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In just got my first mandarins. Any advice would be welcome. I have read whats available, but if anyone has experience,please share.


Not sure what that red is on the tail. Right after the photos, I moved him to his new enclosure. When I seen the photo, I went and looked at the snake, and couldnt see anything, so...
And the female


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SShane@
SSuperiorSSerpents
http://s63.photobucket.com/albums/h127/SSuperiorSSerpents/

Shane:
I waited to see if anyone wanted to chime in. Anyway, if you've read much about them then you've heard that they are shy, cool-loving and can be picky eaters. If your snakes are eating then stick with what the breeder was feeding them. If not then you'll have to try a number of choices. New born live pink mice is a good first choice. But they may not bite. Try frozen thawed, washed live, washed f/t, etc. Use all the usual feeding tricks. I have had very good success with live newborn dwarf hamster pinkies. But try finding a steady supply of those! If they just won't eat no matter what, then the advice for picky newborn mandarins who have not accepted any meals is to brumate them for the month of December and then wake them in January and try again. This has worked well in a number of cases.

As far as cage, I give them a bed of aspen shavings and a hide filled with moist sphagnum moss. I keep their cage cooler than most other snakes. Seventy degrees has worked for me with a warm spot no warmer than seventy five (if at all). They don't like a lot of movement so give them privacy and don't pull them out to look at them until they're well acclimated and feeding (an even then limit it to lofwer the snakes stress level).

Hope this helps
John

>>In just got my first mandarins. Any advice would be welcome. I have read whats available, but if anyone has experience,please share.
>>
>>
>>Not sure what that red is on the tail. Right after the photos, I moved him to his new enclosure. When I seen the photo, I went and looked at the snake, and couldnt see anything, so...
>>And the female
>>
>>
>>-----
>>SShane@
>>SSuperiorSSerpents
>>http://s63.photobucket.com/albums/h127/SSuperiorSSerpents/

Thanks John. I have almost everything right. I have the aspen, the moist moss hide, and semi-low temp. I can only get them to about 72-74. I read others have had luck with a little warmer temps. And I know the success rate of fertile eggs has proven better with cooler temps. I am gonna continue to work on this. Thanks again John
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SShane@
SSuperiorSSerpents
http://s63.photobucket.com/albums/h127/SSuperiorSSerpents/

John pretty much summed it up---one other note. If the hatchlings eat---leave them alone for 4 or 5 days. I've had them regurge just by gently sliding their box out of the rack to check on them. Babies can be very nervous.

Jeff C,