Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Yellow-bellied Liophis
A widespread South American colubrid with a bright yellow belly, often found near wetlands and grasslands.
Anaconda
One of the heaviest snakes on Earth, a massive semi-aquatic constrictor of South American rivers and swamps.
Green Anaconda
One of the world's heaviest snakes, a massive semi-aquatic constrictor of South American rivers and wetlands.
Lichtenstein's Green Racer
A slender green-and-gray South American snake, common in gardens and forest edges, known for its speed.
Striped Coral Snake
One of the largest and most widespread South American coral snakes, boldly banded in red, black, and white.
Andean Milk Snake
A South American milk snake subspecies from Andean foothill regions, displaying classic tricolor banding.
Ruschenberger's Tree Boa
A slender, arboreal tree boa of Central America and northern South America closely related to the common tree boa.
Rainforest Hognosed Pit Viper
A small, well-camouflaged terrestrial pit viper of Central and South American rainforests, named for its upturned snout.
Yellow-tailed Cribo
A large, powerful South American colubrid related to indigo snakes, known for its glossy scales and impressive length.
Rainbow Boa
A South American boa renowned for its iridescent sheen, which produces a shimmering rainbow effect in direct sunlight.
Brown-banded Water Snake
A common, semi-aquatic South American snake with brown banding, well adapted to life in rivers, ponds, and marshes.
Guyana Blackback Coral Snake
A small coral snake of northern South America and southern Central America, patterned in tricolor rings with narrow pale bands.
Mertens' Coral Snake
A South American coral snake honoring herpetologist Robert Mertens, found in the dry western forests of Ecuador and Peru.
False Water Cobra
A large, aquatic South American colubrid capable of flattening its neck into a cobra-like hood when threatened.
Jararaca
A widespread South American pit viper important pharmacologically, as compounds isolated from it led to the development of ACE inhibitor drugs.
Leopard Water Snake
A boldly spotted aquatic snake of southern South American wetlands, named for the leopard-like blotches covering its body.
Common Lancehead
The most widespread lancehead of the Amazon Basin, found across tropical South America.
Painted Coral Snake
A vividly ringed coral snake of the South American Atlantic Forest, notable for its black snout and tricolor banding pattern.
Green Racer
A slender, bright green, fast-moving snake of South American forests that hunts actively by day for frogs, lizards, and small mammals.
Mimic False Coral
A striking red, black, and cream banded colubrid of South America that mimics coral snakes.
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.
Pygmy Coral Snake
A small monadal-pattern coral snake of the dry Chaco and Cerrado regions of southern South America.
Redbelly Water Snake
A heavy-bodied water snake with a plain dark back and a bright reddish-orange belly, common along ponds and swamps of the American South.
Dumeril's Coral Snake
A tricolor coral snake of humid forests in northern South America, named for French naturalist Auguste Dumeril.