Arizona Black Rattlesnake — Fact Sheet

Crotalus cerberus · Arizona Black Rattlesnake

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Indoor, locked primary enclosure inside an access-controlled escape-proof room.
• Minimum 150 x 75 x 75 cm for one adult; house singly.
• Two compartments or a positively lockable full-body shift; two-step door locks and neonate-proof gaps.
• 8-12 cm compactable mineral soil/sand/clay; paper or shallow disposable substrate in quarantine.
• Avoid unstable rocks, aromatic wood, deep hidden voids and any décor that defeats a full visual count.
• Protected contact only; two trained adults at every primary opening, never free-handle.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Snug lockable refuge in warm and cool zones plus one ventilated humid retreat.
• Guarded radiant basking area, anchored slate/cork and low visual cover.
• Clear inspection lane and protected water/service port.
• Keep all lamps, probes and cables outside primary containment or behind locked guards.

💡 Lighting

• UVB is recommended, not mandatory: measured Ferguson Zone 2 over part of the warm zone.
• Use a quality linear UVB lamp plus bright white visible light; provide full shade.
• Replace lamps by manufacturer guidance and verify output with a meter.
• 9-14 hours light, changed gradually with season; complete darkness at night.

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 29-32 °C

• Warm zone: 22-27 °C

• Cool zone: 18-22 °C

• Night: 14-19 °C

• Preserve a cool escape; this montane species is not a hot-desert rattlesnake.

• Measure air and surface separately; thermostat, guard and alarm all heat.

• Never use unguarded heat rocks or heat the entire floor.

💧 Humidity & water

• Ambient 45-65% with ventilation; 65-75% inside one shed retreat.
• Stable fresh-water bowl, exchanged through protected access.
• Avoid condensation, stale air and permanently damp substrate.
• Repeated soaking or poor shed → check heat, hydration, mites and disease.

🐁 Diet

Feed freely:

• Appropriately sized frozen-thawed mice; juveniles every 7-14 days.

In moderation:

• Small frozen-thawed rats for suitable large adults; adults every 14-28 days.

Avoid:

• Live rodents, oversized meals, frequent feeding and loose feeding tubs.

Supplements:

• None routinely; complete whole vertebrate prey supplies minerals and vitamins.

💤 Brumation

• Only healthy, established, locality-documented adults in a managed breeding programme.
• After fasting and confirmed gut clearance, cool gradually to 7-12 °C with professional review.
• Do not cool juveniles, new arrivals, gravid, thin, dehydrated or ill snakes.
• Monitor temperature, humidity and body mass; stop and consult a reptile veterinarian if condition declines.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Persistent cool-hide use or restlessness → overheating or inadequate gradient.
• Thick rounded body → overfeeding and obesity.
• Incomplete shed or concentrated urates → dehydration, heat error or illness.
• Bubbles, wheeze or open-mouth breathing → respiratory disease.
• Oral swelling, mites or abnormal faeces → stomatitis or parasites.
• Burn or crushing injury → unsafe heat guard or unstable décor.

Shift and secure the snake before an experienced reptile veterinarian intervenes; there is no safe hands-on home treatment.