Desert Mountain Adder — Fact Sheet

Bitis xeropaga · Desert Mountain Adder

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Locked primary enclosure inside an access-controlled escape-proof room.
• Minimum 120 x 60 x 60 cm for one adult; solitary.
• Two compartments or a positively lockable full-body shift; newborn-proof gaps.
• 6-10 cm compact mineral soil/sand/fine gravel; paper or shallow mineral layer in quarantine.
• Quarantine at least 90 days with dedicated tools and documented origin.
• Protected contact only; two trained adults at openings, never free-handle.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Anchored warm and cool rock shelves and accessible crevices.
• Snug shift-compatible refuges, low dry cover and a clear inspection lane.
• Protected shallow water access.
• No loose rock stacks, sharp rubble or inaccessible cavities.

💡 Lighting

• UVB recommended: measured Ferguson Zone 2 over part of the warm rockwork.
• Bright white visible light with complete shaded crevices.
• 10-14 hours seasonally; darkness at night.

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking surface: 31-34 °C

• Ambient: 22-28 °C

• Cool crevice: 18-23 °C

• Night: 15-20 °C

• Heat one surface, not the whole enclosure; preserve the mountain-night drop.

• Thermostat and guard heat; measure stone surfaces and use an alarm.

💧 Humidity & water

• Ambient 25-45%; shed refuge 50-65%.
• Stable shallow fresh-water bowl exchanged through protected access.
• Localized moisture only; avoid spraying all rockwork or substrate.
• Persistent soaking → check heat, hydration, parasites and illness.

🐁 Diet

Feed freely:

• Growing juveniles: appropriately small frozen-thawed mice every 7-14 days if established.

In moderation:

• Adults: modest frozen-thawed mice every 14-28 days, adjusted to body condition.

Avoid:

• Live rodents, wild-caught prey, force-feeding, oversized meals and loose feeding tubs.

Supplements:

• None routinely with complete whole vertebrate prey.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Persistent cool-hide use or open posture → overheating.
• Burn or discoloured scales → unsafe heater or hot stone.
• Incomplete shed or concentrated urates → dehydration.
• Thick body or tail base → obesity.
• Wheeze, oral swelling or abnormal faeces → respiratory disease, stomatitis or parasites.
• Shift failure or hidden snake → stop work and treat as an escape risk.

Shift and secure before veterinary care. Maintain written bite, escape and hospital plans; there is no home treatment.