Snake Identifier

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.

Two-striped Forest Pit Viper

Two-striped Forest Pit Viper

A slender, brilliant green arboreal pit viper of the Amazon rainforest, named for the pale stripes running along its sides.

Halys Pit Viper

Halys Pit Viper

A widespread Central Asian pit viper found across steppe, desert, and semi-arid habitats.

Common Lancehead

Common Lancehead

The most widespread lancehead of the Amazon Basin, a major cause of snakebite envenomation across tropical South America.

Truong Son Pit Viper

Truong Son Pit Viper

A small, brown terrestrial pit viper endemic to the misty Annamite mountains along the Vietnam-Laos border.

Rough-Scaled Bush Viper

Rough-Scaled Bush Viper

A striking arboreal viper covered in unusually long, upturned, spine-like scales that give it a shaggy, bristly appearance.

Bushmaster

Bushmaster

The longest venomous snake in the Americas and the largest pit viper in the world, an elusive forest dweller of Central and South America.

Rock Rattlesnake

Rock Rattlesnake

A small, boldly banded rattlesnake of rocky mountain habitats along the US-Mexico borderlands.

Broad-Banded Temple Pit Viper

Broad-Banded Temple Pit Viper

A boldly banded temple pit viper endemic to the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Speckled Rattlesnake

Speckled Rattlesnake

A desert-dwelling rattlesnake whose speckled coloration closely matches the rocky terrain it inhabits.

Wagler's Pit Viper

Wagler's Pit Viper

A strikingly patterned arboreal pit viper famous for congregating in large numbers at temples in Malaysia.

Arabian Horned Viper

Arabian Horned Viper

A sand-dwelling desert viper of the Arabian Peninsula, closely resembling the African Horned Viper but occupying a distinct eastern range.

Ottoman Viper

Ottoman Viper

A large, heavy-bodied mountain viper of Anatolia and the Aegean region considered one of the more dangerous vipers of the Near East.

Saw-Scaled Viper

Saw-Scaled Viper

A small but highly venomous viper found across the Middle East and South Asia, notable for producing a distinctive rasping sound by rubbing its scales together and responsible for a large number of snakebite incidents in its range.

Water Moccasin

Water Moccasin

A heavy-bodied semi-aquatic pit viper of the southeastern US, named for the white lining of its mouth displayed as a threat.

Kanburian Pit Viper

Kanburian Pit Viper

A rare, range-restricted green pit viper known primarily from the Kanchanaburi region of western Thailand.

Transcaucasian Sand Viper

Transcaucasian Sand Viper

A desert-dwelling viper of the Caucasus and Iranian plateau, closely related to the false horned vipers.

Aruba Island Rattlesnake

Aruba Island Rattlesnake

A critically endangered rattlesnake found only on the island of Aruba, restricted to a small area of remaining dry forest habitat.

Fan Si Pan Horned Pit Viper

Fan Si Pan Horned Pit Viper

A stout mountain pit viper with small hornlike scales above the eyes, found in high-elevation forests of the Fan Si Pan region.

Milos Viper

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.

Godman's Mountain Pit Viper

Godman's Mountain Pit Viper

A stout, short-tailed pit viper of Asian highland forests with variable earthy brown patterning.

Eastern Green Mamba Bush Viper

Eastern Green Mamba Bush Viper

An arboreal African viper with rough, keeled scales and variable green coloration, often mottled with yellow or blue tones.

Prairie Rattlesnake

Prairie Rattlesnake

A widespread rattlesnake of the North American grasslands and high plains, well adapted to a broad range of elevations and cooler climates than many of its relatives.

Green Bush Viper

Green Bush Viper

A small, arboreal African viper with rough spiny scales and a body color that varies from green to yellow or blue-green.

Meadow Viper

Meadow Viper

A small, threatened viper of montane meadows and steppe grasslands in southern and southeastern Europe, with a mild venom rarely of medical concern.

Western Rattlesnake

Western Rattlesnake

A widespread pit viper of the western United States and Canada, recognized by its dark blotches and rattling tail.

Guangxi Pit Viper

Guangxi Pit Viper

A stout forest pit viper found in the karst and montane forests of southern China and northern Vietnam.

Jerdon's Pit Viper

Jerdon's Pit Viper

A high-altitude pit viper of the eastern Himalayas and adjacent hill country, marked with bold black and yellow banding.

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake

Northern Pacific Rattlesnake

A widespread western rattlesnake found from forested foothills to coastal scrub, recognizable by its dark blotched pattern and prominent tail rattle.

Northern Cottonmouth

Northern Cottonmouth

A stout, semi-aquatic pit viper of southeastern wetlands, named for the white lining of its mouth displayed as a threat.

Mojave Rattlesnake

Mojave Rattlesnake

A desert rattlesnake notable for producing venom with potent neurotoxic components in many populations, distinguishing it medically from most other rattlesnakes.

Painted Saw-Scaled Viper

Painted Saw-Scaled Viper

A brightly patterned desert viper of the Arabian Peninsula known for its distinctive warning display and rasping sound.

Sri Lankan Pit Viper

Sri Lankan Pit Viper

A small, well-camouflaged pit viper once considered mildly venomous but now known to cause serious bites, including bleeding disorders.

Elegant Pit Viper

Elegant Pit Viper

A slender, boldly patterned island pit viper from the Ryukyu archipelago of Japan.

Mexican Cantil

Mexican Cantil

A dark, bold-patterned pit viper of Mexican tropical lowlands, closely related to the cottonmouth and copperhead.

Common Puff Adder

Common Puff Adder

A widespread and heavy-bodied African viper responsible for more snakebite fatalities than any other African species, due to its abundance and cryptic camouflage.

South American Rattlesnake

South American Rattlesnake

A widespread and medically important rattlesnake of South American savannas and open habitats, known for its neurotoxic venom components.

Jararacussu

Jararacussu

One of the largest South American lanceheads, a heavy-bodied forest pit viper capable of delivering large venom yields.

Kaznakov's Viper

Kaznakov's Viper

A small, colorful viper of the western Caucasus, often displaying vivid copper or reddish coloration and a zigzag dorsal pattern.

Nose-Horned Viper Ammodytes

Nose-Horned Viper Ammodytes

Europe's most venomous snake, easily identified by a distinctive soft horn-like scale projecting from the tip of its snout.

Gumprecht's Green Pit Viper

Gumprecht's Green Pit Viper

A green pit viper of mainland Southeast Asia named after herpetologist Andreas Gumprecht.

Field's Horned Viper

Field's Horned Viper

A small desert viper of the Middle East recognized by hornlike scales above the eyes, adapted for a burrowing, sand-dwelling lifestyle.

Hump-Nosed Pit Viper

Hump-Nosed Pit Viper

A small but medically significant pit viper of southern India and Sri Lanka, notable for its upturned, hump-like snout.

Orsini's Viper

Orsini's Viper

A small, secretive meadow-dwelling viper with fragmented populations across Europe, generally regarded as having weak venom of little medical significance to humans.

Bornean Pit Viper

Bornean Pit Viper

A green arboreal pit viper endemic to Borneo, common in lowland and hill forest.

Southern Copperhead

Southern Copperhead

A common, well-camouflaged pit viper of southern woodlands, responsible for many defensive bites due to its cryptic pattern.

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

Arizona Black Rattlesnake

A darkly colored montane rattlesnake of central Arizona known for its ability to darken further with age and altitude.

Sind Saw-Scaled Viper

Sind Saw-Scaled Viper

A small, highly defensive desert viper known for producing a distinctive rasping warning sound by rubbing its serrated scales together.

Chinese Mountain Pit Viper

Chinese Mountain Pit Viper

A stout, ground-dwelling pit viper of montane forests across southern China and Southeast Asia.