Eastern Diamondback — Fact Sheet

Crotalus adamanteus · Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• One adult: minimum 240 x 120 x 120 cm; larger for a long, active male.
• Locked primary enclosure in a restricted, escape-resistant venomous room.
• Adult-sized shift closes from outside; no routine shared open space with the snake.
• 10-15 cm packed soil-and-sand with dry leaf or pine litter; paper during quarantine.
• Avoid wild-collected protected-habitat material, unstable heavy décor and hidden service gaps.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Multiple tight ground hides, including externally lockable shift space.
• Stable logs, low platforms and broad visual barriers.
• Dry floor plus one slightly moist, well-ventilated refuge.
• Heavy water bowl accessible without entering strike range.
• Clear working lane and full view for animal counts.

💡 Lighting

• Bright visible light; seasonal 10-14-hour photoperiod.
• Measured low-moderate UVB around Ferguson Zone 2 recommended.
• Complete shade and dark shift hide always available.
• Guard every lamp, cable and probe from a large powerful snake.
• Replace lamps according to measured output and manufacturer guidance.

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 31-33 °C

• Warm zone: 24-28 °C

• Cool zone: 21-24 °C

• Night: 18-22 °C

• Use broad, guarded, thermostatically controlled overhead heat.

• Measure every major refuge; avoid a single intense hot spot or heat rock.

💧 Humidity & water

• General humidity: 45-65% with normal daily fluctuation.
• Shed retreat: 65-75%, while dry litter and airflow remain available.
• Stable clean bowl for drinking and occasional partial soaking.
• Persistent soaking, condensation or wet belly scales needs investigation.

🐁 Diet

Feed routinely:

• Appropriately sized frozen-thawed rats; responsibly sourced rabbit prey only for very large adults.
• Adults commonly every 14-28 days; juveniles every 7-10 days and growers every 10-14 days.

In moderation:

• Large prey according to measured body condition, not feeding response.

Avoid:

• Live prey, oversized meals, power feeding and moving the snake to an open feeding tub.

Supplements:

• None for complete whole prey.

💤 Brumation

• Only for healthy adults of known origin in a managed breeding programme.
• Protected dormant phase: approximately 12-16 °C after fasting and veterinary review.
• Do not treat north and south Florida stock as climatically identical.
• Never cool juveniles, new arrivals, underweight or ill animals.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Wheeze, bubbles, gaping or raised head → respiratory disease.
• Crusts, nodules or facial lesions → snake fungal disease or dermatitis.
• Persistent soaking or black specks → mites, heat stress or disease.
• Regurgitation → prey size, temperature, disturbance or illness.
• Heavy body folds → obesity.
• Any bite → immediate emergency care; no cutting, suction, ice, shock or tourniquet.

Shift and lock the snake before veterinary assessment; never attempt hands-on home treatment.