Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with venomous status, family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell look-alikes apart.
Bibron's Burrowing Asp
A secretive, venomous African burrowing snake known for its unusual sideways stabbing bite delivered without opening its mouth wide.
Common Purple-glossed Snake
A glossy, burrowing African snake with an iridescent purplish sheen, feeding largely on other snakes and reptiles beneath the soil surface.
Schlegel's Beaked Blind Snake
One of the largest blind snakes in the world, notable for its hardened, beak-like snout used to dig through hard African soils.
Braminy Blind Snake
The world's most widely distributed snake species, a tiny, all-female burrower often mistaken for an earthworm and spread globally via potted plants.
Slender Blind Snake
A tiny, worm-like blind snake often mistaken for an earthworm, spread worldwide through the potted plant trade.
Reticulated Centipede-eater
A small, secretive African snake specialized for hunting centipedes, with a fine reticulated pattern and a mild venom adapted to subdue its arthropod prey.
Large Shieldtail Snake
One of the larger species within the shieldtail snake family, endemic to the moist forests of India's Western Ghats.
Beaked Blind Snake
A robust African blind snake with a distinctive hardened, beak-like snout adapted for digging.
Flowerpot Snake
The world's most widely distributed snake species, a tiny worm-like blind snake spread globally through the potted plant trade.
Java File Snake
A fully aquatic file snake covered in rough, granular scales, found in the rivers and estuaries of Java and the surrounding Southeast Asian region.
Marine File Snake
A small, fully aquatic file snake with banded coloration that lives in coastal marine waters, estuaries, and mangroves across the Indo-Pacific.
Mole Viper
A small, cylindrical, burrowing snake with unusual side-swiping fangs, found across much of sub-Saharan Africa.
Cape Beaked Snake
A blunt-snouted, burrowing blind snake from southern Africa named for its distinctive beaked rostral scale.
Elliot's Shieldtail
A small, burrowing shieldtail snake endemic to the Western Ghats, named for its distinctive hardened tail tip used for burrowing.
American Pipe Snake
A striking red-and-black banded burrowing snake from the Amazon Basin, often mistaken for a venomous coral snake.
Kerala Shieldtail Snake
A regionally restricted burrowing snake from the state of Kerala in southern India, known for its reddish-marked underside.
Common Mole Snake
A large, powerfully built, non-venomous African snake specialized for hunting burrowing rodents, common across a wide range of southern African habitats.
Texas Threadsnake
A small, glossy, burrowing thread snake native to Texas and adjacent Mexico, spending nearly its entire life underground feeding on ant and termite brood.
Barbados Threadsnake
One of the smallest known snake species in the world, endemic to the small Caribbean island of Barbados and rediscovered in the early 2000s.
Peters' Thread Snake
A tiny, worm-like burrowing snake from Africa with smooth, glossy scales and no functional venom delivery to humans.
Elephant Trunk Snake
A wholly aquatic snake with loose, baggy, wrinkled skin covered in tiny rough scales, giving it a texture reminiscent of an elephant's trunk.
Dwarf Beaked Snake
A tiny, patterned nocturnal snake of arid southern Africa, known for its spotted body and slightly upturned snout.
Brahminy Blind Snake
A tiny, worm-like blind snake and the only known snake species that reproduces entirely by parthenogenesis, spreading globally in nursery soil.
Mexican Burrowing Python
A rare, primitive burrowing snake from Mexico and Central America, the sole member of its own family and a close relative of true pythons.
Black-headed Centipede-eater
A small, secretive African burrower named for its glossy black head and its diet of centipedes.
Cape Thread Snake
A tiny, glossy burrowing thread snake of southern Africa that lives almost entirely underground, feeding on ants and termites.
Long-Nosed Worm Snake
A small, worm-like blind snake found in the leaf litter and soil of Trinidad and adjacent parts of northern South America.
Red-Tailed Pipe Snake
A widespread Southeast Asian burrowing snake with a glossy black body and a vividly banded red-and-black tail used in defensive display.
Sunbeam Snake
A glossy, iridescent burrowing snake of Southeast Asia named for the rainbow sheen its smooth scales produce in sunlight.
European Blind Snake
A small, worm-like burrowing snake with vestigial eyes, found across the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean, spending most of its life hidden underground.
Two-coloured Snake
A slender, burrowing African snake with a distinctive two-toned body pattern and a pointed, wedge-shaped snout adapted for digging.
Red Pipe Snake
A glossy, burrowing pipe snake of Southeast Asia that flattens and raises its bright red-and-black banded tail to mimic a coral snake when threatened.
Texas Blind Snake
A tiny, worm-like burrowing snake of Texas and northern Mexico, occasionally found in the nests of ants and termites that it feeds on.
Diard's Blind Snake
One of the larger blind snakes in Asia, a stout burrowing species found in forest soils and leaf litter.
Ceylon Pipe Snake
A cylindrical, glossy burrowing snake endemic to Sri Lanka, notable for its bright red and black underside used in defensive displays.
Nilgiri Shieldtail Snake
A montane burrowing snake endemic to the Nilgiri Hills of southern India, adapted to cool, high-elevation forest soils.
Bibron's Blind Snake
A small, worm-like burrowing blind snake widespread across southern and eastern Africa, with vestigial eyes and a smooth, glossy body.
Black File Snake
A small, dark, heavily keeled fossorial snake from East Asian forests, named for the rasp-like texture of its scales.
Western Blind Snake
A small, glossy, worm-like burrowing snake widespread across the deserts of the American Southwest, feeding almost exclusively on ants and termites.
Cape Centipede-Eater
A small, secretive southern African snake that specializes in hunting centipedes, subduing them with a mild rear-fanged venom.
Dog-Faced Water Snake
A common, blunt-snouted brackish-water snake of Asian estuaries and mangroves, named for its somewhat dog-like facial profile.
Desert Blind Snake
A tiny, worm-like burrowing snake of the American Southwest deserts with vestigial eyes hidden beneath translucent scales.
Coral Pipe Snake
A brightly banded red-and-black burrowing snake from the Amazon, mimicking venomous coral snakes despite being harmless.
Ornate Shieldtail Snake
A small, glossy burrowing snake from the Western Ghats of India with a distinctive hardened, shield-like tail tip.
Dwarf File Snake
A small African file snake with rough, keeled scales, named for its diminutive size relative to its larger relatives.
Dwarf Pipe Snake
A tiny, rarely seen fossorial snake from Southeast Asia representing one of the most poorly known snake families in the world.