Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to get my usual feeder rats yesterday. The place doesn't have the greatest selection so I ended up coming out with a couple of the black rats instead of the white ones. When I got home and tried to feed one, my ball python seemed to have trouble recognizing it as a prey item. Has anyone else noticed identity problems? Not really a concern but just an observation. And my theory is the black ones are smarter too...never seen a rat dodge a strike so many times before.

Steve

Yes it's common to hear of snakes reacting to the rat color!
Usually it's the other way around though! I've heard that offering a stubborn ball python a dark brown or black rat can help get them eating....
Apparently it has something to do with that there's not many albino prey running around for food in their own....

I had one ball that only ate dark rats, which is annoying if you breed your own rats that are white!

I haven't done much research into snake eyes, but I'm assuming they can see in color? *looks it up* Can anyone confirm this as well?

Jessy
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1.0 gorgeous spider ball python
2.2 het for axanthic
5.20 normals
Blazingreptiles.comup & running!

I have a female who is even has "brand loyalty". She will only eat F/t mice FROM Petco.... GO figure! LOL
BRGDS,
A
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"There is a fine line between a hobby and mental illness"
COLD BLOOD.........WARM HEART

I thought they only sold snakes and not the mice or rats to feed them (go figure). Or is that petsmart? I'm 50% sure its petco though because of the rants on these boards

The petcos around here all sell live feeder mice, rats and also sell frozen feeder mice and rats in all sizes, and have for a few years now, it all has to do with the stores market, and the district managers,
thanks
tony butler

Thanks for informing me, i could have sworn I read something involving peta and petco or peta and petsmart... But then again thankyou for clearing it up, I think I knew they sold the "Mice On Ice" product but never knew about live.

PetsMart wont sell them. Dont sell snakes either though, or not that ive seen.

The petsmart my friend works for here in AZ is going to start selling corn snakes, ball pythons and frozen feeders as a test market, he said that petsmart is trying to accept rodent eating reptiles as normal pets
thanks
tony butler

I work part-time at a Petco store, taking care of the reptiles. They did recently make a deal with peta to raise the price of their live feeders in order to encourage feeding f/t, but they do still sell the live ones. Supposedly they will be trying to phase out live feeders all together over the next few years, but I'm not sure that it will happen. Petsmart does not sell snakes or feeders.
-Andrew Varela

PetSmart (most anyway) does not sell snakes, frozen rats (some are starting to carry frozen mice), or live feeders. ALSO IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD (stressing point, not yelling) NEVER say that you are buying life to feed out. At that point the PetSmart employee is not supposed to sell you the rodent. My wife has had to do that a couple of times because the person kept going on and on about how they were going to feed them out.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids