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.
Aurora House Snake
A small, non-venomous southern African snake named for the striking orange-red dorsal stripe reminiscent of an aurora glow.
Powdered Tree Snake
A slender, nocturnal African tree snake with a finely speckled, powdery-looking pattern and large eyes suited to night vision.
Dwarf File Snake
A small African file snake with rough, keeled scales, named for its diminutive size relative to its larger relatives.
Spotted Harlequin Snake
A small, brightly patterned southern African elapid with a slender body and boldly spotted coloration, mimicking more dangerous coral snake relatives.
Battersby's Green Snake
A little-known, slender green colubrid from Central and East African forests, harmless to humans and closely related to other bush snakes.
Glossy Marsh Snake
A small, glossy, water-associated colubrid found throughout sub-Saharan African wetlands, marshes, and streamside vegetation.
Rufous Beaked Snake
A fast-moving, ground-dwelling African snake named for its distinctive upturned, beak-like snout used for burrowing and probing after prey.
Common Purple-glossed Snake
A glossy, burrowing African snake with an iridescent purplish sheen, feeding largely on other snakes and reptiles beneath the soil surface.
Cross-marked Sand Snake
A small, slender southern African sand snake named for the distinctive cross- or arrow-shaped marking on its head and neck.
Schlegel's Beaked Blind Snake
One of the largest blind snakes in the world, notable for its hardened, beak-like snout used to dig through hard African soils.
Cape Beaked Snake
A blunt-snouted, burrowing blind snake from southern Africa named for its distinctive beaked rostral scale.
Peters' Thread Snake
A tiny, worm-like burrowing snake from Africa with smooth, glossy scales and no functional venom delivery to humans.
Dwarf Beaked Snake
A tiny, patterned nocturnal snake of arid southern Africa, known for its spotted body and slightly upturned snout.
Algerian Whip Snake
A slender, fast-moving colubrid native to the Maghreb region of North Africa, closely related to the horseshoe whip snake.
Dwarf Sand Snake
One of the smallest members of the Psammophis genus, this diminutive sand snake inhabits savanna and grassland regions of southern and central Africa.
Bibron's Blind Snake
A small, worm-like burrowing blind snake widespread across southern and eastern Africa, with vestigial eyes and a smooth, glossy body.
Shield-Nosed Snake
A small, thick-bodied elapid of southern Africa named for its enlarged, shield-like rostral scale used for burrowing.
Cape Coral Snake
A small, brightly banded burrowing elapid of arid southern Africa, known for its bold red-and-black or coral pattern.
Horseshoe Whip Snake
A slender, patterned colubrid named for the horseshoe-shaped marking on the back of its head, found across southern Iberia and North Africa.
Short-snouted Grass Snake
A grassland-dwelling sand snake of southern Africa recognized by its relatively short snout and active daytime habits.
Stripe-bellied Sand Snake
A fast, alert diurnal sand snake widespread across savanna Africa, distinguished by dark stripes running along its yellowish underside.
Fork-marked Sand Snake
A slender arid-zone sand snake named for the fork-shaped marking on its head, found across the dry western landscapes of southern Africa.
Yellow-bellied House Snake
A small, non-venomous South African house snake distinguished by its bright yellow underside contrasting with a darker back.
Semi-ornate Sand Snake
A fast, slender, striped sand snake found across dry savanna and semi-desert regions of Africa.