Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Mole Snake
A large, powerfully built African snake specialized in preying on burrowing rodents.
Montane Egg-eater
A small African snake specialized entirely for eating bird eggs, found in highland and montane habitats of East and Central Africa.
Montane Trinket Snake
A regional highland form of the common trinket snake found in the hill tracts of peninsular India, marked by a distinctive patterning adapted to its cooler, elevated habitat.
Montpellier Snake
A large, fast-moving colubrid of the Mediterranean, notable for its prominent brow ridges and hood display.
Mountain Patch-Nosed Snake
A slender striped snake of rocky foothills and mountain canyons, closely related to the Western Patch-Nosed Snake.
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.
Mussurana
A large, snake-eating colubrid famed for its dramatic ontogenetic color change.
Namib Sand Snake
A desert-adapted sand snake endemic to the Namib region, built for speed across open sand and gravel plains.
Narrow-headed Garter Snake
A highly aquatic, fish-eating garter snake of clear mountain streams, notable for its unusually narrow head.
Natal Green Snake
A slender, bright green snake found in coastal and inland vegetation of southeastern Africa, sometimes mistaken for the boomslang.
Neckband Snake
A small, slender colubrid known for a banded pattern that abruptly changes partway down the body, and a tail that can detach.
Nelson's Milk Snake
A boldly banded milk snake subspecies from western Mexico, featuring wide red bands and narrow black-and-white borders.
Neotropical Bird Snake
A fast, alert diurnal snake found from Central America to the Amazon, named for its habit of raiding bird nests for eggs and nestlings.
Neotropical Snail-eater
An alternate common name for the widespread snail-specialist snake found across humid Neotropical forests, known for its slender build and molluscivorous diet.
Neotropical Water Snake
A strongly aquatic colubrid common in still and slow-moving freshwater habitats across northern South America.
Neuwied's False Boa
A slender, reddish-brown colubrid from northern South America that superficially resembles boas despite belonging to a different family.
New Mexico Milk Snake
A tricolor milk snake subspecies of the arid Southwest, with vivid red, black, and white banding across a slender body.
Night Snake
A small, secretive, cat-eyed colubrid of arid western North America.
North American Racer
A fast-moving, slender colubrid found across much of North America, known for its speed and alert, active behavior.
Northern Cat-eyed Snake
A nocturnal colubrid named for its vertical, cat-like pupils.
Northern Green Snake
A slender, bright green tree-dwelling colubrid of West and Central Africa, well camouflaged among foliage.
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.
Northern Water Snake
A heavy-bodied, aquatic colubrid often mistaken for a cottonmouth, common around lakes, ponds, and rivers.
Northwestern Garter Snake
A small, colorful, and highly variable garter snake common in gardens and forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Olive Grass Snake
A large, fast, olive-colored African sand snake often seen actively hunting through grassland by day, closely related to other Psammophis species.
Olive House Snake
A plain, uniformly colored snake from southern Africa often found near water and moist habitats.
Olive Keelback
A drab, olive-toned freshwater colubrid common in ponds, ditches, and paddies across South Asia.
Olive Whipsnake
A slender, olive-brown to greenish diurnal snake of Neotropical forests known for its speed and agility in fleeing threats.
Oriental Whip Snake
An extremely slender, bright green colubrid with a pointed snout, common in gardens and forest edges across South and Southeast Asia.
Ornate Kukri Snake
A boldly patterned kukri snake native to Taiwan and neighboring parts of East Asia.
Pacific Gopher Snake
A large, heavy-bodied colubrid of the Pacific coast known for its loud hiss and tail-vibrating display that often leads to mistaken identity as a rattlesnake.
Painted Bronzeback
A brightly patterned, agile tree snake of Southeast Asia, named for the bold black-and-cream striping revealed between its scales when alarmed.
Pale Milk Snake
A pale, muted milk snake subspecies from the central Great Plains, with washed-out banding compared to more vividly colored relatives.
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.
Parrot Snake
A slender, bright green, diurnal tree snake with large eyes, common throughout Neotropical forests.
Patagonian Racer
A hardy, cold-tolerant colubrid found in the arid steppes of Patagonia, unusually far south for a racer.
Persian Ratsnake
A slender, olive-brown ratsnake of the southern Caspian region, marked with a broken dark vertebral line and named for its historic Persian range.
Persian Whip Snake
A slender, fast-moving colubrid found across Iran and neighboring regions, typically marked with a subtle striped pattern and a pale yellowish underside.
Pine Woods Snake
A small, secretive, yellowish-brown snake of pine flatwoods and hammocks in the southeastern coastal plain.
Plain Tree Snake
A fast-moving, slender brown colubrid found in the forests of Central America and northwestern South America.
Plain-bellied Water Snake
A stout water snake with a plain, unpatterned belly ranging from yellow to orange, and a mostly uniform dorsal color as an adult.
Plains Black-Headed Snake
A small, secretive prairie snake with a plain tan body capped by a distinct black head and neck collar.
Plains Garter Snake
A grassland garter snake of the central Plains, typically showing a bright orange or yellow dorsal stripe on a dark body.
Prairie Kingsnake
A secretive, moderately patterned kingsnake of grasslands and open woods, often mistaken for a young rat snake or gopher snake.
Pueblan Milk Snake
A vividly banded milk snake native to south-central Mexico, known for its bold tricolor pattern.
Puff-Faced Water Snake
A bold, patterned Southeast Asian water snake with a distinctive puffed facial appearance, common in ponds and waterways.
Queen Snake
A slender, semi-aquatic snake of clean, rocky streams that feeds almost exclusively on freshly molted crayfish.
Racer
A slender, fast-moving, sharp-eyed snake known for its speed.