Lotiev’s Viper — Fact Sheet

Vipera lotievi · Lotiev’s Viper

Full care guide

Provisional active-season care targets, not measured tolerance limits. Read the guide before changing diet or seasonal temperatures.

📋 Quick reference

🏠 Enclosure

A starting enclosure of 90 × 50 × 50 cm gives one adult room to stretch and choose between covered warm and cool areas; enlarge it for unusually large individuals. Secure every vent and cable gap, including against neonatal escape. Keep the shift door visible and reachable through the protected servicing system.

🪨 Substrate and furnishings

• A starting enclosure of 90 × 50 × 50 cm gives one adult room to stretch and choose between covered warm and cool areas; enlarge it for unusually large individuals. Secure every vent and cable gap, including against neonatal escape. Keep the shift door visible and reachable through the protected servicing system.

• After quarantine, use about 5–8 cm of compactable, fertiliser-free soil mixed with washed sand, with leaf cover where appropriate. Maintain a dry upper resting surface and modest moisture locally below it. Fix stones to the base before adding substrate. Avoid collapsing rock piles, sharp gravel, aromatic wood and loose dusty sand. Feed on a clean surface: swallowed substrate, oversized prey and dehydration can contribute to impaction.

💡 Lighting

• Provide 12–14 hours of visible light in the active season and darkness at night. Shade and opaque hides must remain accessible. A species-specific UVB requirement is not established; any low-level UVB programme should be measured and reviewed by the veterinarian, with no forced exposure. Protect lamps and wiring from contact.

🌡️ Heating and temperature

• Basking spot: 27-29 °C
• Warm zone: 18-24 °C
• Cool zone: 16-20 °C
• Night: 14-18 °C

💧 Humidity and water

• Air humidity: 45–65%.

• Measure humidity near the resting animal; the table is a provisional band, not a reason to wet every surface. Provide a locally moist retreat and a dry resting option with cross-ventilation. Persistent condensation, sour substrate or avoidance of the moist hide needs investigation.

• Keep clean drinking water available in a stable shallow bowl that can be serviced after isolating the snake. Forced soaking and manual removal of retained skin expose both keeper and animal to harm; recurrent shedding failure requires veterinary review.

🐁 Feeding

Insect feeding is documented directly for this species, so do not impose a mouse-only schedule. Obtain the breeder’s prey list, portion sizes and feeding records before purchase. Use safely cultured, appropriately sized insects where these form the established diet; avoid wild-caught prey and unattended surplus insects. Gut-load feeders and agree calcium/vitamin use with a reptile veterinarian. Animals already accepting whole mice can start with small meals every 10–14 days; that interval does not describe an insect diet.

⚖️ Legal status

Checked 17 September 2026: no listing under this species name was found in the CITES Appendices or the current EU wildlife-trade annexes. The CITES/EU entry for Vipera ursinii is geographically restricted and explicitly excludes populations in the former USSR. This is not permission to capture or own a viper. National capture, possession, registration, import, transport and sale rules still require a separate check.

Bern Appendix III covers reptiles not in Appendix II; the species is not named separately in Appendix II. Historical names within the kaznakovi or ursinii complexes can complicate the legal interpretation. Before transfer, ask the competent authority to confirm the applicable scope for the documented taxon and locality. Retain invoices, breeder identity, parentage and all origin/import permits.

☠️ Venom

A bite requires immediate hospital assessment. Pain, progressive swelling and tissue injury are possible; clotting disturbance, bleeding, low blood pressure and other systemic effects cannot be excluded. Clinical evidence for these uncommon vipers is limited, and laboratory toxicity or insect-eating habits do not predict a harmless human bite. A small snake, slight marks or an apparently dry bite provide no reassurance.

Move away, call emergency services, remove rings and tight clothing, keep the person still and support the limb without compression. Do not cut, suck, ice or tourniquet the wound, and do not delay transport to capture the snake. The receiving hospital and poison centre must decide on antivenom: effectiveness of a product made for another viper cannot be assumed. Agree that emergency pathway before acquiring the animal.

🩺 Common problems

• Overheating: unusual exposed resting or repeated escape attempts warrant immediate checks of the cool hide and room.
• Respiratory infection: bubbles, wheezing or open-mouth breathing need prompt reptile-veterinary assessment.
• Dysecdysis, dehydration and dermatitis: check water access, refuge moisture and wet dirty substrate; do not manually strip skin.
• Obesity, impaction or parasites: track meals, stools and body condition; persistent change needs diagnosis.
• Reproductive problems: prolonged abnormal swelling, weakness or unsuccessful birth requires urgent veterinary advice.