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Posted by SynSizer on May 04, 2003 at 22:23:26:
In Reply to: Should I feed my boa within his enclosure or out?? posted by peterfromme on May 04, 2003 at 08:11:26:
Hey fella! I doubt from my experience there is a right or wrong answer to this question. It seems to be a more a personal choice than anything. I have 9 snakes, ranging from boas, a python, and a few colubrids. I have always fed in their enclosures with no problems whatsoever. There may be no merit to my method, but I have a bit of a game plan that I think MAY be helpful in the area of association. I feed them late at night with only the dimmest of lighting. I only open the lid enough to get the tongs and mice or rats into the enclosure. I do the squirmy prey thing and they hit it. Then I close the lid and that’s it. They never actually see me during feeding. I generally only get them out during day or early evening and always with plenty of lighting. This is my attempt to defuse the association of feeding from handling. As I said, there may be no merit to it at all, but it is MY personal choice for this issue and to date I have yet to be struck at. The only thing that I am still debating about this is the issue of the bedding. I am always sure that the food is not wet so that the bedding will not stick to the prey and be ingested. I am considering making a spot in the enclosures that is bedding free and separated so that the prey will never actually touch the bedding. It is rare that impactions occur from bedding, but it is not impossible and has happened to others. That is ONE of the reasons some prefer to feed in a separate area besides the association factor. I have had as yet no experience with the really large snakes, say from 10 foot and up, such as retics and burms, and would leave this issue for those with experience to answer as there may or may not be more to consider. There are pros and cons to both methods. Both are used by experienced keepers with success (and the occaisional problem). Best of luck. And as always, this is just my 2 cents from my own experience. "Chuck"
