Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Snouted Cobra
A large cobra of southern Africa's savannas, closely related to the Egyptian Cobra and named for its slightly upturned snout.
Snouted Night Adder
A small African night adder with an upturned snout, adapted for a burrowing, frog-hunting lifestyle.
Sochurek's Saw-Scaled Viper
A desert viper closely related to the Common Saw-Scaled Viper, recognized as a distinct species in some taxonomies.
Solomon Islands Small-Eyed Snake
A rare, poorly known elapid endemic to the Solomon Islands, the sole species in its genus.
Sonoran Coral Snake
A small, brightly banded desert coral snake found in Arizona and northwestern Mexico, distinguished by its blunt black snout.
Sonoran Gopher Snake
A desert-adapted gopher snake subspecies with a lighter, more contrasting pattern than its coastal relatives, common throughout the Sonoran Desert.
Sonoran Lyresnake
A slender, big-eyed nocturnal snake named for the lyre-shaped mark on its head.
Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake
A striking tricolor kingsnake of southwestern mountain ranges, mimicking coral snakes.
Sonoran Whipsnake
A slender, arboreal-inclined desert whipsnake with a striking olive-to-gray body and pale lateral stripes.
Sorong Green Tree Python
A locality form of the green tree python from the Sorong area of New Guinea's Bird's Head Peninsula, prized for its vivid emerald-green adult coloration.
South American Bushmaster
The longest viper in the Americas, a massive pit viper of Amazonian rainforest with a distinctive spined tail.
South American Coral Snake
A strikingly banded elapid of South American forests and wetlands, marked with the classic red-black-yellow triad pattern shared by many New World coral snakes.
South American Rattlesnake
A widespread rattlesnake of South American savannas and open habitats.
Southeastern Crowned Snake
A small, secretive snake of the southeastern United States, recognized by its dark head cap and pale neck collar.
Southeastern Green Snake
A slender, bright green North American snake with keeled scales, a resident of shrubs and vines.
Southern African Python
A large, powerfully built constrictor found across southern Africa, closely related to the African rock python but occupying more southerly range.
Southern Copperhead
A common, well-camouflaged pit viper of southern woodlands with a cryptic pattern.
Southern Coral Snake
A striking tricolor coral snake of central South America's woodlands and grasslands.
Southern Durango Spotted Garter Snake
A montane garter snake from the pine-oak forests of southern Durango, distinguished by a spotted rather than striped dorsal pattern.
Southern Hognose Snake
A small, upturned-snouted snake of sandy southeastern habitats, famous for its dramatic bluffing displays and playing dead.
Southern Pacific Rattlesnake
A common rattlesnake of coastal and inland southern California, noted for its dark diamond blotches.
Southern Rubber Boa
A small, smooth-skinned boa from southern California mountain ranges, closely related to the more widespread rubber boa.
Southern Shovel-Nosed Snake
A small burrowing elapid from southern and western Australia with a distinctive banded pattern and a shovel-shaped snout for digging through sand.
Southern Smooth Snake
A small, secretive colubrid of southwestern Europe and North Africa, closely resembling the smooth snake but with a more southerly range.
Southwestern Black-Headed Snake
A tiny, secretive desert colubrid with a glossy tan body and a distinct black cap on its head.
Southwestern Carpet Python
A carpet python subspecies restricted to southwestern Australia, adapted to Mediterranean-type climate and coastal heathland habitats.
Speckle-bellied Keelback
A small keelback of Southeast Asia named for the fine dark speckling on its underside.
Speckled Brown Snake
A medium-sized brown snake species from the interior of Queensland, named for the fine speckled pattern often present on its scales.
Speckled Green Snake
A slender green African bush snake distinguished by fine dark speckling along its back.
Speckled Kingsnake
A glossy black kingsnake speckled with small yellow spots on nearly every scale, giving it a salt-and-pepper appearance.
Speckled Racer
A fast, alert colubrid with a striking pattern of pale speckles or crossbars on a dark, glossy body.
Speckled Rattlesnake
A desert-dwelling rattlesnake whose speckled coloration closely matches the rocky terrain it inhabits.
Speckled Shield Cobra
A cobra of Central Asian deserts and semi-arid regions, distinguished by its plain, faintly speckled scales.
Spectacled Cobra
One of India's 'Big Four' snakes, famous for the spectacle-shaped mark on its raised hood.
Spectacled Sea Snake
A slender, pale-banded sea snake named for the ring-like markings around its eyes, inhabiting shallow tropical seas of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific.
Spine-Bellied Sea Snake
A stout, small-headed sea snake with distinctly keeled belly scales, common in shallow tropical and subtropical waters and frequently caught as bycatch by trawlers.
Spiny Bush Viper
A distinctive arboreal viper covered in long, spine-tipped scales that create a shaggy, thorny appearance.
Spitting Cobra
A group of African and Asian cobras known for rearing up with the hood spread.
Spot-Tailed Pit Viper
A slender green pit viper of peninsular India, distinguished by a distinctively marked, spotted tail.
Spotted Black Snake
A robust black snake with fine speckling, found in the inland woodlands and floodplains of southeastern Australia.
Spotted Bush Snake
A slender, bright green African tree snake marked with small dark speckles, commonly seen climbing through shrubs and buildings in search of frogs and lizards.
Spotted Harlequin Snake
A small, brightly patterned southern African elapid with a slender body and boldly spotted coloration, resembling coral snake relatives.
Spotted Leaf-Nosed Snake
A small nocturnal desert snake named for its enlarged, leaf-shaped rostral scale used to dig for buried lizard eggs.
Spotted Python
A small, slender Australian python patterned with irregular dark brown blotches on a pale background, often found near rocky waterways.
Spotted Skaapsteker
A slender, patterned southern African snake whose name derives from a folk belief linking it to livestock.
Spotted Whip Snake
A fast, alert colubrid with a row of dark spots or blotches along its back, common in arid and semi-arid habitats across Central and Southwest Asia.
Spotted Wolf Snake
A small, spotted South Asian wolf snake with enlarged front teeth used to grip prey.
Spurred Sand Snake
A slender, fast-moving, diurnal sand snake widespread across Africa, known for its active daytime foraging.