Cerastes cerastes care is for experienced, licensed venomous keepers only. The Saharan horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) is a small desert viper known for the horn-like scale above each eye. It was first described from Egypt, where it is called el-ṭorîsha (الطريشة). Calm until disturbed, it carries a strong venom, so safety comes first. This guide covers the legal checks, safety, housing, temperatures, feeding and breeding.
Saharan Horned Viper Quick Facts
- Scientific name: Cerastes cerastes
- Other names: desert horned viper, horned viper; in Egypt الطريشة (el-ṭorîsha)
- Range: North Africa including Egypt, and parts of Arabia and the Levant
- Habitat: dry sandy desert with some rock, wadis and oases, up to about 1,500 m
- Size: usually 30–60 cm, up to 85 cm; females are larger
- Horns: many have them, but hornless individuals are common
- Activity: nocturnal; buries itself in sand by day and moves by sidewinding
- Lifespan: up to 18 years recorded in captivity
- Conservation: IUCN Least Concern
Is It Right for You?
The horned viper is often described as reasonably placid, but when it feels threatened it coils into a C shape, rubs its keeled scales together to make a rasping warning sound, and strikes fast. Its venom mainly damages tissue and blood: bites cause swelling, bleeding and tissue death. Most countries require a venomous-reptile or dangerous-animal licence, and some ban private keeping. Before buying, check your local law and make sure a hospital near you can treat a viper bite.
Safety Rules
- A lockable venomous enclosure in a locked room.
- Hooks, tongs and a lock box; never free-handle.
- Remember the snake hides under the sand: always check where it is before putting a hand or tool in.
- Never work alone, and keep a written bite plan and emergency numbers by the enclosure.
Housing
Dutch keeper Peet Smetsers kept and bred horned vipers in an enclosure of 100 × 50 × 40 cm (L × W × H) with a 7 cm layer of fine dune sand, a few rocks and bundles of dry grass. Fine sand matters: this species buries itself with only its eyes and nostrils showing, and wild horned vipers tend to avoid coarse sand. Add a shallow water dish and secure hides.
Heat, Light and Winter Rest
In that setup a 60 W spotlight made a warm zone of about 40°C at one end, with a cooler side at the other and no heating at night. Lights ran about 11 hours a day, following natural daylight. Before breeding, the snakes had a winter rest at 10–15°C. Use a thermostat and a lamp guard, and only cool healthy, well-fed animals.
Feeding
Wild horned vipers eat mostly lizards, especially geckos, plus small rodents and birds. In captivity they are usually fed dead mice with long tongs; Smetsers’ hatchlings took pinky mice straight away. Never feed by hand.
Breeding
The horned viper lays eggs. Clutches of 8 to 23 eggs are reported, with 50 to 80 days of incubation. In Smetsers’ case mating took place in April and May, about 20 eggs were laid in August, and after six weeks at 31°C in slightly moist sand, 18 young of about 18 cm hatched. Every hatchling is venomous from birth and needs a legal, experienced home.
Licensed and experienced? See our captive-bred Saharan horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), the Egyptian saw-scaled viper and all snakes, or read our saw-scaled viper identification guide, venomous vs non-venomous snakes in Egypt and our shipping policy. Message us on WhatsApp first so we can check your country allows the import.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Cerastes cerastes”; Animal Diversity Web (University of Michigan), Cerastes cerastes account; Peet Smetsers, “Keeping and breeding the horned viper”, Litteratura Serpentium 12(4), 1992.
