Imprinting?

[Crawly's Mom]

Hey guys, I was talking to my husband this weekend about the snakes and in particular about Crawly. I have been having some issues with her and feeding, but not with any of the others.

The first week I fed, I fed her a mouse fuzzy, which she stuck immediately and gobbled down.

Second week, I tried a rat fuzzy, got absolutely no response.

Third week I tried a rat fuzzy again, she didn't strike, but I left it in her hide overnight and she ate.

Fourth week, rat fuzzy, again no response. Left the rat overnight, but she still did not eat it.

Fifth week, rat fuzzy, she struck immediately and gobbled it down.

This week rolls around, absolutely no response, left overnight, still she didn't eat.

Now I realize she has been eating every other week pretty consistently, however, I noticed a curious pattern in regard to her food. Every rat/mouse she has eaten has been white. The two I witnessed her strike and immediately devour were in fact solid white while the one she ate overnight was white with just a tiny bit of brow on its head. Could that be a coincidence?

My husband said he had heard of imprinting before, where an animal becomes used to a particular color or size of food and refuses anything else. Has anyone heard of that with snakes? Could she be favoring white rats or is this just a coincidence and she's more than likely just a slower eater?

[Skittles1101]

IMO, it can happen. Not sure if they see "color" or just shading, but I'm sure she's just being a picky ball python. I have one that will ONLY eat scented f/t rats, and another that seems to only like mostly white rats. If it's black or another color and not mostly white he'll stck his nose up at it. Not sure if it's imprinting or just coincidence. I suggest sticking to all white rats and not find out lol.

[Kinra]

She might be a slower eater, but I have heard of imprinting before.

My cinny strikes wildly at any rat that isn't white and will not eat it. >_<

I was talking with the owner of my local reptile store about it and he said he actually has/had (don't remember which) a customer who had a snake that would only eat male rats.

On that days she didn't eat were the rats white? If they were, then she's most likely just a slow eater.

[VEXER19]

Im not sure if its true, but I did read that some people think that color definately has an effect. I know some snakes prefer rats over mice or vice versa. So I could see the possibility with the color thing. But my BP doesnt care so I can personally say.

[Crawly's Mom]

The days she did not eat they were not white. The first was solid black, the second was a black head with the black jagged line down its back, then the third was black with a white belly.

I mean it could just be coincidence, but the ones she did eat were white and the ones she has snubbed have been a mixture of colors. Maybe I will just try feeding her nothing but white and see if she picks up a little on the feeding. I mean the worst that can happen is she snubs a white rat and then I know she's just a slow eater.

It just seemed odd that the solid whites she struck within 30 seconds, coiled, and had them down in about a minute. Which is so vastly different than her just up and refusing. :\

[snakesRkewl]

I feed blues, Siamese, blacks and Whites and mix it up all of the time.
Imprinting might happen over time but it if a snake is fed multiple colors early on I don't think there will be an issue.

The biggest case of imprinting seems to be over prey type.
I have asf eaters that won't touch a mouse or a rat and I have rat eaters that look at asf's like they were foreign objects, lol.

[meowmeowkazoo]

I think that color can have a definite impact. Some snakes don't seem to care, but others can get very picky about it.

[SnakeKittyFishy]

I must've lucked out, My 1.5 year old ball was eating all white mice for way too long until I found a place that has cheap rats. The first rat was brown and white and he took it no problem. I also got mice from the same place that were different colors and my 5mo girl took an all brown one no problem. I had been feeding her all white ones the whole time I had her.. I'm sure I'll run into a picky one someday though

[benwallage9]

When i worked at a pet store ppl would request certain colors of mice usually white but sometimes black. Because they're bp's simply would eat the other color. So ppl believed it was due to imprinting like you said and others thought they couldn't see the black ones because they wouldn't eat. Idk if either are true but bps only eating certain colors does seem to happen

[AK907]

Oh yeah, I've had some balls that would only eat certain genders and colors. Our first ball python, a rescue, would only eat white, female mice. She was a real PITA!