I keep them. They can be a little delicate compared to your typical North American rat snake. They eat smaller meals, prefer cooler temps and higher humidity than N.A. rats. Mine have varied in temperament from somewhat defensive (tail rattling and occasional strikes or musking) to timid. They tend to hide most of the time, which is fine with me. I don't handle mine very often because it can disrupt their feeding if they're disturbed too much. I keep them in a quiet area in my room, in the coolest tubs in the rack.

You can google care sheets for them, and search for some of the previous posts on the Rat Snakes and Asian/European Rat Snakes forums as there have been some good discussions about them in the past.

As a previous poster said- wild caught have a high mortality rate and are very difficult to acclimate. Captive bred are definitely the way to go if you want to have a Mandarin for years to come.





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Lora

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