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.
Red Whip Snake
A slender, reddish-toned whip snake found in arid regions of the Middle East, recognized by its fast movement and warm coloration.
Smooth Green Snake
A small, docile, grass-green colubrid of meadows and grasslands, distinguished from its relative by smooth, unkeeled scales.
Rainbow Snake
A glossy, iridescent black snake with three bright red or pink stripes running the length of its body, closely tied to freshwater eel populations.
Big Bend Black-Headed Snake
A small, reddish-brown desert snake with a dark head cap, found in rocky canyons of the Big Bend region.
Dahl's Whip Snake
A slender, fast-moving whip snake of dry, open habitats across the Balkans, Middle East, and parts of Central Asia.
Mexican Black Kingsnake
A striking, almost entirely jet-black kingsnake from northwestern Mexico, notable for its uniform glossy appearance.
Baird's Rat Snake
A handsomely patterned orange-and-gray rat snake of the arid Trans-Pecos region, with faint striping along its length.
Night Snake
A small, secretive, cat-eyed colubrid of arid western North America that is rear-fanged but harmless to humans.
Northern Green Snake
A slender, bright green tree-dwelling colubrid of West and Central Africa, harmless to humans and well camouflaged among foliage.
Patagonian Racer
A hardy, cold-tolerant colubrid found in the arid steppes of Patagonia, unusually far south for a rear-fanged racer.
Smooth Earthsnake
A small, plain-colored, smooth-scaled snake found under forest debris across a broad swath of the eastern U.S.
Kingsnake
A glossy, nonvenomous constrictor famous for preying on other snakes, including venomous species, thanks to partial immunity to their venom.
Scarlet Kingsnake
A small, vividly banded red, black, and yellow kingsnake of the southeastern US that mimics the venomous coral snake.
Leopard Water Snake
A boldly spotted aquatic snake of southern South American wetlands, named for the leopard-like blotches covering its body.
Checkered Garter Snake
A striped garter snake with a bold checkerboard pattern of dark blotches between the stripes, found across the arid Southwest.
Dog-toothed Cat Snake
A large, boldly patterned nocturnal tree snake of Southeast Asian forests, named for its notably elongated front teeth.
Durango Mountain Kingsnake
A tricolor mountain kingsnake from the pine-oak highlands of Durango, Mexico, part of the Mexican mountain kingsnake group.
Spotted Leaf-Nosed Snake
A small nocturnal desert snake named for its enlarged, leaf-shaped rostral scale used to dig for buried lizard eggs.
Cliff Racer
A fast, slender racer adapted to rocky and mountainous terrain across the Middle East and Central Asia.
Brown Water Snake
A large, heavy-bodied water snake often seen basking on branches over southeastern rivers, patterned with square dark blotches.
Glossy-bellied Racer
A slender, fast-moving racer from arid South Asian and Middle Eastern habitats with a distinctively glossy, spotted underside.
Aesculapian Snake
A large, agile European colubrid historically linked to the symbol of medicine, favoring warm woodlands and old buildings.
Mexican Black-Headed Snake
A tiny, secretive snake with a glossy tan body and a distinct black cap over the head and neck.
Schott's Whipsnake
A slender, fast-moving whipsnake of South Texas brushlands, patterned with pale crossbands on a darker ground color.
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.
Short-Tailed Kingsnake
A small, secretive Florida endemic with a slender body and reduced tail, rarely seen due to its burrowing habits.
Cape House Snake
A common, non-venomous constrictor found throughout southern Africa, frequently encountered near human settlements where it hunts rodents.
Lined Snake
A small, garter snake-like colubrid of the central United States, identified by a double row of dark half-moon belly markings.
Afro-Asian Sand Snake
A slim, fast-moving diurnal sand snake distributed across arid regions of Africa and Asia, mildly venomous but not medically significant to humans.
Variable Sand Snake
A small burrowing desert snake closely related to the banded sand snake, showing variable banding intensity across its Sonoran Desert range.
Eastern Kingsnake
A glossy black snake marked with narrow chain-like yellow or white bands, famed for preying on venomous snakes.
California Lyresnake
A slender, rock-dwelling nocturnal snake with cat-like vertical pupils and a lyre-shaped head marking.
Rat Snake
A large, fast-moving, non-venomous snake widespread across South and Southeast Asia, valued for controlling rodent populations.
Long-Nosed Snake
A boldly patterned desert snake with black, cream, and red saddles and a distinctively pointed, upturned nose.
Transcaucasian Ratsnake
A small, secretive ratsnake of the Caucasus and surrounding mountains, closely related to the Aesculapian snake but with a much smaller range and size.
Sharp-Tailed Snake
A small, secretive Pacific coast colubrid named for the sharp, spine-like tip of its tail, and a specialized predator of slugs.
Grass Snake
A common, harmless European snake closely tied to wetlands and known for its distinctive yellow neck collar and bluffing defensive display.
Namib Sand Snake
A desert-adapted sand snake endemic to the Namib region, built for speed across open sand and gravel plains.
Western Yellow-bellied Sand Snake
A slender, arid-adapted sand snake of southwestern Africa distinguished by its bright yellow underside and swift diurnal foraging.
Northern Cat-eyed Snake
A nocturnal, mildly venomous colubrid named for its vertical, cat-like pupils.
Mexican Wandering Garter Snake
A wide-ranging highland garter snake of western Mexico, adaptable to a variety of montane stream and forest habitats.
Yellow-spotted Keelback
A small stream-associated colubrid marked with yellow spotting along a dark body, found across South and Southeast Asian hill forests.
Southern Brown Egg-eater
A harmless, plain brown egg-specialist snake widespread in southern Africa, capable of swallowing bird eggs whole despite its small head.
Tamaulipan Montane Garter Snake
A rare, range-restricted garter snake known only from a small mountainous area of Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Sumichrast's Garter Snake
A Mexican highland garter snake named for the naturalist Francois Sumichrast, found near streams and wet meadows.
Scarce Wolf Snake
A rarely encountered, small banded wolf snake known from limited localities in the Himalayan foothill region.
Sonoran Shovel-Nosed Snake
A brightly banded desert snake closely resembling the Western Shovel-Nosed Snake, restricted to rocky Sonoran Desert foothills.
Scorpion-eating Snake
A tiny, secretive burrowing snake with a dark head cap, specialized in preying on scorpions and centipedes.