Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Brown Water Snake
A large, heavy-bodied water snake often seen basking on branches over southeastern rivers, patterned with square dark blotches.
Greater Black Krait
A large, uniformly dark krait of the eastern Himalayan foothills and adjacent lowlands, lacking the strong banding seen in many of its relatives.
Variegated Wolf Snake
A larger Southeast Asian wolf snake with variable banding that changes with age, resembling kraits when young.
White-Lipped Snake
A small, cold-tolerant elapid of cool southern Australian habitats, named for the pale scales bordering its upper lip.
Shield-Nosed Snake
A small, thick-bodied elapid of southern Africa named for its enlarged, shield-like rostral scale used for burrowing.
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.
Southern African Python
A large, powerfully built constrictor found across southern Africa, closely related to the African rock python but occupying more southerly range.
Gold's Tree Cobra
A large, slender, highly arboreal forest cobra of Central and West Africa, known for its glossy dark coloration and agile climbing ability.
African Rock Python
The largest snake species in Africa, a massive constrictor found across the sub-Saharan savanna belt, capable of taking prey as large as antelope.
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.
Puerto Rican Boa
A large, nocturnal boa endemic to Puerto Rico, considered threatened due to habitat loss and historically classified as a federally listed species of concern.
Forsten's Cat Snake
A large, powerfully built cat snake found in India and Sri Lanka, known for its bold blotched pattern and strong climbing ability.
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.
Banded Krait
A large, boldly banded krait of South and Southeast Asia, easily recognized by alternating black and yellow rings and a distinctive triangular cross-section.
Eastern Rat Snake
A large, glossy black constrictor common across the eastern U.S., often seen climbing trees or barn rafters in search of rodents and birds.
Green Cat Snake
A large, bright green nocturnal tree snake with prominent cat-like vertical pupils, found across South and Southeast Asian forests.
Northern Eyelash Boa
A small, heavily keeled forest-floor boa from Central and South America named for the spiny scales above its eyes.
Spotted Leaf-Nosed Snake
A small nocturnal desert snake named for its enlarged, leaf-shaped rostral scale used to dig for buried lizard eggs.
Haitian Boa
A large constrictor native to the island of Hispaniola, adaptable to varied habitats from forest to rocky terrain and known for its variable striped or blotched patterning.
Yellow Anaconda
A large, semi-aquatic constrictor of South American wetlands, smaller than its relative the green anaconda but still among the heaviest snakes in the Americas.
Puff Adder
A widespread, thick-bodied African viper, largely camouflaged and abundant.
Southern Bark Snake
A small, viper-mimicking African colubrid with a zigzag dorsal pattern.
Common Puff Adder
A widespread and heavy-bodied African viper, abundant and well camouflaged.
Eastern Montpellier Snake
A large, fast-moving snake known for raising its head cobra-like when threatened, found across the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.