The bush viper venom scientifically known as Atheris hispida is a snake. It has a compacted body, with scales that are toughly keeled. The dorsal part of the head is the most distinctive feature because of its keeled scales coverage. It has a yellowish-greenish coloration which helps in its camouflage in its habitats. Females have a tendency to be a bit larger than males; they grow to a typical length of 71.3 while the males recorded a length of 65.6cm. They have a triangular head which is bigger than the necks. Their Nasal alignment is lateral, and the openings are partly distributed. Their snout has a spherical tip and it's quite short. The bush viper venom has long, and hollow fangs, that are supplied with venom by a gland located on the upper jaw, between the eyes and mouth.
With this species, it is advised and recommended that one should cage them separately. They have shown a history of aggression and cannibalism. The Males and females are particularly bad-tempered during breeding phases and a lot of care should be engaged to evade any bites. The cages should be built tall, spacious for the bush viper venom to display their natural habitats. Their cag should be well built to avoid predators from eating them. Make sure you supply them with meat and fresh water among other supplements.
In caging, many bush vipers will eat to obesity, mainly females. The snake enjoys eating and it cannot stop eating. The owner may tend to enjoy on feeding it and thus leading to obese. Fat vipers do not breed well or live long. One should feed the babies on weekly basis to encourage good growth as they mature.
Atheris hispida or bush viper venom, are found mostly in tropical forests and in areas with dark vegetation mostly in areas with abundant of small rodents and prey. This snakes are common in areas ranging from 100 to 400 m in height.
The Bush viper venom is by all ways carnivorous. It mostly hunts at night times and it ambush it's predator. It feeds mostly on small, mammals like shrews and rodents. Some of them feeds on birds ,and small reptiles. To a human, its bites causes fever, hemorrhaging, and death.
The Bush viper has a few predators; some of the noted predators are snakes. In some areas, they are captured for food or kill it when it threatens agricultural activities.
After reproduction, the viper gives birth to young ones called ovoviviparous. Growth is unspecified, but slows as the snake grows up. Minors are grown and thus they are responsible for hunting their own food. Young snakes can be known for their unique coloring of their scales. The time for maturity has not been clearly known. As the snakes age, the pigmentation of their scales becomes even and might change totally in some cases.
Most vipers, including Bush viper venom are kept for their venom; the process is known as "milking". The venom is used to create anti venoms and also for medical and genetic uses .It is also used as food and its body parts are a source of medicine, education and research.