[2][5] Gut analysis of road killed specimens showed that adults feed on passerine birds, while young vipers under 35 cm feed primarily on Milos wall lizards and European copper skinks.

This adaptation to feeding on birds and lizards likely occurred because of the lack of native rodent species in the western Cyclades (house mice and black rats were introduced).

While largely terrestrial, they have seasonally arboreal behaviour, foraging for prey in trees on autumn nights.

[8] This subspecies, M. l. schweizeri, is classified as endangered by the IUCN; less than 4000 adult individuals exist in the wild as of 2022.

[1] As of 1998, 500-600 adults were being either removed from the wild or killed per year as a result of illegal collection, road-killing, or persecution.