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.
Sabah Pit Viper
A green pit viper found in the forests of Sabah in northern Borneo.
Langsdorff's Coral Snake
A widespread Amazonian coral snake named after German naturalist Georg von Langsdorff, patterned in bold tricolor rings.
Darevsky's Viper
A small, high-altitude viper endemic to volcanic highlands at the junction of Georgia, Armenia, and Turkey.
Sri Lankan Pit Viper
A small, well-camouflaged pit viper once considered mildly venomous but now known to cause serious bites, including bleeding disorders.
Northern Green Snake
A slender, bright green tree-dwelling colubrid of West and Central Africa, harmless to humans and well camouflaged among foliage.
Elegant Pit Viper
A slender, boldly patterned island pit viper from the Ryukyu archipelago of Japan.
Arabian Rock Viper
A montane viper restricted to the high peaks of Lebanon and Syria, adapted to rocky alpine terrain.
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.
Rosy Boa
A small, calm desert boa recognized by three dark longitudinal stripes running down its otherwise pale, sandy body.
Common Puff Adder
A widespread and heavy-bodied African viper responsible for more snakebite fatalities than any other African species, due to its abundance and cryptic camouflage.
Mandalay Spitting Cobra
A little-studied spitting cobra restricted to the dry central plains of Myanmar, described as a distinct species in the early 2000s.
Mexican Milk Snake
A tricolor banded milk snake native to northeastern Mexico and southern Texas, harmless despite its coral snake-like appearance.
Kingsnake
A glossy, nonvenomous constrictor famous for preying on other snakes, including venomous species, thanks to partial immunity to their venom.
King Cobra
The world's longest venomous snake, a formidable elapid of South and Southeast Asian forests that preys chiefly on other snakes.
Cuban Dwarf Boa
A small, thick-bodied Cuban endemic known for feigning death and even releasing blood from its eyes as a dramatic defense.
Sea Krait
A banded, amphibious sea snake that comes ashore to rest, digest, and lay eggs, unlike most fully marine sea snakes.
Chinese Green Tree Viper
A slender, arboreal green pit viper common across southern China, Taiwan, and northern Vietnam, frequently encountered in forests and cultivated areas.
Steppe Rat Snake
A hardy, adaptable rat snake found across the steppes and arid regions of Central Asia, tolerant of a wide range of temperate and semi-arid habitats.
Seoane's Viper
A small viper endemic to the cool, humid northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, closely related to the common European adder.
Collett's Snake
A robust, strikingly patterned elapid endemic to the black-soil floodplains of interior Queensland.
Banded Malaysian Coral Snake
A small, slender coral snake of Southeast Asian forests, marked with fine dark crossbands and a red underside, that spends most of its life hidden underground.
European Cat Snake
A small, secretive, rear-fanged colubrid of the Mediterranean and Balkans, easily recognized by its vertical cat-like pupils.
Dog-toothed Cat Snake
A large, boldly patterned nocturnal tree snake of Southeast Asian forests, named for its notably elongated front teeth.
Savu Python
A little-studied island endemic python restricted to the tiny Indonesian island of Savu.
Spotted Leaf-Nosed Snake
A small nocturnal desert snake named for its enlarged, leaf-shaped rostral scale used to dig for buried lizard eggs.
Viperine Sea Snake
One of the largest and most heavily built sea snakes, with a viper-like thick body and disproportionately large head, capable of delivering a substantial venom yield.
Hundred-Pace Viper
A distinctively patterned, medically important pit viper of southern China and Taiwan, popularly named for the exaggerated belief a bite causes death within a hundred paces.
Variable Coral Snake
A tricolor coral snake with highly variable banding patterns found across much of Mexico and northern Central America.
Brown Water Snake
A large, heavy-bodied water snake often seen basking on branches over southeastern rivers, patterned with square dark blotches.
Northern Pine Snake
A large, powerful black-and-white blotched constrictor known for its loud hissing display and habit of burrowing in sandy pine habitats.
Cross-banded Mountain Rattlesnake
A small, rare rattlesnake of central Mexico's high volcanic slopes, distinguished by bold crossbands rather than typical diamond blotches.
California Kingsnake
A highly adaptable and widely distributed kingsnake known for its bold banded or striped patterns and resistance to pit viper venom.
Northern Black-tailed Rattlesnake
A robust, calm-tempered rattlesnake of rocky desert and mountain terrain, easily recognized by its uniformly dark tail.
Kaznakov's Viper
A small, colorful viper of the western Caucasus, often displaying vivid copper or reddish coloration and a zigzag dorsal pattern.
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.
Anomalous Sea Snake
A sea snake named for its unusual combination of scale and morphological traits, found in coastal waters of the northern Indian Ocean.
Desert Mountain Adder
A little-known rocky-terrain adder confined to arid mountain slopes along the Orange River region of southern Africa.
Black Mussurana
A large, glossy black colubrid widespread across Latin America, famed for eating other snakes, including venomous vipers and coral snakes.
Mexican Black-Headed Snake
A tiny, secretive snake with a glossy tan body and a distinct black cap over the head and neck.
Virgin Islands Boa
A small West Indian boa found across several islands of the Puerto Rico Bank, including parts of the Virgin Islands.
Godman's Montane Pit Viper
A small, high-elevation pit viper of Central American cloud forests, adapted to cool montane climates.
Barred Wolf Snake
A small, sharp-toothed colubrid with narrow crossbands, frequently confused with venomous kraits.
Mud Snake
A glossy black semi-aquatic snake with a vivid red-and-black checkered belly, often called the 'hoop snake' or 'stinging snake' in folklore.
Arizona Coral Snake
A small desert-dwelling coral snake of the Sonoran Desert region, the only coral snake species in the American Southwest, with a mild but medically distinct venom.
Short-Tailed Kingsnake
A small, secretive Florida endemic with a slender body and reduced tail, rarely seen due to its burrowing habits.
Gumprecht's Green Pit Viper
A green pit viper of mainland Southeast Asia named after herpetologist Andreas Gumprecht.
Highland Copperhead
A cold-adapted Australian elapid found at higher elevations in the southeast, closely related to the lowland copperhead but occupying alpine and subalpine habitats.
Burmese Python
One of the largest snake species in the world, a massive constrictor native to Southeast Asia and infamous for establishing invasive populations elsewhere.