Rin:
I posted this info earlier at your post on the main ratsnake forum but they deleted your post because it was a double.
Anyway, I keep the temps lower (about 72 F) with no hotspot. I have had success with washing live pinks with soap and water and rinsing thoroughly with clean water. I've also had success with newborn dwarf hamster pinks. If they don't eat by the end of fall you can give them a one month brumation in December and wake them up and try feeding them afterward. Finally if nothing else works I have used force feeding. I use mouse tails dipped in egg whites for easier swallowing.
Good luck
John
>>i have hatched 1.2mandarin ratsnakes. i find them reluctant to eat pinkies. Does anyone have some advice on starting baby mandarins. they are set up in shoe boxes on cypress mulch with a hide and water bowl.temps in high seventies to eighty degrees. Thanks. Rin