Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just received 2 mandarins that don't want to eat. Possibe wild caught. Any tips out there? Greatly appreciated.

Can you give details of your setup? Hopefully they are not wild caught. Wild caught asians are never a good idea.

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Randy Whittington

If JUST received, they could be just stressed from shipping and need a couple of days to chill out. I kept a pair of WC mandarins ONCE, and they did not do well at all. I believe they need to be kept cooler than say a corn or NA ratsnake and probably a decent moist burrowing area. I kept mine on sphagnum moss and kept a portion moist in their cages. I heard the WC respond best to pinky rats and button quail. Set them optimally as suggested on this forum and elsewhere, and let them chill for a few days. Then try different prey.

How big are your mandarins?
One proven way to get newborn refusers to eat is to cool them down, for several weeks. Warm them up and most start feeding.

Tomorrow I'll get a adult CB pair to jion my single male, which I feed exclusivly on newborn ratpups or pinkies.

Can you post pictures of the 2 animals?

What's the history from the breeder/dealer? If they are WC animals, then isolated, cool and undisturbed for a long period of time is what you must be ready to experience. If they are WC, then it isn't recommeded that you treat them. They may have parasites but WC mandarins are very susceptible to treatment regimes and usually die (stress related as well as flora within the gut being disrupted). Do not overfeed, as it has been said (I'll have to dig out what little info I have on it) they can suffer from fatty liver disease. Generally, smaller meals are recommended. Once you learn how they react to the setup and if it works for them, they should eat. All of my mandarins eat f/t now and just have to be placed in the cage.

I realize my pics show aspen but don't keep them on aspen unless you compensate for humidity levels (ie. moss box). Aspen dehydrates the animals but if they have another alternative, it is okay. Cypress mulch is recommended, especially to achieve that status quo.

Now for the family secret, LOL. After several years of digging and researching, I've found a cure-all for picky feeders, especially mandarins. Peromyscus mice (deer mice) have a different scent and are smaller. My experiences only, I've never had a mandarin refuse to eat a peromyscus prey when optimal conditions are present. This means if everything else is status quo and they still won't take the lab strain of mice, try peromyscus. They are difficult to come by. I maintain a colony and use them for all picky animals (in the past for syspila and pyros come to mind).

Hope this helps and just offering up some suggestions that work/worked for me.

Take care

I have some adult Mandarins, and produce a few babies every year, but I have never seen anyhting like that last baby !

Any background info you would like to share ?

Thanks for all of those photos Randy.