South American Rattlesnake — Fact Sheet

Crotalus durissus · South American Rattlesnake · Cascabel

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• One adult: minimum 200 x 100 x 100 cm; more floor for large females.
• Locked primary enclosure in a controlled venomous room with secondary containment.
• Two positive-lock shift compartments; confirm the animal behind a barrier before service.
• 5-10 cm compactable mineral soil with limited locality-appropriate leaf litter; paper in quarantine.
• Avoid generic “tropical” setups, wet floors, unstable stone and hidden service gaps.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Broad anchored warm and cool hides; both usable as shifts.
• Low visual barriers and an unobstructed inspection lane.
• Local ventilated humid retreat for shedding.
• Stable water bowl removed through protected access.
• Visible venom label, exact taxon, locality and animal count.

💡 Lighting

• Bright visible light; locality-based 10-13-hour seasonal photoperiod.
• Optional measured UVB around Ferguson Zone 1.
• Full shade and dark shift space at all times.
• Lamps, cables and probes outside containment or behind locked guards.
• Replace lamps by measured output and maker guidance.

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 31-33 °C

• Warm zone: 24-29 °C

• Cool zone: 22-25 °C

• Night: 20-24 °C

• Use redundant guarded thermostatic heat and high-temperature alarms.

• Adjust seasonal change to documented provenance; do not impose generic deep cooling.

💧 Humidity & water

• General humidity: 45-70%, selected by locality and ventilation.
• Shed retreat: 65-80%; keep a dry surface available.
• Clean stable water bowl through protected service access.
• Persistent wet substrate, stale air or whole-enclosure spraying increases disease risk.

🐁 Diet

Feed routinely:

• Appropriately sized frozen-thawed mice or rats.
• Adults generally every 14-28 days; juveniles more often on smaller prey.

In moderation:

• Larger meals according to serial weight and body condition.

Avoid:

• Live rodents, oversized meals, obesity and prey retrieval from an occupied compartment.

Supplements:

• None for complete whole prey.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Drooping eyelids, weakness or dark urine after a bite → systemic emergency even with little swelling.
• Wheeze, bubbles, open mouth or raised head → respiratory disease.
• Red, blistered or damaged scales → wet substrate, abrasion, mites or dermatitis.
• Excess saliva or oral swelling → stomatitis or infection.
• Weight loss or abnormal faeces → parasites, especially in imports.
• Any bite → immediate hospital care; no tourniquet, cutting, suction, ice, shock or massage.

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