Feeding aggression

[Frustration]

Hey everyone...
...
just a quick question about feeding...
just having some trouble feeding my olive python, she tends to get a bit over excited when it comes to feeding time and strikes at everything that moves...
when there is no food around she i actually a lovely snake...
and i know when they get older they generally calm down, and i have no problem with her being aggressive...
just wondering if there are any tips you guys might have to make feeding her a little easier...
at the moment if she is in her hide i will quickly dangle the rat in front of her and she will take it no problem... other times when she is active it is much more of a dilemma and i struggle to get the rat in the cage without getting bitten. once she has the food she has no trouble eating...
any suggestions would be great...
at the moment i am using tweezers which are about 2 meters too short for my liking... and if she is active i just wait for her to look away and throw it in and then cover up her tank..
thanks cya

 

[Zoltag]

Dont feed her in her enclosure.

Take her out before you get the food out and put her in a clear plastic tub with an easy to remove lid (so you can get the lid off with one hand, but still secure it so she cant get out), then when you come to feed her, look into the tub to see which end she is at, open the other end and dangle the prey in, whilst keeping your hand outside the tub.

No need for feeding tongs, then

 

[Snakeman97404]

Sounds like my Olive a feeding machine.

 

[Frustration]

Thanks... that would make things a lot easier... would a click clack do the job, or should i get another tub?...
...
lol, absolute feeding machine, if i didnt stop feeding her, she wouldn't stop eating lol... i love it how she actually pushes the rat against the wall to get it down faster ... lol
...
thanks for the help

 

[ashisnothereman]

use tongs. its good fun dodging the blows anyways hehe

 

[Frustration]

yeah... its all good fun till she actually gets me... got me doing finger stretches four times a day to relieve the swollen tendons i have from her going to town on my knuckles ... lol

 

[JAS101]

use long tongs , or get a nice sized tile and toss the rat onto that .
my male coastal strikes at the glass when he smells the rat , i open the door half way and tong the rat in . his yet to get me doing it that way .

 

[Bez84]

For most my snakes i just hook out into a plastic tub and just drop in a defrosted rat and away they go, they learn that the tub means food so theres no need to dangle a rat in there face i just drop it in and they find it.
I do have a BHP that i feed in its enclosure it has an insane feeding response that lasts up to 3 days after feeding so if i took it out of its enclosure to feed it be impossible to get it back in.

 

[longqi]

If you want to be able to handle this snake easily feed her outside her habitat

She will get used to the opening door being food and will strike at anything if you dont

It is fine to get tagged by a small olive
But not ok to get tagged when she is three metres long

Feeding outside their habitat lets them know their habitat is not their feeding place
Much better for both you and her

 

[Frustration]

im using feeding tongs at the moment that are just under 30cm long, which are the longest ones i could find...
its a rather small tank she is in though, so i dont have much room to play around with and most times when i try to open the glass she is right in my face, and she seems to be more worried about me then the food so even when i use the tongs she will still go for me first...
so i think i will try the tub idea... and she doest really care if its not moving so i will just drop it in and see how it goes...
so just a few more questions...
should i have a substrate in this tube...
and im a assuming a click clack should be fine...
...
thanks for all the help

 

[Londos1990]

I feed all mine in their enclosures and im yet to get bitten, it get close with the woma's tho, they are crazy at feed time, diamonds and my BHP are placid as when it comes to feeding..

 

[Aslan]

Feeding in her enclosure has nothing to do with this 'problem'...

...it has been stated that the Olive is FINE when no food is present - therefore, feeding in the enclosure has not conditioned the animal to strike each time the cage is accessed. On this point, if husbandry is adequate your cage should be opened far more often when food is NOT supplied than when food IS supplied - therefore conditioning is absurd...

I feed ALL my snakes in their enclosures with NO signs of aggression...

...what this snake is showing is a feeding response at the CORRECT times, when food is being supplied. THIS IS A GOOD THING...

Frustration - What you are seeing is not a problem, it is PERFECT Olive behaviour - Olives are fantastic, calm and placid captives - EXCEPT at food time, at food time they are LUNATICS...

This is standard behaviour for Olives, it goes hand in hand with keeping them...

I generally just lob my food item into the enclosure and let him go for it - in saying that - some long tongs prove helpful too

In my opinion it is part of the fun of keeping Olives, keeping on your toes around feed time...

 

[Frustration]

lol... well that does make sense..
thank you... well i will need to practice my lobbing, so i can hit the target from long range...
...
i just have one more query...
at the moment... handling her is fine and she is very calm and docile but once i return her to her enclosure she immediately becomes aggressive, not all the time, but most times... generally she calms down quickly but sometimes it may last almost an hour... im not sure what is causing this or if this is expected... it seems to be worst after i clean her tank other times its not so bad...
im just thinking maybe i should leave something in there that she recognizes or if this is just something to do with her age...

 

[Omgitschris]

i thought that young olives were such ferocious feeders was because they grow so quickly, so after they get to a decent size would they calm down ?
my boy loves his food and goes all out and after two rats is still looking for more - including hands

 

[JAS101]

if i fed any of my snakes outside of there enclosures i think id get tagged by everyone of them as i put them back in after a feed . i can hear pepole say use a hook to put them back in , my bhp is a handfull once his in hunt mode [ as are the rest of them] .

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

lol... well that does make sense..
thank you... well i will need to practice my lobbing, so i can hit the target from long range...
...
i just have one more query...
at the moment... handling her is fine and she is very calm and docile but once i return her to her enclosure she immediately becomes aggressive, not all the time, but most times... generally she calms down quickly but sometimes it may last almost an hour... im not sure what is causing this or if this is expected... it seems to be worst after i clean her tank other times its not so bad...
im just thinking maybe i should leave something in there that she recognizes or if this is just something to do with her age...

Second everything Aslan said.

Nothing about this situation is a problem, this is just normal snake keeping. Practice is what is required to get you past the getting bitten stage. I feed everyone in their cages, even the lunatics, I'm lucky if I get bitten once every 6 months anymore. All my animals know the difference between feeding time and not feeding time. Contrary to popular belief, snakes are not stupid. Keep using the tongs if it suits you, just work on timing and aim!

 

[Frustration]

Thanks for all the advice...
olives are a whole new level for me but i shall definitely enjoy the experience...
most of my other snakes are like well trained dogs... one of them doesnt even bother to constrict just gently comes up and opens its mouth and expects you to place it in...
but this has also happened once or twice with the olive which was a very pleasant surprise lol

 

[Bez84]

if i fed any of my snakes outside of there enclosures i think id get tagged by everyone of them as i put them back in after a feed . i can hear pepole say use a hook to put them back in , my bhp is a handfull once his in hunt mode [ as are the rest of them] .

Lol yeah im new to BHP's after keeping other pythons for so many years hooking an angry BHP is like trying to hook an eel.

 

[Jasspa]

I like what you said Aslan. It kind of puts it into perspective.
We aren't here to 'train' our snakes... They are doing everything they are supposed to do, it's us that have to be trained

 

[Aslan]

Thanks for all the advice...
olives are a whole new level for me but i shall definitely enjoy the experience...
most of my other snakes are like well trained dogs... one of them doesnt even bother to constrict just gently comes up and opens its mouth and expects you to place it in...
but this has also happened once or twice with the olive which was a very pleasant surprise lol

Frustration - I have some snakes that will only feed off the tongs, I have others that just want food, no matter how it is introduced (Olive and Womas - known for their appetites!). I enjoy feeding from the tongs, but lobbing a food item in and not having to do anything else makes an easy night of feeding with multiple animals...

...my Olive will glad take an item straight off the floor - doesnt mean you can be slack at food time though, he will still aim to smash anything moving near the enclosure WHILST you're introducing the food item - this is usually a hand!

As I say though, I love feeding him because I have to think about what I'm doing. Don't worry, failing to think about what you're doing is a self-correcting mistake...you won't do it twice in a row!

I like what you said Aslan. It kind of puts it into perspective.
We aren't here to 'train' our snakes... They are doing everything they are supposed to do, it's us that have to be trained

Jasspa - In my opinion this is certainly an important concept in maintaining a healthy collection - I keep snakes, I want them to act like snakes - that's WHY I keep them...