Tips On Feeding Your Snake

Does your idea of feeding your pet snake consist of tossing some food in the tank every couple of days, closing the lid and walking away? Continue reading and you'll find that there is a lot more involved, and you may just pick up some useful tips to make your snake a lot happier.

It is best to start using the right techniques as early as you can with your snake, hopefully when they are still a baby. Although it may be tougher to instill the correct habits as the snake gets older it is not impossible. These methods will help keep you and your snake healthy and happy while avoiding any unnecessary accidents.

The first tip is to always use a separate container in which to feed your snake instead of its primary habitat. This will condition your snake to know that it doesn't get fed while in the main tank. Why do we do this? This method will help prevent accidental biting when you put your hand in the tank to pickup your pet snake. After years of dropping in its food, there is a chance that your snake may one day mistake your fingers for a frozen mouse when you reach in to pick him up and give you a nasty bite. If you train them to know they only feed after they have been removed from the cage and placed in the feeding enclosure, you limit this risk.

You can use a variety of things to use for the feeding area; it doesn't need to be a separate tank. You can use a cardboard box, a plastic storage, container, or any number of similar items. As long as it is large enough and tall enough walls, it should suffice for your needs.

The second tip is to always use a pair of snake feeding tongs. These are usually a long set of metal tongs and you can get them at most pet stores. These keep your fingers out of reach of your snake's mouth. You simply grab the frozen rodent by its hind quarters and lower it in front of your snake. You never want to offer your snake the back side of frozen mice first. The legs can splay out and cause difficulty in swallowing and even injury. When your snake eats the feeder head first, the legs fold back naturally, and this is the way they eat in the wild.

Those two tips should get you well on your way to creating good feeding habits for your pet snake. Creating these habits early will save you time and trouble in the long run.