Stupid eating question for my spider

[stlsteelersfan]

I have been having trouble where she would strike at the food several times and then finally go away from food. It started when I tried a small rat pup she ate great before that time. It was a greyish dark pup. I tried again a week or so later same thing for 2 weeks except she was now doing this on a greyish mouse. And then I remembered the reptile store I get my live mice from usually always have just white and that is what she was eating and was started on since birth.
So I went down to store and got a large white mouse. and It worked she ate it. I just tried again and she ate it again. Is it possible for her not to like the color of grey or dark toward black? Could the rat pup messed with her mind and now she associates everything bad with this color I thought snakes were color blind. Or am I just crazy??

[Moofins07]

Most often, color won't matter in prey, moreso the prey SIZE. But ball pythons are notorious for being selective. She could have very well decided she likes white-only prey. Your guess is as good as mine, so good luck, and I hope she keeps eating!

[singingtothewheat]

I have an A.T.B. who ignores all prey items that are not white. He most prefers female white mice.

[adam_degel]

i'm sure she just prefers mice over rats.. actual coloring would be a longshot.. but i would say not to give in and keep trying rat pups.. mice would eventually just get more expensive as she gets older and bigger!

[angllady2]

I have seen this happen.

I had a monsterous female BP, and since I didn't know any better I always fed her mice. Since the pet shop people knew they were food, they always gave me the white ones, so the colored could be sold for pets.

Well, after about a year of nothing but white mice, I brought home a few dark colored ones because that was all they had. She wouldn't touch them. I know she recognized them as food by smell, she'd chase them around hitting them with her nose, but never strike. She was waiting for the "real" mice. I finally fed hers to my male, went to a different store and got white, she hit them so hard it was scary.

I tried this several times as a sort of test. White mice were food, colored mice were not, period. She did eventually take a pied mouse, she decided it was pretty close to all white. But no matter how long she went without food, she would not touch a colored mouse.

When she went to her new home and was switched to rats, same thing. White ones are food, colored are not.

Gale

[seeya205]

Try a white rat pup! After she them well then try ones that just have a spot of colour and then work your way up to more and more colour! That way she will learn to take all colours! Good luck!

[mpkeelee]

rats are better but if ur BP prefers mice, and it sounds like he/she does, then feed him/her an appropriate amount of mice at each feeding. u can try to trick him/her into eating a rat my scenting the rat like a mouse