Cage Aggression Due to Feeding Practices

[Jay_Bunny]

I was at work yesterday and one of my co-workers took the ball pythons out of their cage and took them into the back to feed them. While I was in the back and she was feeding (they actually ate for once, but I might add that later when I looked in the feeding log she had wrote down that she fed one of them 4 pinkies! Ugh!) I just said "Petsmart's way of feeding is so strange to me." She asked me what I meant and I mentioned that I fed in the cage. She then replies, "Oh no, you shouldn't do that. It makes them cage aggressive." I politely told her that no, that is a myth and whether you feed in the cage or outside the cage has no influence on cage aggression. She says, "I have to respectfully disagree." I then told her that I keep ball pythons and that I don't have any snakes that are cage aggressive BECAUSE I feed in the cage. I have one or two that are just cage aggressive anyway (Thriller my pastel, though he is improving a lot, and my corn snake who has been cage aggressive since day 1) She says, "Well then I think you are just lucky then." I told her that many breeders that I have spoken to do not experience cage aggression either even if they feed in the cage.

So I figured I'd take a poll here and see how many people actually experience ANY cage aggression. Please, please, please fill this out the way I write it because I want to compile all the data and possibly print it out to show my co-workers.

Hobbyist or Breeder:
# Snakes in Collection:
How often do you handle your snakes:
In cage/Outside of cage to feed?:
# of snakes with cage aggression:
F/T P/K or Live?:
Tank/Tub:

[PurplePython]

Hobbyist or Breeder: Steven (PurplePython)
# Snakes in Collection: 2
How often do you handle your snakes: 3-4 times a week each
In cage/Outside of cage to feed?: Inside cage
# of snakes with cage aggression: 0
F/T P/K or Live?: Live
Tank/Tub: Tanks currently

[Jay_Bunny]

Hobbyist or Breeder: Steven (PurplePython)
# Snakes in Collection: 2
How often do you handle your snakes: 3-4 times a week each
In cage/Outside of cage to feed?: Inside cage
# of snakes with cage aggression: 0
F/T P/K or Live?: Live
Tank/Tub: Tanks currently

Oops, guess I should have done that differently. Hobbyist or Breeder means are you just keeping snakes or do you breed them as well? Thanks for the reply!

[Jay_Bunny]

I was at work yesterday and one of my co-workers took the ball pythons out of their cage and took them into the back to feed them. While I was in the back and she was feeding (they actually ate for once, but I might add that later when I looked in the feeding log she had wrote down that she fed one of them 4 pinkies! Ugh!) I just said "Petsmart's way of feeding is so strange to me." She asked me what I meant and I mentioned that I fed in the cage. She then replies, "Oh no, you shouldn't do that. It makes them cage aggressive." I politely told her that no, that is a myth and whether you feed in the cage or outside the cage has no influence on cage aggression. She says, "I have to respectfully disagree." I then told her that I keep ball pythons and that I don't have any snakes that are cage aggressive BECAUSE I feed in the cage. I have one or two that are just cage aggressive anyway (Thriller my pastel, though he is improving a lot, and my corn snake who has been cage aggressive since day 1) She says, "Well then I think you are just lucky then." I told her that many breeders that I have spoken to do not experience cage aggression either even if they feed in the cage.

So I figured I'd take a poll here and see how many people actually experience ANY cage aggression. Please, please, please fill this out the way I write it because I want to compile all the data and possibly print it out to show my co-workers.

Hobbyist or Breeder:
# Snakes in Collection:
How often do you handle your snakes:
In cage/Outside of cage to feed?:
# of snakes with cage aggression:
F/T P/K or Live?:
Tank/Tub:

NOTICE: If you have multiple snakes and some get live, some get f/t, some get p/k, please make note of how many snakes get each. Also, adding a new question...

Mouse/Rat/Other: (please specify if other and if you feed both rats and mice and how many snakes get each)

[snakesRkewl]

Hobbyist or Breeder: Both
# Snakes in Collection: 17
How often do you handle your snakes: Daily for some, weekly for others
In cage/Outside of cage to feed?: Always feed in their own home.
# of snakes with cage aggression:None
F/T P/K or Live?: Live only Rats and asf's
Tank/Tub: Tubs

[PurplePython]

Oops, guess I should have done that differently. Hobbyist or Breeder means are you just keeping snakes or do you breed them as well? Thanks for the reply!

oops sorry. Just a hobbyist for now.

[Jay_Bunny]

Thank you both for participating. I hope I get many responses. If I get enough, who knows, maybe I might try and take on Petsmart's policies on how they house and feed their snakes.

[tosha]

Hobbyist or Breeder: hobbyist
# Snakes in Collection:2
How often do you handle your snakes:2-3 a week sometimes more/less
In cage/Outside of cage to feed?: outside
# of snakes with cage aggression: 0
F/T P/K or Live?: live
Tank/Tub:tank
the younger one(8 mths) is on med mice once a week, the older one(5 yr) is on med/lg rat once or twice a month

[wendhend]

I consider myself a hobbyist breeder. I do have a business, but it's just for fun. I a have over 60 snakes in my permanent collection. They are mostly corn snakes, but I do have eight ball pythons and a couple of boa constrictors. With that many snakes, the majority of them do not get handled daily, but most of them get handled at least once a week. For the most part, I prefer to feed outside of the cage, because it eliminates any mess that might end up in their cages and any chance of them injesting aspen shavings with their meals. However, half of my ball pythons, as well as one of my boa constrictors, are shy feeders, who just seem to eat more reliably if I allow them to eat in their cages. So they get special privileges. I use both tanks and rack tubs for housing. Out of all of my whole collection, I only have one snake that I consider to be aggressive. He is a yearling corn snake, who always eats outside of the cage. He strikes and bites whether food is involved or not.

[Jay_Bunny]

I consider myself a hobbyist breeder. I do have a business, but it's just for fun. I a have over 60 snakes in my permanent collection. They are mostly corn snakes, but I do have eight ball pythons and a couple of boa constrictors. With that many snakes, the majority of them do not get handled daily, but most of them get handled at least once a week. For the most part, I prefer to feed outside of the cage, because it eliminates any mess that might end up in their cages and any chance of them injesting aspen shavings with their meals. However, half of my ball pythons, as well as one of my boa constrictors, are shy feeders, who just seem to eat more reliably if I allow them to eat in their cages. So they get special privileges. I use both tanks and rack tubs for housing. Out of all of my whole collection, I only have one snake that I consider to be aggressive. He is a yearling corn snake, who always eats outside of the cage. He strikes and bites whether food is involved or not.

Do you feed F/T, P/K, or Live?
Do you feed Mice/Rats/Other? (if you feed more than one kind of feeder, how many eat mice, how many eat rats, and if you feed another kind, how many eat that.
And what % of your snakes live in tanks and what % live in tubs? (sorry but I'm collecting all sorts of data that "may" influence aggression.)

Thanks for replying!