Moorish Viper — Fact Sheet

Daboia mauritanica · Moorish 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 180 × 80 × 70 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: 31-33 °C
• Warm zone: 24-28 °C
• Cool zone: 21-24 °C
• Night: 18-22 °C

🐁 Feeding

Established adults can take appropriately sized thawed whole rodents. Begin with a modest mouse or small rat no wider than the thickest body section; the large head does not justify oversized meals. Juveniles need smaller meals, usually every 7-10 days, with the breeder’s feeding record retained.

The table gives an initial adult feeding interval of 14-21 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 under the accepted name or relevant older combinations.

Bern Convention scope needs care: Appendix III covers reptiles not in Appendix II, but the historical Vipera lebetina entry in Appendix II complicates interpretation of old mauritanica records. The precise treaty treatment remains uncertain; obtain the competent authority’s interpretation where the treaty applies.

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

Venom can cause severe swelling, tissue injury, bleeding and disturbed clotting, with systemic illness. Experimental antivenom results differ between products and venom samples; a regional product label does not prove adequate protection for a particular animal.

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.