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.
Black-headed Centipede-eater
A small, secretive African burrower named for its glossy black head and its diet of centipedes.
Prairie Kingsnake
A secretive, moderately patterned kingsnake of grasslands and open woods, often mistaken for a young rat snake or gopher snake.
Speckled Kingsnake
A glossy black kingsnake speckled with small yellow spots on nearly every scale, giving it a salt-and-pepper appearance.
Florida Kingsnake
A regional kingsnake of the Florida peninsula, exhibiting a variable pattern often intermediate between banded and blotched forms.
Common Slug-eater
A small, docile African colubrid that feeds exclusively on slugs and snails, completely harmless to humans.
Southern Copperhead
A common, well-camouflaged pit viper of southern woodlands, responsible for many defensive bites due to its cryptic pattern.
Jamaican Boa
Jamaica's largest native snake, a non-venomous constrictor known locally as the 'yellow snake' for its coloration, and considered vulnerable due to introduced predators.
Sumatran Pit Viper
A large, striking green pit viper found in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo, notable for its vivid coloration and arboreal lifestyle.
Santa Catalina Island Rattlesnake
A critically endangered island endemic notable for lacking a functional rattle segment, making it unusually silent among rattlesnakes.
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.
Milos Viper
A rare, island-endemic viper found only on Milos and a few nearby Cycladic islands in Greece, notable for its restricted range and conservation concern.
Mangshan Pit Viper
A rare and large pit viper endemic to a single mountain region in China, notable for its size and pale, mossy coloration.
West African Brown Spitting Cobra
A small brown spitting cobra of the West African Sahel, notable for having a proportionally high venom toxicity for its size.
Variable Kingsnake
A wide-ranging, highly variable kingsnake found from Mexico to Central America, showing diverse banding and color patterns across its range.
Steppe Ratsnake
A widespread, cold-tolerant ratsnake of the Eurasian steppe and taiga edges, ranging farther north than almost any other ratsnake species.
Yellow-tailed Cribo
A large, powerful South American colubrid related to indigo snakes, known for its glossy scales and impressive length.
Bibron's Burrowing Asp
A secretive, venomous African burrowing snake known for its unusual sideways stabbing bite delivered without opening its mouth wide.
Chinese Cobra
A medium-large venomous cobra of East Asia, notable for a pale, often single or double, ring-like marking on the back of its hood.
Southern Pacific Rattlesnake
A common rattlesnake of coastal and inland southern California, noted for its variable venom and dark diamond blotches.
Biak Green Tree Python
An island locality form of the green tree python from Biak Island in Cenderawasih Bay, often noted for bold blue speckling on an emerald-green body.
Collared Dwarf Racer
A tiny, secretive colubrid of the Middle East and Caucasus, notable for its small size and a dark collar marking behind the head.
Durango Mountain Kingsnake
A tricolor mountain kingsnake from the pine-oak highlands of Durango, Mexico, part of the Mexican mountain kingsnake group.
Variegated Slug-eater
A small, patterned relative of the Common Slug-eater, restricted to parts of southern Africa and equally harmless to humans.
Black Mussurana
A large, glossy black colubrid widespread across Latin America, famed for eating other snakes, including venomous vipers and coral snakes.