Most of Taiwan's venomous snakes live in low-altitude farmland and sparsely populated countryside. But the hundred-pace viper, which was never very numerous, is at home in densely forested areas at low to medium elevations in the mountains of eastern, central and southern Taiwan. It grows to one-and-a-half meters or more-much the same length as the habu and cobra-but being far thicker and meatier it is much valued by gourmands.
毒蛇家族多來自低海拔農墾地、荒郊，唯獨百步蛇來自東部與中南部中低海拔山區密林，原就屬於少數族群，加上百步蛇長度雖與龜殼花、眼鏡蛇相去不多，可以長到一公尺半以上，但牠身廣體粗，在老饕眼中肥美多肉，又被視為毒中之毒，身價高昂。