Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Copperhead
A copper-colored pit viper common across the eastern US, known for its hourglass-shaped crossbands and reliance on camouflage.
Patagonian Lancehead
A small pit viper found further south than any other pitviper in the world, inhabiting the cold steppes of Patagonia.
Copperhead Rattlesnake
Despite the informal name, a rattle-less pit viper with a distinctive coppery, hourglass-banded pattern found across the eastern US.
Black Mussurana
A large, glossy black colubrid widespread across Latin America, famed for eating other snakes, including vipers and coral snakes.
Island Lancehead
A rare, small island-endemic pit viper found only on Alcatrazes Island off the coast of Brazil, closely related to the Golden Lancehead.
Cape Wolf Snake
A small, nocturnal African colubrid named for its enlarged, recurved front teeth used to grip smooth-scaled reptile prey such as lizards and other snakes.
Ford's Boa
A tiny, rough-scaled leaf-litter dwarf boa from the wet forests of the Choco region, rarely seen due to its cryptic habits.
Boomslang
A slender, large-eyed African tree snake.
Glossy Snake
A pale, sleek desert snake resembling a gophersnake but with smoother scales and a distinctly glossy sheen.
Southeastern Green Snake
A slender, bright green North American snake with keeled scales, a resident of shrubs and vines.
Mole Snake
A large, powerfully built African snake specialized in preying on burrowing rodents.
Speckled Shield Cobra
A cobra of Central Asian deserts and semi-arid regions, distinguished by its plain, faintly speckled scales.
Mussurana
A large, snake-eating colubrid famed for its dramatic ontogenetic color change.
Cape File Snake
A distinctive African colubrid with unusually rough, file-like body scales and a specialized diet that includes other snakes.
Sunbeam Snake
A glossy, iridescent burrowing snake of Southeast Asia named for the rainbow sheen its smooth scales produce in sunlight.
Tiger Rat Snake
A large, boldly patterned tropical colubrid, striking in appearance and known for its speed and alertness.
Indian Rock Python
A large, powerful constrictor native to the Indian subcontinent, historically significant in local culture and folklore.
Texas Rat Snake
A large, variably patterned rat snake from Texas known for its bold blotches.
Egyptian Cobra
A large cobra widespread across Africa, historically significant in ancient Egyptian culture and iconography.
Papuan Black Snake
A large, glossy black elapid found in the wetlands and grasslands of southern Papua New Guinea.
Florida Pine Snake
A large, pale, burrowing constrictor of Florida's sandhills, associated closely with gopher tortoise burrows.
Papuan Taipan
A large taipan subspecies found in the grasslands and agricultural areas of southern Papua New Guinea.
Peters' Thread Snake
A tiny, worm-like burrowing snake from Africa with smooth, glossy scales.
Bengal Sand Boa
A stout, burrowing South Asian boa with rough, patterned scales and a blunt tail.