~ Feeding ~
brazilian viper feeds on rodents, lizards, frogs, and a variety of arthropods. Diet may be varied according to availability of prey. High populations in some areas may be due to this generalist diet.
~Reproduction ~
Population from India give birth to live young (viviparous), with young being born from April through August. In Pakistan, they are mostly born in July. A litter may consist of up to 23 young.
~ Venom ~
Envenomation results in local symptoms as well as severe systemic symptoms that may prove fatal. Local symptoms include swelling and pain, which appear within minutes of a bite.
In very bad cases the swelling may extend up the entire affected limb within 12-24 hours and blisters form on the skin.
ofthe more dangerous systemic symptoms, hemorrhage and coagulation defects are the most striking.
Hematemesis, melena, hemoptysis, hematuria and epistaxis also occur and may lead to hypovolemic shock.
Almost all patients develop oliguria or anuria within a few hours to as late as 6 days post bite.
kidney dialysis is necessary due to acute renal failure, but this is not often caused by hypotension.
brazilian viper is more often the result of intravascular hemolysis, which occurs in about half of all cases.
In other cases, acute renal failure is often caused by disseminated intravascular coagulation