Uracoan Rattlesnake — Fact Sheet

Crotalus vegrandis · Uracoan Rattlesnake

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• One adult: minimum 120 x 60 x 60 cm.
• Locked primary enclosure in an access-controlled room with secondary containment.
• Two positive-lock compartments; protected-contact service only.
• 8-12 cm compactable mineral soil; paper during quarantine.
• Avoid flooded “tropical” setups, unstable stone and neonate-sized gaps.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Anchored warm and cool hides, both usable for shifting.
• Flat rock, cork and low visual cover with a clear inspection lane.
• Local ventilated humid retreat for shedding; dry refuge always available.
• Stable water bowl serviced through protected access.
• Labels with both taxonomic names, locality and animal count.

💡 Lighting

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

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 30-32 °C

• Warm zone: 24-28 °C

• Cool zone: 22-24 °C

• Night: 20-24 °C

• Use guarded thermostatic overhead heat with independent measurements.

• Do not brumate or keep the entire enclosure uniformly hot.

💧 Humidity & water

• General humidity: 50-70% with strong ventilation.
• Shed retreat: 70-80%, local and controllable.
• Represent seasonal rain with a partly moist deep layer, never a wet floor.
• Clean stable water bowl; preserve a dry surface and refuge.

🐁 Diet

Feed routinely:

• Appropriately sized frozen-thawed mice or small rats.
• Adults every 14-21 days; juveniles every 7-10 days.

In moderation:

• Larger meals only when serial weight and body condition justify them.

Avoid:

• Live rodents, oversized meals, obesity and moving to an open feeding tub.

Supplements:

• None for complete whole prey.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Weakness, drooping eyelids, dark urine or breathing difficulty after a bite → systemic emergency.
• Wheeze, bubbles, open mouth or raised head → respiratory disease.
• Red or blistered belly scales → wet substrate or dermatitis.
• Retained shed or repeated soaking → hydration, mites or disease problem.
• Weight loss, abnormal faeces or oral swelling → parasites or stomatitis.
• 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.