Hello,
I feed my snakes in a separate enclosure. For me, its due to the loose substrate I use. (Aspen shavings) I also use the time to perform maintainance on the enclosures.

I think feeding out of the enclosure for snakes is a preference among those that are keeping particular things. One, well its obvious if more than one snake is in the enclosure, why there is a need to separate them for feeding purposes, two some feel that switching snakes out of their enclosure will train them so that when they are moved to the other enclosure then that means to them that they will be getting fed, now this works, also hook training works quite well, especially with larges species like burms and retics and such, you don't really want to be moving a heavy/hungry snake around alone, especially just to feed it, so this is where the hook training comes in handy. I suppose that people do switch the feeding spot to out of the enclosure for other reasons though as well. Such as the fear that their snake will ingest some of the bedding, most of the time with the bedding you dont have to worry about it going down with the prey, although larger items in the bedding can be a problem, such as large wood chip chunks and such, but, take into consideration in the wild Im sure that while consuming prey some debris will become ingested.

So this is just my $0.02 on the subject, while some people think feeding out of an animals normal enclosure is necessary for different reasons, and why it can just totally be a preferance on the owners part.

Amelia

Erik Spisak Tropicals

My Burmese Python is getting huge. I used to feed her in a seperate 'container' but now for feeding I use a seperate room. When it is time to eat, I transfer my shower into a dining room. I wash it, dry it, and line it with newspaper. Then I add the snake and the food goes in last. I have sliding doors on the shower to keep everyone in.

I wouldn't ever feed her in her enclosure for sanitary reasons. My snake's enclosure is not easy to clean and sometimes, depending on how my snake grabs the rat, there is a bloody mess. Rat blood of course.

The reason for moving the snake to a seperate container before feeding it originally was because this was considered the best solution to the problem of snakes biting their keeper when the cage was opened. A snake conditioned to believe food is coming when the cage opens is likely to strike at any movement, in an instinctive feeding response. If you never feed the snake when you open the cage, it simply will not be conditioned to strike when the cage opens. Move it to another container, and it will associate that container with being fed--not the opening of its cage.

The solution of putting the food into the cage while the snake is out of the cage is rather clever, and it's a perfectly acceptable alternative to the problem. Just don't be handling the food and the snake at the same time...snakes have an excellent sense of smell, and they may bite you if they smell a rodent--particularly if the scent is on your hands.