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.
Indian Smooth Snake
A small, secretive, non-venomous colubrid found across drier parts of India, rarely encountered due to its fossorial habits.
Annulated Tree Boa
A slender, ring-patterned arboreal boa found in Central American and northwestern South American forests, named for the ring-like blotches along its body.
Pale Milk Snake
A pale, muted milk snake subspecies from the central Great Plains, with washed-out banding compared to more vividly colored relatives.
Speckled Shield Cobra
A dangerously venomous cobra of Central Asian deserts and semi-arid regions, distinguished by its plain, faintly speckled scales.
Terciopelo
A large, medically significant pit viper responsible for the majority of snakebite incidents across its Central American range.
Western Green Mamba
A vivid green, arboreal mamba of West African forests, closely related to the eastern green mamba but geographically separated by the continent's dry central belt.
Travancore Wolf Snake
A small, secretive wolf snake endemic to the Western Ghats, named for the enlarged fang-like front teeth typical of its genus.
Clark's Coral Snake
A tricolor coral snake of Pacific lowland rainforests in Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador.
Reticulated Centipede-eater
A small, secretive African snake specialized for hunting centipedes, with a fine reticulated pattern and a mild venom adapted to subdue its arthropod prey.
Desert Black Snake
A glossy black elapid of arid Middle Eastern deserts, closely related to cobras and possessing potent neurotoxic venom.
Northern Water Snake
A heavy-bodied, aquatic colubrid often mistaken for a venomous cottonmouth, common around lakes, ponds, and rivers.
Himalayan Pit Viper
A cold-adapted pit viper found at high elevations across the Himalayas, among the highest-altitude venomous snakes in Asia.
Liana Snake
A vividly patterned, slender arboreal snake of Amazonian and Central American forests, closely related to the red vine snake.
Copperbelly Water Snake
A regionally threatened subspecies of the Redbelly Water Snake, named for its vivid orange-red underside, restricted to isolated wetlands of the American Midwest.
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.
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.
Assam Trinket Snake
A regional subspecies of trinket snake from the hill forests of northeastern India, sharing the bold chain-like pattern of its relatives.
Forest Racer
A slim, keel-scaled racer inhabiting the leaf litter and understory of humid Neotropical forests.
Hooded Malpolon
A large, fast rear-fanged snake of the western Mediterranean known for its hood-like defensive display, closely related to the Eastern Montpellier snake.
Aesculapian False Coral Snake
A mildly venomous South American colubrid that mimics true coral snakes with bold red, black, and white banding.
Eastern Montpellier Snake
A large, fast-moving rear-fanged snake known for raising its head cobra-like when threatened, found across the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.
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.
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.
Java File Snake
A fully aquatic file snake covered in rough, granular scales, found in the rivers and estuaries of Java and the surrounding Southeast Asian region.
Blue Coral Snake
A strikingly beautiful elapid with an iridescent blue-black body, red head and tail, and one of the most potent venoms among Asian elapids.
Copperhead
A copper-colored pit viper common across the eastern US, known for its hourglass-shaped crossbands and reliance on camouflage.
White-Lipped Snake
A small, cold-tolerant elapid of cool southern Australian habitats, named for the pale scales bordering its upper lip.
Allen's Coral Snake
A tricolor Central American coral snake found in humid lowland forests near the Caribbean coast.
Egg-Eating Snake
A remarkable colubrid with a highly specialized diet consisting entirely of bird eggs, swallowed whole and crushed internally.
Black Garter Snake
A dark, aquatic garter snake native to the highland lakes and wetlands of central Mexico.
Coral Snake
A brightly ringed, highly venomous elapid known for the rhyme distinguishing it from harmless mimics: 'red touch yellow, kill a fellow.'
Redtail Bamboo Pit Viper
A slender green bamboo pit viper of South and Southeast Asia, named for the reddish tail found in many individuals.
Common Garter Snake
One of the most widespread and familiar snakes in North America, known for its longitudinal stripes and highly variable coloration.
False Smooth Snake
A small, secretive rear-fanged colubrid found around the Mediterranean basin, resembling true smooth snakes but bearing a mild venom used to subdue small prey.
Sea Snake
A fully marine elapid adapted for life at sea, with a paddle-like tail and no need to return to land.
Bismarck Ringed Python
A small, boldly ringed python from the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, known for dramatic color change with age.
Diadem Snake
A robust desert colubrid with striking patterned coloration, found across arid regions from North Africa to South Asia.
Spiny Bush Viper
A distinctive arboreal viper covered in long, spine-tipped scales that create a shaggy, thorny appearance.
Water Coral Snake
An unusually aquatic coral snake of the Amazon Basin, bearing classic red-black-yellow banding and a potent neurotoxic venom, but rarely encountered due to its semi-aquatic habits.
Loveridge's Garter Snake
A short-tailed garter snake found in high-elevation grasslands and pine-oak forests of Mexico.
Portuguese Viper
A small viper of the Iberian Peninsula and northwestern Africa, recognizable by a soft nasal appendage similar to its close relatives.
White-Lipped Pit Viper
A common bright green pit viper of South and Southeast Asian forests, easily recognized by its pale lower lip.
Paradise Flying Snake
A slender, brilliantly patterned colubrid famed for its ability to glide from tree to tree, marked with black scales speckled in green, yellow, and red.
Boomslang
A slender, large-eyed African tree snake famous for its potent hemotoxic venom delivered through rear fangs, making it one of the few colubrids capable of causing severe or fatal envenomation in humans.
Mulga Snake
One of Australia's largest venomous snakes, the Mulga Snake is a robust, widespread elapid capable of delivering a large volume of venom.
Dwarf Crowned Snake
One of the smallest Australian elapids, a secretive litter-dwelling snake named for the pale crown-like collar behind its head.
Leopard Snake
A strikingly patterned, harmless colubrid from southern Europe often regarded as one of the continent's most beautiful snakes.
Northern Brown Snake
A fast, alert elapid closely related to the western brown snake, common across arid and tropical northern Australia.