My white rat experiment

[Smitty33]

Several months ago I posted about how my male BP Walter didn't like artic mice frozen rats and blamed it on them being stained with urine. I purchased a big bag of small frozen rats from my vendor a month or so again and it contained a mix of multi color and solid white rats so I decided to try and experiment.
All were de-thawed and warmed with blow dryer in exact same manner. Rat number 1 was a black and white one and he slammed and coiled it and ate it perfect. Next week rat number 2 was solid white. He came out of hide like he was going to strike but despite smelling all over it refused to strike but did it eat it about 20 minutes after leaving it in his cage with the light out. Rat number 3 was mostly white with a gray blotch on it's face. Walter came out of hide and slammed it and coiled without any hesitation.
So rat number 4 this last Saturday was supposed to be my final test to this experiment. Solid white rat de-thawed and heated just like the others and I go to feed him and he comes out of hide and he's in blue. He still would not strike but did eat it about 20 minutes after leaving it in tank with the light out. So he kind of screwed up my experiment by being in blue otherwise I would conclude it as proof he prefers multi colored rats over solid white ones.
I have plenty of both kinds of rats left in freezer so I guess once he sheds I continue my experiment and get a true result and post the results. I feel he definatly has a preference but with him screwing up my test just don't think I can actually prove it just yet.

[Ax01]

i haven't noticed a preference of color/sex for my BP's that take f/t. and for the ones that take live feeders - definitely no preference. they eat them all. it's funny when i go buy food for my snakes, they ask what color and sex. my local shop knows me, but when i stop by Petco sometimes - they're kinda shocked when i tell them it doesn't mater.

but i know BP's are picky. thank goodness mine are only picky about f//t vs. live.

anyway nice experiment. Walter seems to favor rats with color. u should also track the sex of the rats if u wanna go a step further. keep us updated on your findings.

[Bcycling]

About 25 years ago I had one that would only eat feeders that were more than 50 colored. If more than 50% was white he would refuse them. It didn't matter if they were live or frozen, he would only eat the darker ones. People thought I was nuts but it was the truth. Once I figured that out he are every time I fed him. I would always try white ones as I knew my other ball would eat them when he refused. He would come out and sniff them and then right back into his hide. It was kinda funny.

[Asherah]

I have one female that will not eat a rat that is mostly white, which is difficult because most of my lines tend to be high white. She slams colored rats, no matter the shade, so long as there is more color than white. A 50/50 animal is iffy.

I also have a female that will not touch anything but a live mouse. Not a scented rat, or ASF, not a F/T mouse/rat/ASF. It must be a live mouse. Gawd help you if you happen to decide to raise up ASF's in the mouse tank to scent them with mouse smell. It backfires and the mice become uneatable things tainted by the ASF smell and said picky snake refuses to eat until all traces of the vaguely popcorn-like ASF scent is gone. -_-

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

That is really interesting. I am happy i don't have that issue at all...mine just seem grateful to eat

[Reinz]

I have no problem believing these stories.

It's easy to be picky when you are well fed.

I don't really care for salmon, carrots, yams, or tea. But if I went a few days or a week without eating, I believe that I would love to consume that stuff!

My point is, if these picky snakes were on their own they would eat any rodents that come their way. That being said, there's another point as well.

[Smitty33]

I have one female that will not eat a rat that is mostly white, which is difficult because most of my lines tend to be high white. She slams colored rats, no matter the shade, so long as there is more color than white. A 50/50 animal is iffy.

I also have a female that will not touch anything but a live mouse. Not a scented rat, or ASF, not a F/T mouse/rat/ASF. It must be a live mouse. Gawd help you if you happen to decide to raise up ASF's in the mouse tank to scent them with mouse smell. It backfires and the mice become uneatable things tainted by the ASF smell and said picky snake refuses to eat until all traces of the vaguely popcorn-like ASF scent is gone. -_-

Mine will eventually eat them if I leave them in there so I guess that's ok as long as he eats. I did half expect him to not eat that one Saturday as blue as he was.

[Asherah]

Hey as long as he eats!

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[wolfy-hound]

I wonder if the darker rats are easier to see?

I've had the super picker eaters in the past and my ZsaZsa is notoriously picky, and generally only want brown mouse hoppers.

[LittleTreeGuy]

I have no problem believing these stories.

It's easy to be picky when you are well fed.

I don't really care for salmon, carrots, yams, or tea. But if I went a few days or a week without eating, I believe that I would love to consume that stuff!

My point is, if these picky snakes were on their own they would eat any rodents that come their way. That being said, there's another point as well.

A lot of truth to this. I remember being a kid... Didn't want to eat dinner because I didn't like what we were having. 8pm rolls around and i was hungry. My dinner plate that mom put aside was there for me before I could eat anything else. Believe it or not, I ate it. lol. Happened a few times.

This is very interesting though.. as I thought they only really cared about prey that had a heat signature and smelled good. it would be neat to see if you could offer a white one, and then there was a safe way to color the fur and re-offer the same prey to see if it made a difference?