Won't eat Petco rats?

[vanlaz0r]

My adult female is a usually a good eater. I've only had her a couple months and she's been eating live rats. She has refused twice out of a good 7 or 8 feedings and only when I got a rat from Petco as opposed to my local pet shop. Has anyone else experienced this?

[vangarret2000]

Most likely just pure coincidence. Could be something in the stock but I doubt it.

There are some people that believe their snakes only prefer certain colored rats but that is just ridiculous.

[dr del]

Hi,

It's possible that the rats from one of the sources is a little less "fresh" than the other or has been partially defrosted and allowed to start decomposition.

On the different colour theory I don't have any that care at the moment but I often wondered if the colour of the rodents coat changed how the external heat was retained or similar.

[vangarret2000]

Hi,

It's possible that the rats from one of the sources is a little less "fresh" than the other or has been partially defrosted and allowed to start decomposition.

On the different colour theory I don't have any that care at the moment but I often wondered if the colour of the rodents coat changed how the external heat was retained or similar.

He said he has been feeding live.

[bad-one]

If it's live food I'd either say coincidence or perhaps the rats (likely being on different diets) have a different odor?

[Reptile Frenzy]

Most likely just pure coincidence. Could be something in the stock but I doubt it.

There are some people that believe their snakes only prefer certain colored rats but that is just ridiculous.

I have an albino male adult that will only eat a albino male rat. So the perference is there. Not saying he can see white but i bet it has to do with the heat signature and the male part is probably because the male has a higher scent because they piss and crap more often then the females.

[WarriorPrincess90]

I have an adult male that will only eat white mice. No matter what I do, he won't touch anything but a white mouse. I had a bunch of fancy mice I was breeding, largely to feed him, but he wouldn't touch them because they were multi colored. Lol. The preference exists.

As to the petco rat, maybe it has something to do with the bedding they keep the rats on in their racks or something? Maybe they smell funny? *shrug*

[stloria]

One of mine will only eat white females. We've tried other colors and males, but he won't touch them. I don't know why. So, it's a process when it comes to feeding him. Luckily the others don't care. I have had issues with several of mine eating the pre-packaged frozen from petco or pet smart, which were gotten as a "crap last minute" purchase, they refuse to even sniff them more than once. But since you are feeding live, it very well could be their diet or bedding that gives off a peculiar scent.