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Quite a few posters below have made reference to their captives prefering a certain color rodent over another!

I remember seeing a scientific show detaling how snakes cannot tell one color rodent from another.

We are talking colors here, not scent or species of rodents!

What proof can be brought forward to this claim?

Thanks

Melissa Kerstan

Tho snakes do not have the cones (or is it rods) to determine color they can tell light from dark - just as you can tell the difference between colors on a black and white TV. Snakes don't have great eyesight so that may be why they would prefer a food item that is easier to see, or it may have some other conotation. But the fact remains there are snakes that prefer dark some that prefer light and some that don't care.
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Tosha

"Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed." Don Wood

"Of course, that's only my opinion...and I believe I am God." =) Chris Bianco

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A little white mouse is offered several times nothing.
A little dark mouse offered bam!
Therefore some prefer dark.
Also night time for picky eaters.
Each animal prefer different things like we do. Plain old fat any color rat on the BBQ for me!
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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
Proud sponsor of this forum

scientific studies, over the 30 years I have been dealing with reptiles, I have learned a few things - some by luck, some by practice. I have performed several experiments to get animals to feed. One of them is the use of different colored animals.

Example 1:
WC adult female would not eat anything given to her. I tried white mice and white rats for about 8 months. Next, I try a brown hamster and it was hit instantly. Well, hamsters are expensive, so I go back to a white rat. No interest. Now back to another brown hamster and again it was hit instantly. At this point, I form a question: is it the scent or the color. I take a white rat and put it in hamster shavings for one day and put it back in the cage. Nothing. Next, I put a black rat into the cage and BAM! It's hit. I performed this same experiment several times with the same results.

Example 2:
I have a CB adult female that fed all her life on white mice. I only feed rats so I give that a try. Nothing, no interest. So I go back to the mice. After a while, all I could get were the fancy mice (multi-colored). She would not touch them. I went back to white mice and like clockwork, she took them. Just to test my theory, I gave her one white mouse which she quickly ate. Followed by a brown mouse that she ignored. After an hour or so I replaced the brown mouse with a white mouse and it was hit almost instantly.

Does color matter? You bet it does. Many animals are "color blind" but this does not mean they cannot tell the difference between shades.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

mine prefered to start off with dark hoppers......they can see them better with the clear /opaque tubs and the newspaper which is fairly light.....

I have heard other people saying their babies started with white only........I don't know if they have used dark mulch or not..

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balls see alot of reflections with white mice....especially in glass tanks..........they hit the tank alot of times........

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smell plays a part too........some people have more stinky mice than others..how often they clean..,,,what kind of pine bedding or aspen........what food.....dog food ?....lab chow with animal fat for protein?.soybeans proteins?..fish proteins.....it all matters at times....

usually...good balls eat any rat or mouse they can get........
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wow.....did you think of that all by yourself?.....
better take a break ................

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off using them. The BPs I have run across that prefer colored animals are WC adults or sub-adults. Once you get hatchlings feeding on white mice or white rats, it should not be an issue.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

I can get any color I wnt......

grey isn't dark......

and the ones we are talking about are not sub-adults.they eat whatever..and they are not African crap..they are Pa born balls.....and they liked dark (brown or black)......

(* yes the one was an Africanite)....not mine...yet my mouse...

anyways.......

use whatever........whatever you like.......

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wow.....did you think of that all by yourself?.....
better take a break ................