Field’s Horned Viper — Fact Sheet

Pseudocerastes fieldi · Field’s Horned 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 120 × 60 × 60 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: 24-28 °C
• Cool zone: 21-24 °C
• Night: 18-22 °C

🐁 Feeding

Use thawed whole mice for an established rodent-feeding animal, with prey no wider than the body. Juveniles may be difficult to establish; obtain records of independent meals before transfer. A small meal every 7-10 days is a provisional juvenile schedule. Persistent refusal with weight loss requires a specialist, not home restraint or force-feeding.

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 listing was found, but EU Annex D covers Pseudocerastes species not already in Annex B. EU entry can therefore require an import notification even though CITES does not list this species. Confirm current paperwork before shipment.

The Bern Convention is not the principal trade framework for this wholly Asian native range; do not infer exemption from national protection.

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

Laboratory work identifies powerful presynaptic neurotoxicity, creating concern for weakness, paralysis and breathing failure. Limited local swelling would not rule out dangerous envenoming. Human clinical data are sparse and antivenom effectiveness must be assessed by a poison centre; do not extrapolate from P. persicus.

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.