MY BP and the color of mice!

[Juxtaposition109]

Hello Everyone!,
Thank you for having this wonderful forum full of lots of knowledge about BP's. I have a strange question. I got my BP back in September and she has always eaten like a champ. She was born last August so she is still quite young. Anyway I have up to this point been feeding her small mice. The one's I buy in a pack are always white in color. She has grown a good bit so I bought a pack of medium sized mice and the sizing looked ok for her to eat. Anyway all of the mice that are in the medium size are brown. I tried to give her one the other day on the same schedule and with the same procedure I always have. She sniffed it a few times with her tongue but wouldn't take it. So I waited a day and tried again with another brown mouse and had the same result. I was getting a bit worried so I decided today to try one of the small white mice that I had left over from the before. No sooner than I had put the mouse in her tank with the forceps she snatched it and had it in the death grip and had gulped it down within a few minutes. So I'm wondering if the color of the mice is what made the difference or if it could be something else? I bought all the F/T mice at the same location. Thanks for the help everyone. Have a good day.

[bman123]

The only way to tell is have the same size mice in both colors. Try the brown one first then try the white one. I dont see why a snake would have a color preference tho...

[mr. s]

I have never had this problem myself, but from what I understand, YES, at times a bp will refuse food based solely on colour, (racist buggers).
I would recommend not pestering the snake into eating every day. If it misses up to a month, it will be perfectly ok. It would be worse if trying to feed it over and over made it stop eating all together. Just offer food as you normally do and see if missing a meal encourages it. Also, I have never heard this idea but perhaps try feeding when it is dimly lit in the enclosure? If it can't tell the colour very well, maybe it will eat!
Good luck.

[Reptile King]

I have fed my ball pythons a variety of colors. They don't care.

[ballpythonluvr]

I had a BP that would not eat white rats. He would only accept brown or black rats.

[alan1]

I had a BP that would not eat white rats. He would only accept brown or black rats.

agreed...
got 4 that wont touch white or beige rats
offer dark colours, immediate strikes !!!

[exiled reptile]

i use to have a snake that would only take black mice but as soon as i switched her to rats she didn't care anymore my buddy had 1 that would only take gerbils

[singingtothewheat]

I have an A.T.B. that will not and I mean WILL NOT eat anything but white mice. lol

[kc261]

I have heard stories of snakes that are picky about the color or even the sex of the rodents that they will eat. I even read once about someone who had a snake that would only eat after the prey item had been thawed, refrozen, and thawed a second time. The theory was that it smelled different because of the breakdown of tissues caused by the freezing/thawing processes.

None of my snakes have been so picky. I raise mice in a whole rainbow of colors, and I haven't noticed any color preferences in any of my snakes.

My theory is that even if a snake did become imprinted on a certain color of mouse, it would be pretty easy to convert the snake with a little tough love. I would think this sort of pickiness would be much easier to overcome than a snake who only wanted live, or who wanted mice but not rats, etc.

[seeya205]

Ya, it happens! I offer a variety of colours since mine were babies and never had this problem. Try going to get a brown and white one at the store and see if that works! You may have to but live and prekill it to get one of your chosing! Good luck!