even though the actual amount of ethanol consumed would suggest otherwise. These authors (Leeman et al., 2010) note that the use of a limited access procedure may mitigate some of these effects. In addition, an understanding of a particular rat line’s drinking pattern would facilitate developing methodology to reduce the role of dietary confounds. Evaluating the drinking/licking pattern of P and HAD rats (Bell et al., 2006; R. Dhaher personal communication, respectively) confirms the influence of initiating ethanol access at the beginning of the dark cycle. Note that peak ethanol intake in P rats when using a scheduled-access drinking-in-the-dark procedure is the first hour of dark (Bell et al., 2011), whereas peak ethanol intake is three to 4 h into the dark cycle when testing mice (Rhodes et al., 2005; Crabbe et al., 2009). Leeman et al. (2010) also point out that it is becoming increasingly clear that individual differences in a subject’s propensity to drink “too much too fast” or “too much too often” need to be factored into individualized treatment strategies and the development of animal models of alcoholism. The drinking-in-the-dark scheduled access (e.g., Bell et al., 2011; Crabbe et al., 2009) and alcohol deprivation effect (c.f., Rodd
