just use a hook to remove the snake from its vivarium for handling purposes. 

but let’s get some current snake keepers in on this and get their input. @i-m-snek @wheremyscalesslither 

You’re more likely to getting bitten feeding in a separate bin than feeding in the enclosure. A hungry snake is bitey and easily jump started into hunger mode on feeding day. Even afterwards, many species will remain in feeding mode so then you have to remove a bitey snake from the feeding bin into their habitat.

There are definitely species that would be really difficult to put into a feeding tub, like so many king snakes I know. Other snakes, like ball pythons, are less likely to feed after being removed from their habitats. There is a risk of regurgitation- it’s not super high but it has been known to happen.

Some people have better luck feeding out of the enclosure.

Imo it’s not necessary to remove snakes from their habitats for feeding and there are more drawbacks than benefits.

^ Agreed with the above. Especially about being put into a feeding tub, I cannot even put my hand near Cass and Aurelions enclosures on feeding day because they can smell the thawing food, let alone be able and try to pick them up without them attempting to eat me. 
It is less stressful for the snakes in general to keep it in its enclosure for feeding time, and much less of a risk for regurge. 
And, as Heather said, ball pythons are very shy eaters and some, if not most, will outright refuse to eat out of their enclosures.

When I bought home a ball python for the first time, after about a week I went to pick him up on the morning of a feeding day (I always feed in the evening) and he, used to being fed outside of the viv by his previous owner, immediately latched straight onto my hand and wouldn’t get off for about half an hour even when I put him under a tap.

In contrast, my bp girl who has always been fed in her enclosure, I can take out at whatever point on feeding day before she is fed with no consequences whatsoever.

So anecdotally, I personally have found they’re more aggressive when fed outside of the viv, hence just one of the reasons why I feed inside the vivarium.