Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Black Rat only wants to eat black mice. She's about 3yrs old and this is a recent phenomenon. I will put a large white mouse in and she won't show much interest. But when I put in a black fuzzy (meant for my little Blue Beauty)she goes right for it. Once she gets the fuzzy, only then will she eat 2 white large mice. Lately I've been teasing her with the black fuzzy, but when she goes in, I quickly switch it with the white large mouse. Black mice are not as easy to come by as white mice. I just bought new stock at the White Plains Reptile Expo and Large were all white and crawlers were 50/50.

>>My Black Rat only wants to eat black mice. She's about 3yrs old and this is a recent phenomenon. I will put a large white mouse in and she won't show much interest. But when I put in a black fuzzy (meant for my little Blue Beauty)she goes right for it. Once she gets the fuzzy, only then will she eat 2 white large mice. Lately I've been teasing her with the black fuzzy, but when she goes in, I quickly switch it with the white large mouse. Black mice are not as easy to come by as white mice. I just bought new stock at the White Plains Reptile Expo and Large were all white and crawlers were 50/50.

I've had several that would completely refuse to eat black.
It's odd but for some reason, some just don't like a certain color....may be more involved then color but for our senses the only thing we detect is color

I hope this doesn't get deleted but try American Rodent...I get more black mice then white from them
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Corn snakes and rat snakes...No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

Color preferences amongst captive snakes is well documented, but, from your account, you haven't ruled out that it may be the immature mouse (scent) that sparks the feeding response.
.
Try an adult black mouse to see if it's targeting dark colors, or younger prey.
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I've had several animals that would key on one type of prey, but then take other types once the feeding mechanism is triggered.
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Regards, Bill McGighan

Thanks guys. I did have 1 large black mouse in my last batch and she gobbled it, so it's most likely a color thing. As for purchasing mice over the internet, I'm just a hobbyist with 2 Rats and 2 Corns which makes shipping charges cost prohibitive. From now on when I see my mouse guy, I'll ask him for a bag that has more blacks. Otherwise, Lucy will just have to become more diverse.

From your description, sounds like you do have an animal with color preference.

Two thoughts:

1. Your persistence can overcome this. (Remember these animals do less "thinking" of what they do and more "reacting to stimuli", often from genetic memories.

2. Food coloring at your local grocery is cheap! LOL

Good luck.
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Regards, Bill McGighan

I'll hope for #1 and if need be, I guess I'll give #2 a try. But if Al Sharpton starts protesting outside of my door, I'm sending him over to you. LOL!!

>>I'll hope for #1 and if need be, I guess I'll give #2 a try. But if Al Sharpton starts protesting outside of my door, I'm sending him over to you. LOL!!

That's funny! Is your Black Rat a wild caught, by the way? I had WC Speckled king many years ago, that didn't like white mice. I think it was just too strange for him. He would eat any darker colored mouse. Brown, gray, or black, but not white. Eventually he settled in and like you I would feed him one dark, then follow with white, and he came around to eating white eventually.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

No. She's a CB Leusistic. And I've had her for 2yrs and it's only been the last few months. She seemed to be refusing food for a while. One day last month I tried feeding her one of my VBB's fuzzies, thinking a smaller prey might spark interest and it worked. Now every time I feed her, I dangle a white large mouse in front of her for awhile and she shows little interest. As soon as I put in the black mouse she goes for it. At first, I too thought it might be a size thing (though she's 6ft now and even a large mouse in no big meal for her) but fortunately I had one black mouse in my large mice bag and she treated it like a fuzzy. Maybe I'll try switching her to rats, sense they are more likely to have a darker fur to them.

confusing frigging critters sometimes.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

even at just 4 snakes, it can be worth it. Even if something like rodent pro isn't practical, LLL will sale you 50 small rats for 130 including shipping (which is waht, 2.50 each), which beats the hell out of the 5 bucks each the pet store wants (at least mine wants 5 bucks for a small). Unless you're getting better deals, and the cost of rodents does seem to vary geographically.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

Thanks. But I don't buy mice from the pet store. Because, as you said, they are crazy expensive. I buy all my mice from a particular seller at the White Plains Expo. So 50 large mice and 25 crawlers just cost me $36. Add $25 for train costs and expo entrance and it's still saves a lot of money over buying over the internet. Plus, I get to go to the expo and see all the latest morphs. Saw two beautiful leusistic brazillian rainbow boas (which is a snake I used to be interested in), though at $10,000 and $5,000 I'm sure he still had them when he left. Looked at a moonglow boa, which is absolutely gorgeous.

if I could find a deal like that here for live (for my holdouts) I'd be all over it like white on rice >.< there's a guy in...Hereford I think...but he's like 120 miles away.

People don't bring the super high dollar morphs to the shows to sell them there; they bring 'emt o show 'em off and drum up business when people see what they got. The more serious/well heeled attendees may go home and look at their budget after seeing those leucies and start to think about buying a pair of hets or something. But I doubt people bring the 5,000 dollar snakes actually expecting them to sell on premise.
the rest of us apprecite just seeing 'em.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

Yeah, definately saw a lot of NFS snakes. Jaw dropped at the $28,000 ball python. But I do get a kick out of going to the expos. Just saw there's one in Edison, NJ in a couple of weeks and Philly in a couple more. It would be nice to go to an expo where most snakes aren't banned by law.

As for live, all they're allowed to sell at White Plains is pinkies. But I would never feed my snakes live for fear that they'd never go back to f/t. I live in NYC and the only live rodents you can get here are the ones in the subway.

>>even at just 4 snakes, it can be worth it. Even if something like rodent pro isn't practical, LLL will sale you 50 small rats for 130 including shipping (which is waht, 2.50 each), which beats the hell out of the 5 bucks each the pet store wants (at least mine wants 5 bucks for a small). Unless you're getting better deals, and the cost of rodents does seem to vary geographically.
>>-----

Wow, I read this and think how lucky I am. I am in central upstate NY. I sell my rodents. (only beasties here that pay for themselves and much of my reptile hobby in general) I sell smalls for $1 ea to my friends....$1.25-$1.50 for those that piss me off. Mediums for $1.75, larges $2.25 and $2.50 and jumbo monsters for $2.75-3
Not counting petsmart or petco I never see rats selling for more than $5.99 for larges- jumbos. Smalls are $3 max. I thought that was outrageous enough to raise my own. I could never live in NYC...for numerous reasons.
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Sonya

1.1 Candoia Paulson
2.2 Western Hognose
1.2 Mexican Black King
1.3 Greenish Ratsnake
1.1 Yellow Ratsnake
3.1 Everglades Ratsnake
2.1 Honduran Milksnake
0.1 Mexican Milksnake
1.1 Black Pinesnake
1.2 Sumatran Shortailed Python
1.3 Boa constrictor
2.2 Childrens Python
1.0 Irian Jaya Python
0.0.2 Timor Monitor
2.2 Mossy Leaftail Gecko
1.1 African Helmeted olivacea
0.1 Savannah Cat F7
1.1 Sugar Glider
Numerous Dogs, Cats, Birds, Fish pets and fosters
Husband
2.1 teens plus…..
You get the picture.

the corner independent petstore wants 12 bucks for a large.
Pinky mice are 1.50 there.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

"I sell smalls for $1 ea to my friends"

Can I be your friend?

Wow, I read this and think how lucky I am. I am in central upstate NY

Sonya you mind me asking where in upstate? I spent a lot of time in the Elmira area.

The pet shop I was getting pinky mice from wants $1.89/ea. and that's a break when buying in 10 lots.

Only reason I started breeding my own mice, despicable creatures. I love the rats though.

I get my frozen from American Rodent Supply. Good prices/quality and free shipping for orders over $100.00.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
0.3 P. c. sayi Kingsville X Stillwater red bulls
1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
1.2 D. corais Yellowtail Cribos
1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

The last bag of adult mice I got from ARS were all black.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
0.3 P. c. sayi Kingsville X Stillwater red bulls
1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
1.2 D. corais Yellowtail Cribos
1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

>>Wow, I read this and think how lucky I am. I am in central upstate NY
>>
>>Sonya you mind me asking where in upstate? I spent a lot of time in the Elmira area.
>>
>>The pet shop I was getting pinky mice from wants $1.89/ea. and that's a break when buying in 10 lots.
>>
>>Only reason I started breeding my own mice, despicable creatures. I love the rats though.
>>
>>I get my frozen from American Rodent Supply. Good prices/quality and free shipping for orders over $100.00.
>>-----
>>BigT
>>There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
>>1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
>>1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
>>2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
>>1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
>>0.3 P. c. sayi Kingsville X Stillwater red bulls
>>1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
>>1.2 D. corais Yellowtail Cribos
>>1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
>>2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
>>1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
>>0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
>>1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

Well then have you been to a meeting of our local herp club at City Zoo? I am in Horseheads. Dang, how do we not know each other?
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Sonya

1.1 Candoia Paulson
2.2 Western Hognose
1.2 Mexican Black King
1.3 Greenish Ratsnake
1.1 Yellow Ratsnake
3.1 Everglades Ratsnake
2.1 Honduran Milksnake
0.1 Mexican Milksnake
1.1 Black Pinesnake
1.2 Sumatran Shortailed Python
1.3 Boa constrictor
2.2 Childrens Python
1.0 Irian Jaya Python
0.0.2 Timor Monitor
2.2 Mossy Leaftail Gecko
1.1 African Helmeted olivacea
0.1 Savannah Cat F7
1.1 Sugar Glider
Numerous Dogs, Cats, Birds, Fish pets and fosters
Husband
2.1 teens plus…..
You get the picture.

Well then have you been to a meeting of our local herp club at City Zoo? I am in Horseheads. Dang, how do we not know each other?
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Sonya

Possibly because I don't live in that area anymore. I'm in central Illinois.

I lived in Elmira until 3rd grade then moved to NJ. There was a year I did at Horseheads High back in 1970. Then again I lived in the Heights and worked at my brother's music store in HH. in the late 70's. During that time I was in a band and we played a lot of the bars up in Corning. I haven't been back there in years since.

Small world. LMAO

Regardless of not living in the same area you do strike me as someone I would like to know better. I always enjoy your informative posts.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
0.3 P. c. sayi Kingsville X Stillwater red bulls
1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
1.2 D. corais Yellowtail Cribos
1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

>>Well then have you been to a meeting of our local herp club at City Zoo? I am in Horseheads. Dang, how do we not know each other?
>>-----
>>Sonya
>>
>>Possibly because I don't live in that area anymore. I'm in central Illinois.
>>
>>I lived in Elmira until 3rd grade then moved to NJ. There was a year I did at Horseheads High back in 1970. Then again I lived in the Heights and worked at my brother's music store in HH. in the late 70's. During that time I was in a band and we played a lot of the bars up in Corning. I haven't been back there in years since.
>>
>>Small world. LMAO
>>
>>Regardless of not living in the same area you do strike me as someone I would like to know better. I always enjoy your informative posts.
>>-----
>>BigT
>>There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
>>1.2 P. m. melanoleucus B/W N. J. Northern Pines
>>1.2 P. d. deppei Mexican Pines
>>2.2 P. l. lineaticollis Linis or Lined Pines
>>1.2 P. m. lodingi Black Pines
>>0.3 P. c. sayi Kingsville X Stillwater red bulls
>>1.1 Drymarchon melenurus Blacktail Cribo
>>1.2 D. corais Yellowtail Cribos
>>1.2 M. s. cheynei Jungle Carpet
>>2.6 L. p. pyromelana Arizona Mt. Kings
>>1.1 L. g. californiae B/W Cali kings
>>0.0.3 M. f. flagellum Eastern Coachwhips
>>1.2 G. m. bottegoi Western Plated lizards

Oh heck, here I was thinking we had a new member for our new and growing club.Someone with coolio herps...not Ball Pythons and Beardies. Oh well. I was hoping I had found a local Cribo breeder.
Not many know this area of the world. You mention Painted Post and Horseheads and someone wonders what drugs you are on.
The Rust Belt just doesn't entice like it used to. Unless you are a prison guard or a meth dealer.....anyway. Sigh. Definitely small world.
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Sonya

1.1 Candoia Paulson
2.2 Western Hognose
1.2 Mexican Black King
1.3 Greenish Ratsnake
1.1 Yellow Ratsnake
3.1 Everglades Ratsnake
2.1 Honduran Milksnake
0.1 Mexican Milksnake
1.1 Black Pinesnake
1.2 Sumatran Shortailed Python
1.3 Boa constrictor
2.2 Childrens Python
1.0 Irian Jaya Python
0.0.2 Timor Monitor
2.2 Mossy Leaftail Gecko
1.1 African Helmeted olivacea
0.1 Savannah Cat F7
1.1 Sugar Glider
Numerous Dogs, Cats, Birds, Fish pets and fosters
Husband
2.1 teens plus…..
You get the picture.

She went right for the white mouse. Let's hope she keeps this up and stops caring what color her dinner is.

>>She went right for the white mouse. Let's hope she keeps this up and stops caring what color her dinner is.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa