Greek Meadow Viper — Fact Sheet

Vipera graeca · Greek Meadow Viper

Full care guide and sources

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

One adult: 90 × 50 × 50 cm as a practical starting enclosure, enlarged for the actual animal. Relative humidity 45–65%, with fresh water, local moisture and dry resting areas. Locked enclosure and room, a secure isolation compartment, protected servicing and separate quarantine for at least 90 days.

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

• Give the snake enough uninterrupted floor length to stretch fully. Secure ventilation mesh, doors and cable entries, checking gaps against the smallest animal present. Place cover in both thermal zones and fix stones against collapse. After quarantine, 5–8 cm of compactable soil mixed with washed sand, with a little leaf litter, can provide firm footing and local moisture. Keep most of the surface dry. Avoid sharp gravel, aromatic wood and inaccessible cavities; paper remains useful for sick animals.

💡 Lighting

• Provide 12–14 hours of visible light in the active season and darkness at night. Keep full shade available. No species-specific UVB optimum is established; if low-level UVB is used, measure exposure and review the arrangement with the veterinarian using the UV-Tool reference. Guard lamps and adjust seasonal day length gradually, in step with the approved winter plan.

🌡️ Temperature

Provisional active-season targets, not proven optima or safety limits. Outdoor climate averages are not enclosure settings; seasonal changes require the documented origin and veterinary review.

• Basking spot: 28-30 °C
• Warm zone: 20-24 °C
• Cool zone: 17-21 °C
• Night: 15-19 °C

💧 Humidity and water

• Air humidity: 45–65%.

• Measure relative humidity near the resting animal, using the table as a provisional band. Keep a slightly moist refuge alongside dry resting surfaces; avoid wetting the whole floor. Ventilation and local moisture are more useful than chasing a single percentage. Supply fresh water continuously in a stable bowl, serviced only after isolation. Persistent poor sheds require a hydration and health review, not forced soaking or peeling.

🪳 Feeding

Primary field research identifies an Orthoptera specialist: do not substitute a routine mouse diet. Obtain a demonstrated feeding record and reliable, lawful supplies of captive-bred locusts or other accepted orthopterans before acquisition. Offer appropriately small, well-fed insects in modest meals; agree frequency, calcium and vitamins with the collection veterinarian because no validated species schedule or dose was found. Check juvenile growth and remove uneaten insects through the protected system. Wild grasshoppers bring pesticide, parasite and conservation risks.

For accepted feeder insects, use prey no broader than the snake’s body and maintain well-fed feeder cultures before offering them. Agree a calcium-without-D3 plan when measured UVB is provided; oral D3 and multivitamins, including vitamin A, must account for UVB exposure, juvenile growth, reproduction and product-label limits. Avoid overlapping supplements or guessing a species dose. Keep food off loose substrate: swallowed particles, dehydration and low temperature increase impaction risk. Never force-feed a venomous snake at home.

☠️ Venom

Bite severity varies; a small wound or an apparently dry bite does not exclude delayed envenoming.

Species-specific human bite evidence is limited. An invertebrate-rich diet does not make venom harmless to people. Treat every bite as an emergency: painful swelling and systemic illness are possible, and severity cannot be predicted from size. European-viper antivenom must not be presumed effective for this exact taxon without poison-centre assessment.

Call emergency services immediately, keep the person still, remove rings and tight items, and support the limb without compression. Do not cut, suck, apply ice or a tourniquet, or delay transport to capture the snake. Establish receiving-hospital and poison-centre arrangements before acquisition. Antivenom selection and administration belong to clinicians.

Full guide and sources

🩺 Health — warning signs

Persistent exposed resting or attempts to escape the warm zone warrant an immediate temperature check. Wheezing, bubbles or open-mouth breathing suggest respiratory disease; abnormal belly scales may indicate dermatitis. Repeated poor sheds, regurgitation, weight loss or abnormal faeces require a reptile veterinarian to distinguish dehydration, dietary problems, parasites and other illness. Do not deworm or restrain a venomous snake yourself; arrange secure professional transport.