Is black(or other color) frozen rat normal?

[alice40604345]

Hello guys! I bought some frozen rats online. Most of them are white, but a few weaned size rats are black. May I know is it normal and are the black ones also captive bred? The smaller size rats or mouses I bought were always pure white. I also saw some rats with different color like brown head or something from reptile expo in the past, are all these normal? Why they have different colors? And where do you guys buy frozen rats online? May I have some recommendation or warning? Thank you so much!

[Bogertophis]

I used to have black rats that were pets, many years before I got into snakes, & yes, I've bred not only "hooded" but all black or gray rats too. Domestic rats
come in other colors besides white...they can also be a pretty beige/tan or agouti (a mix of brown & gray with black guard hairs). I actually* prefer rats that
aren't white (in terms of appearance or if I wanted a pet) but I've never had snakes that cared one bit. I've heard some BPs can be picky about this...most
likely it has to do with being fed live, getting bit by a rat & then associating the color of the rat that it got bit by as "undesirable" & something to fear. (Thank
you for not feeding live! Rats are intelligent animals, they can & do make excellent trainable pets.) So don't worry about the color of your feeder rats.

*I prefer more natural-looking rodents...white is not natural in wild rats as you realized, but all the coat variations in rats have been around for many years.
There are also Rex rats (curly coated) & Dumbo rats (ears set lower on the head like an elephant). I also breed domestic mice, again, in ALL colors including black, & have for decades. I keep very few white mice, the others are usually healthier & more vigorous.

[Jakethesnake69]

Frozen rats are available through a few places. I am aware of Perfect Prey, Big Cheese and ColdBlooded Cafe. Big cheese is my go too. $29 flat rate on shipping and I have been happy with them. Never bought from Perfect Prey however they are respected on this site. Cold Blooded looks great, good prices but only ship on Monday for my local. My timing and needs have not lined up.
I know there are several more and some one will chime in, I’m sure.
Rat color has not been an issue however I have switched over to F/T as soon as I could with my snakes and when live I had a few color variations that really did not become an issue. Usually swallowed down in minutes of offering.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Rat have different coat colors http://www.afrma.org/fancyrm.htm just like with snakes those paint job are genetic so it all depends on the breeding stocks the breeder has.

For example I produce Albino, self beige, self agouti, self black , beige hooded, black hooded, agouti hooded, and many comes in dumbo version as well.

In other words a rat is a rat is a rat regardless of the color.

[Bogertophis]

...In other words a rat is a rat is a rat regardless of the color.

I think the OP was mostly worried that black rats were wild caught & potentially contaminated & carrying unknown parasites & pathogens, which is a valid concern.
I really can't imagine anyone running a business of supplying feeders by catching wild rats...

[luckydoll]

Frozen rats are available through a few places. I am aware of Perfect Prey, Big Cheese and ColdBlooded Cafe. Big cheese is my go too. $29 flat rate on shipping and I have been happy with them. Never bought from Perfect Prey however they are respected on this site. Cold Blooded looks great, good prices but only ship on Monday for my local. My timing and needs have not lined up.
I know there are several more and some one will chime in, I’m sure.
Rat color has not been an issue however I have switched over to F/T as soon as I could with my snakes and when live I had a few color variations that really did not become an issue. Usually swallowed down in minutes of offering.

I second Perfect Prey being a good place to purchase from. I can't vouch for their rats, but the mice I got from them were all uniform in size and didn't have any feces stuck on them. (I don't know if that is a normal occurrence, but the mice I bought from a reptile expo had feces and pee frozen onto them.) They also have really good customer service and helped me when Fedex caused a shipping error.

[alice40604345]

I used to have black rats that were pets, many years before I got into snakes, & yes, I've bred not only "hooded" but all black or gray rats too. Domestic rats
come in other colors besides white...they can also be a pretty beige/tan or agouti (a mix of brown & gray with black guard hairs). I actually* prefer rats that
aren't white (in terms of appearance or if I wanted a pet) but I've never had snakes that cared one bit. I've heard some BPs can be picky about this...most
likely it has to do with being fed live, getting bit by a rat & then associating the color of the rat that it got bit by as "undesirable" & something to fear. (Thank
you for not feeding live! Rats are intelligent animals, they can & do make excellent trainable pets.) So don't worry about the color of your feeder rats.

*I prefer more natural-looking rodents...white is not natural in wild rats as you realized, but all the coat variations in rats have been around for many years.
There are also Rex rats (curly coated) & Dumbo rats (ears set lower on the head like an elephant). I also breed domestic mice, again, in ALL colors including black, & have for decades. I keep very few white mice, the others are usually healthier & more vigorous.

Thank you so much lol!!! I was so surprised when I find a pure black one inside the white rats bag lol!!! It seems so interesting to me that there are actually so many colors!!!

[alice40604345]

Frozen rats are available through a few places. I am aware of Perfect Prey, Big Cheese and ColdBlooded Cafe. Big cheese is my go too. $29 flat rate on shipping and I have been happy with them. Never bought from Perfect Prey however they are respected on this site. Cold Blooded looks great, good prices but only ship on Monday for my local. My timing and needs have not lined up.
I know there are several more and some one will chime in, I’m sure.
Rat color has not been an issue however I have switched over to F/T as soon as I could with my snakes and when live I had a few color variations that really did not become an issue. Usually swallowed down in minutes of offering.

Thank you so much! I'll check all their websites!

[alice40604345]

Rat have different coat colors http://www.afrma.org/fancyrm.htm just like with snakes those paint job are genetic so it all depends on the breeding stocks the breeder has.

For example I produce Albino, self beige, self agouti, self black , beige hooded, black hooded, agouti hooded, and many comes in dumbo version as well.

In other words a rat is a rat is a rat regardless of the color.

Wow that's so interesting!! I'm looking at the pictures of this website haha! I never know that there're so many kinds of rats

[alice40604345]

I think the OP was mostly worried that black rats were wild caught & potentially contaminated & carrying unknown parasites & pathogens, which is a valid concern.
I really can't imagine anyone running a business of supplying feeders by catching wild rats...

Hahahaha yeah!!! I know it's almost impossible that people will catch a wild one to sell but ... I know it seems stupid but ...I just can't stop worrying what if it is....and thinking why there's a pure black one while everyone else is white lol? Then I told myself I have to ask it here to eliminate my concern before I fed this black one! And I today I find that I almost run out of rats of this size except for the black one and probably two others lol!