Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Karoo Sand Snake
A slim, fast-moving sand snake adapted to the arid Karoo region of southern Africa, recognized by its streamlined build and alert daytime activity.
Katuali
A banded sea krait found only around the island of Niue in the South Pacific, known locally as the katuali.
Kaznakov's Viper
A small, colorful viper of the western Caucasus, often displaying vivid copper or reddish coloration and a zigzag dorsal pattern.
Keeled Rat Snake
A very large, fast-moving rat snake from Southeast Asian rainforests, distinguished by strongly keeled dorsal scales that give it a rough texture.
Kenyan Horned Bush Viper
A little-known arboreal bush viper of Cameroon, distinguished by its enlarged subocular scales and rough, keeled body scalation.
Kenyan Sand Boa
A stout, burrowing boa of East African savannas and deserts, recognized by its bold saddle-like pattern and spade-shaped head suited for digging through sand.
Kerala Shieldtail Snake
A regionally restricted burrowing snake from the state of Kerala in southern India, known for its reddish-marked underside.
Kinabalu Pit Viper
A montane green pit viper restricted to the high elevations of Mount Kinabalu in Borneo.
King Brown Snake
One of Australia's largest snakes, a robust and widespread elapid found across much of the continent's interior.
King Cobra
The world's longest elapid, a large snake of South and Southeast Asian forests that preys chiefly on other snakes.
Kingsnake
A glossy constrictor famous for preying on other snakes, including pit vipers.
Kirtland's Snake
A small, secretive wetland snake with a reddish belly marked by bold black spots, now rare across much of its midwestern range.
Kofiau Green Tree Python
A rare island locality of the green tree python from Kofiau Island in the Raja Ampat archipelago, notable for a relatively small, isolated population.
Kotschy's Gecko Snake
A small, secretive colubrid of the Middle East specialized in feeding on geckos and other small lizards, rarely encountered due to its cryptic habits.
Ladder Snake
A large, robust Iberian colubrid named for the ladder-like pattern seen in juveniles, which fades into two dark dorsal stripes in adults.
Lambert's Sea Snake
A moderately sized sea snake native to the Gulf of Thailand, closely related to the large-headed sea snake and named after a naturalist collector.
Langsdorff's Coral Snake
A widespread Amazonian coral snake named after German naturalist Georg von Langsdorff, patterned in bold tricolor rings.
Large Shieldtail Snake
One of the larger species within the shieldtail snake family, endemic to the moist forests of India's Western Ghats.
Large Whip Snake
One of Europe's largest snakes, a fast and powerfully built whip snake found across the Balkans and around the Black Sea region.
Large-Eyed Pit Viper
A green pit viper distinguished by unusually large eyes, found across forested regions of mainland Southeast Asia.
Lataste's Viper
A small viper of the Iberian Peninsula and northwestern Africa, recognized by a small upturned snout scale.
Leopard Snake
A strikingly patterned colubrid from southern Europe often regarded as one of the continent's most beautiful snakes.
Leopard Water Snake
A boldly spotted aquatic snake of southern South American wetlands, named for the leopard-like blotches covering its body.
Lesser Black Krait
A glossy black krait of the eastern Indian subcontinent and Himalayan foothills, prone to entering rural dwellings at night.
Lesser Black Whipsnake
A slender, fast-moving diurnal elapid of tropical northern Australia, smaller than its close relative the Greater Black Whipsnake.
Levant Viper
A large, robust viper subspecies found across the Levant and Caucasus, closely related to the widespread Blunt-Nosed Viper.
Levantine Viper
One of the largest vipers of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Liana Snake
A vividly patterned, slender arboreal snake of Amazonian and Central American forests, closely related to the red vine snake.
Lichtenstein's Green Racer
A slender green-and-gray South American snake, common in gardens and forest edges, known for its speed.
Lined Snake
A small, garter snake-like colubrid of the central United States, identified by a double row of dark half-moon belly markings.
Little Whip Snake
One of Australia's smallest snakes, a slender nocturnal elapid found in grassland and woodland of the southeast.
Long-Nosed Snake
A boldly patterned desert snake with black, cream, and red saddles and a distinctively pointed, upturned nose.
Long-Nosed Viper
A European viper, easily recognized by the small, soft nasal horn on the tip of its snout.
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.
Long-nosed Rattlesnake
A regionally used name sometimes applied to slender-snouted rattlesnakes of arid terrain, most often referring to the tiger rattlesnake.
Long-tailed Snake
A rare, slender, banded fossorial snake endemic to the sandy scrub habitats of central Florida.
Louisiana Milk Snake
A small tricolor milk snake subspecies from the Gulf Coast region, featuring vivid red, black, and yellow-white banding.
Louisiana Pine Snake
One of North America's rarest snakes, a large burrowing constrictor tied closely to pocket gopher burrows in longleaf pine forests.
Loveridge's Garter Snake
A short-tailed garter snake found in high-elevation grasslands and pine-oak forests of Mexico.
Lowland Copperhead
A cold-tolerant Australian elapid found in wetlands and cool temperate regions of the southeast, notable for its resilience in colder climates compared to most snakes.
MacClelland's Coral Snake
A small, brightly patterned coral snake of Asian montane forests, recognized by its orange-brown body with black crossbands and a black-and-orange head pattern.
Machete Savane
A large, strikingly patterned black-and-yellow colubrid found from Mexico to Argentina, known locally as the Machete Savane and famed for its speed.
Macklot's Python
An island-dwelling relative of the Water Python, found across Indonesia's Lesser Sunda archipelago.
Madagascar Ground Boa
A large, heavy-bodied terrestrial boa endemic to Madagascar, distinguished from its tree-dwelling relative by its stouter build and ground-dwelling habits.
Madagascar Tree Boa
An arboreal, heavy-bodied boa endemic to Madagascar, known for its variable green, brown, or reddish coloration and strong prehensile tail.
Malabar Pit Viper
A highly variable, arboreal pit viper endemic to the biodiverse Western Ghats of India.
Malayan Krait
A slender, black-and-white banded krait of Southeast Asia, closely resembling the many-banded krait.
Malayan Pit Viper
A medium-sized, heavy-bodied pit viper of Southeast Asia known for its distinctive triangular head markings.