Sahara Sand Viper — Fact Sheet

Cerastes vipera · Sahara Sand Viper

Full care guide

Provisional active-season targets; read the guide for evidence, seasonal restrictions and breeding uncertainties.

📋 Quick reference

🌿 Enclosure and decoration

Use at least the practical 80 × 45 × 45 cm layout in the table and allow the snake to stretch fully. Check door gaps, vents and cable holes against the smallest animal housed. Fix rocks directly to the enclosure base so excavation cannot undermine them; retain clear sightlines to shift doors. Avoid sharp gravel, aromatic wood and unstable piles. Remove waste after securing the snake.

🌡️ Heating and temperature

• Basking spot: 32-35 °C
• Warm zone: 25-29 °C
• Cool zone: 22-25 °C
• Night: 20-23 °C

🐁 Feeding

Field studies identify lizards as important prey. Purchase only an animal with a documented, sustainable feeding history; acceptance of thawed small rodents must be demonstrated rather than assumed. Use very small whole prey matched to body width. A juvenile may require meals about every 5-7 days under a specialist protocol. Do not collect wild lizards or attempt home force-feeding.

The table gives an initial adult feeding interval of 10-14 days; adjust portions and timing to weight trend and condition. Deliver food through the collection’s protected feeding system. Avoid live rodents and substrate-coated food; dehydration, low temperatures and oversized meals increase regurgitation and impaction concerns. Whole prey normally needs no routine calcium or vitamin dusting. Do not improvise supplementation or force-feeding.

⚖️ Legal status

No CITES or specific EU wildlife-trade annex listing was found. The synonym Cerastes boehmei does not establish a separate legal exemption.

Bern Convention Appendix III covers reptiles not in Appendix II. Application depends on the contracting state and its implementing law.

Legal review: 17 September 2026. National capture, possession, registration, breeding, sale and transport rules may be stricter. Verify permits before transfer and keep invoices, breeder identity, parentage and import records. Trade status does not itself authorize keeping a venomous snake.

☠️ Venom

A bite remains medically significant despite the snake’s size. Pain, swelling, tissue injury and coagulation disturbances are possible; a small puncture or initially mild symptoms cannot establish safety. Clinical species-specific evidence is limited, so a receiving hospital must assess antivenom suitability rather than relying on a congener’s treatment.

Treat every bite as an emergency, including an apparently dry bite. Move away, call emergency services, keep the person still, remove rings and support the limb without compression. Do not cut, suck, ice or tourniquet the wound, and do not catch the snake. Follow poison-centre instructions. Agree a receiving hospital and antivenom access before acquisition; treatment belongs in hospital.

🩺 Common problems

• Overheating: repeated escape attempts or unusual exposed resting require immediate measurement of the cool retreat.
• Dysecdysis and dehydration: review drinking access and the moist refuge; repeated problems need veterinary assessment.
• Respiratory infection or stomatitis: wheezing, bubbles or oral discharge require prompt professional care.
• Dermatitis, impaction, obesity and parasites: dirty wet bedding, substrate ingestion, excessive feeding or persistent weight loss need correction and diagnosis. Do not use automatic deworming or home restraint.