It would really be better for the moss to be damp rather than "wet", but yeah, Mandarin's do better in cooler, more humid environment than many other colubrids. HOWEVER...allowing for a small warmer area (say 80 or so) on one far end ONLY for them to thermoregulate as they see fit is always an optimum situation. The more choices they have at their disposal, the better in my opinion. As long as the heat source DOES NOT dry the air and lower the humidity. An under tank source would be best placed under just a small portion of one far end of it's enclosure. They are very secretive by nature so bright heat lamps wouldn't be good.



Also, in their cooler environment, they do best if not given huge meals that would be more easily digested in the cooler temps.



I owned an adult wild-caught import for many years a long time ago, and I found that the snake ALWAYS preferred smaller helpless prey rodents as opposed to larger ones that could walk around and defend themdelves. In about 12 years, this snake only killed and constricted ONE small adult mouse. All other meals were helpless rat pups or large mouse fuzzies left in a pile in the corner of the tank. Only when it was dark with nobody around would he forage and eat the entire pile alive.



No doubt a captive hatchling would learn to accept it's prey differently, but slightly smaller prey offerings are more natural, and a bit less often is more normal in a cooler environment as well because their metabolism isn't as high as a snake kept in the 80's would be.



Good luck with your Mandarin's, those are some very cool snakes!







~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"





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