Congratulations! They’re beautiful snakes!

My husband has a Vietnamese Blue Beauty, which is a related old-world rat snake, and a Stinking Goddess/Keeled ratsnake. They do better with lower ambient temps than a lot of snakes, but do still need their hot spot. When the VBB was little he spent a lot of time burrowed and/or in his hides, but once he got some growth he started coming out a lot more. Now he uses all of his 2’ x 4’ x 3’ tall enclosure. It’s decorated with artificial vines and has some quiet corners created by his PVC jungle gym and the vines, so he doesn’t bother with hides. And he’s become quite the busybody, often at the door watching what’s going on in the room. I expect much the same from your Mandarin rat.

The old-world rats can be feisty, but with regular steady handling they’re better. My husband’s VBB has not gotten as much handling as we’d like (changes in work/life, alas), and when he was out last night he was doing quite the threat display - open mouth, rattling tail, lateral compression, but wasn’t really aggressive.




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