Ethiopian Mountain Adder — Fact Sheet

Bitis parviocula · Ethiopian Mountain Adder

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Locked primary enclosure in an access-controlled escape-proof room.
• Minimum 180 x 90 x 90 cm for one adult; house singly.
• Two compartments or a positively lockable full-body shift; neonate-proof all gaps.
• 8-12 cm moisture-buffering soil/bark with a mostly dry leaf-litter surface; paper in quarantine.
• Quarantine at least 90 days with dedicated tools and parasite testing.
• Protected contact only; two trained adults at every primary opening, never free-handle.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Secure warm and cool hides plus one ventilated humid refuge.
• Dense visual cover, anchored low branches and broad stable shelves.
• Clear inspection lane and protected water/service access.
• Keep lamps, probes and cables outside primary containment or behind locked guards.

💡 Lighting

• UVB recommended, not mandatory: measured Ferguson Zone 1, about UVI 0.5-1.5.
• Bright white visible light with full shade and UVI 0 hides.
• 10-12 hours light; complete darkness at night.

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking surface: 30-32 °C

• Ambient: 20-26 °C

• Cool refuge: 18-22 °C

• Night: 18-22 °C

• Preserve a cool escape; do not copy high zoo basking peaks without equivalent monitoring.

• Thermostat, guard, probe and alarm every heat source.

💧 Humidity & water

• Ambient 55-75%; ventilated shed refuge 70-85%.
• Stable fresh-water bowl exchanged through protected access.
• Allow the upper substrate to dry; avoid condensation and stagnant air.
• Repeated soaking or poor shed → review heat, hydration, mites and disease.

🐁 Diet

Feed freely:

• Juveniles: small frozen-thawed mice every 7-14 days while growing.

In moderation:

• Adults: modest frozen-thawed rodents every 14-28 days, adjusted to weight and condition.

Avoid:

• Live prey, oversized meals, loose feeding tubs and routine bird-heavy feeding.

Supplements:

• None routinely with complete whole vertebrate prey.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Persistent hiding, dehydration or food refusal → chronic heat or missing cool refuge.
• Wet skin, blistering or wheeze → stagnant, saturated housing.
• Thick rounded body → obesity.
• Incomplete shed or repeated soaking → hydration, mites, heat or illness problem.
• Oral swelling, abnormal faeces or weight loss → stomatitis or parasites.
• Missing CITES/pedigree identity → legal and conservation emergency, not a paperwork detail.

Shift and secure the snake before an experienced reptile veterinarian intervenes. Maintain written bite, escape and receiving-hospital plans; there is no home treatment.