Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was taking out some mice to put in the fridge to thaw for tomorrow's feedings, and opened a new package of fuzzies. One of the mice is black or dark gray! Is it possible a field mouse or something got mixed in there? Should I avoid giving it to my snake? It's just one mouse out of 50, and truthfully I'll probably toss it regardless, but I am curious about it...
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1.1 Florida Kingsnake
1.0 Kisatchie Cornsnake

There is no need for concern or to throw away the mouse. There may be more white mice that you see in frozen feeders overall, there are some that have dark gray or black hair, and there is nothing wrong with them. I have received them many times over the years among frozen feeders.

Take care!
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Genesis 1:1

good thing you don't use my feeders........blues,silkies,gold,mink,pearl,tans,yellows,long haired, brindles,black, black white ,any other color with white,siamese,and any other color they come in......

......white mice were usually used because......

if you have a lab full of mice and you are doing an experiment,,,and the lab techs feeding and doing the study have all kinds of colors...they will tend to separate one or more of their favorites to talk to or spend time with or whatever,....you know.pick a fav or special mouse......if they are all white......they all look alike and the lab people really won;t take a liking to any mouse in particular.....and they can just do their job,,experiments better....

...white mice are cool.and breed the best...but having all kinds of colors gives breeding them something more special to look at or do......I'll tend to have alot of blues and tans one time and maybe a different year (6 months) I'll keep extra males of a different color......it tends to help keep the line I have more un-inbred......I keep alot of color males and white females running in my tanks......it also helps when you have aggressive males that attack you ,,,you can grab him first when cleaning..............(I have ,over time, used calmer,non-aggressive males that don't bite me as much....they produce calmer male offspring.....but some lines will have males that are very protective and will attack .....

......labs/breeding facilities that have all white mice usually won't get any other colors ,ever , except white...so getting dark ones is odd....

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