One of the bits of information that I, as well as many other seasoned herp keepers and breeders often hear, read, or are 'told" is the notion that snakes (as well as other reptiles) must be fed inside of a separate container or enclosure from their permanent caging. The underlying notion behind this theory is to prevent "cage aggression" or from having the snake associate the keeper opening and/or entering the cage with feeding. However, this is a largely unnecessary and impractical practice, and one I would like to address since we all have likely heard this theory many times. Let's examine why I believe this to be so.

How Much of a Difference Does Feeding Outside the Cage Make?

The first thought that comes to my mind on this topic is "does it truly make a difference whether a snake is fed inside or outside its enclosure? Many snakes I have, and have had, are/were quite well acclimated to their permanent housing, and thus possess (or possessed) strong, healthy, and reliable feeding responses. This in of itself can oftentimes be mistaken for actual defensiveness, particularly by novices to the hobby, who might therefore believe that feeding outside the cage is the remedy to this perceived issue. Regardless, many of these particular animals I mentioned previously will possess the same feeding response whether fed inside or outside their cages. Some snakes I have had were on the opposite side of the spectrum as well, of which were relatively shy, wary, or nervous animals that would probably not place themselves in a vulnerable position (such as feeding) to predators or other perceived threats when they are already stressed by the process of having been removed from the cage and placed into another cage or container. Therefore, feeding those particular animals outside of the cage would be far more of a detriment than anything else.

In my opinion, even those animals that do display strong feeding responses (including the large constrictors) can be dealt with rather quickly and easily through the use of simple "hook training" which simply involves cancelling out any feeding response the animal might have when opening the cage by lightly touching the animal's head or fore body a few times until the animal withdraws its head. Similarly, I have also had success with this technique on over eager ball pythons and other smaller snakes with the use of a pair of tongs or hemostats. Once this initial feeding response has been cancelled out, it is easy to then reach in and pick your animal up with little to no fear of a subsequent feeding response bite. In essence, I believe that knowing the general disposition and habits of the individual animal in question, and subsequently knowing what works best for you in successfully keeping and handling that animal largely renders this topic a non issue.

Making Feeding More Complicated Than it Needs to Be

The second thought that comes to my mind is obviously having a sufficient number of spare cages and/or containers to feed your snakes in, should you choose to adopt this method of feeding, and therefore having to clean and disinfect each of those cages or containers after each time they are used to prevent contamination. Simply put, while this may not be a significant issue if you are maintaining only one to a few snakes, imagine having sufficient amounts of time, energy, space, and one or more spare sets of caging/housing for each snake when you are maintaining a large collection of dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of animals. Imagine having to transfer each snake back and forth between its primary and 'feeding" enclosure on a weekly basis, or whatever your particular feeding regime may happen to be. Obviously, these matters are even further complicated when having to do this if you maintain any number of the larger adult constrictors (Anacondas, Burms, Retics, or Afrocks). As one would quickly imagine, this method of feeding becomes a largely inefficient, impractical, and sometimes difficult practice for most, if not all of these keepers with mid sized to large collections of animals.

Another solution, in many cases, to solving this "cage aggression" issue, whether it is actual or perceived, is a simple one. It simply involves opening and reaching into the cage for reasons other than feeding on a regular basis, including for water changing, misting, spot cleaning, and/or handling of the animal. Nevertheless, these are all basic chores and responsibilities that any responsible pet owner or herpetoculturist should be assuming anyway. With this information said, and in consideration, it can not be possible for a snake to come to associate the cage opening with any one specific event (such as feeding).

To conclude, as with many other matters relating to the herpetoculture hobby, there is often a multitude of different methods and approaches to many different aspects in the herpetocultural hobby and industry utilized by many different participants in the said industry/hobby. The methods someone else employs in maintaining their animals may not necessarily be how I do so with mine, and vice versa. This is therefore not to say that feeding outside the cage is necessarily the incorrect or wrong way of feeding your animals, but is rather a largely unnecessary practice that need not be presented as the "sacred method of feeding snakes".

With that said, have a happy, safe, and enjoyable 2011 everyone!