Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Northwestern Garter Snake
A small, colorful, and highly variable garter snake common in gardens and forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Nose-Horned Viper
A distinctive viper of southern Europe and the Balkans recognized by a small soft horn on its snout.
Nose-Horned Viper Ammodytes
A European viper, easily identified by a distinctive soft horn-like scale projecting from the tip of its snout.
Nubian Spitting Cobra
A moderately sized spitting cobra of the Sahelian and Nile Valley regions of northeastern Africa, described to science relatively recently.
Nueces Coral Snake
A regional coral snake population from south Texas, closely related to the Texas coral snake.
Oaxacan Dwarf Boa
A rare, small forest boa endemic to a limited cloud forest region of Oaxaca, Mexico, and known from relatively few specimens.
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 Python
One of Australia's largest snakes, a plain olive-brown python found around rocky gorges and river systems in the continent's arid and tropical north.
Olive Sea Snake
A common sea snake of Indo-Pacific coral reefs, known for its curious behavior toward divers and olive-brown coloration.
Olive Whipsnake
A slender, olive-brown to greenish diurnal snake of Neotropical forests known for its speed and agility in fleeing threats.
Olive-Headed Sea Snake
A moderately large sea snake with an olive-toned head and faint banding, found in the estuarine and coastal waters of northern Australia.
Orange-Naped Snake
A slender elapid with a bold orange nape patch and black head, widespread across northern and eastern Australia.
Oriental Whip Snake
An extremely slender, bright green colubrid with a pointed snout, common in gardens and forest edges across South and Southeast Asia.
Ornamental Snake
A small, patterned nocturnal elapid restricted to the Brigalow Belt of central Queensland, listed as vulnerable due to habitat loss.
Ornate Coral Snake
A brightly ringed coral snake of the western Amazon, named for its elaborately patterned body.
Ornate Kukri Snake
A boldly patterned kukri snake native to Taiwan and neighboring parts of East Asia.
Ornate Sea Snake
A moderately robust sea snake with variable, often diamond-shaped dorsal markings, found across coral reef and coastal waters of the Indo-Pacific.
Orsini's Viper
A small, secretive meadow-dwelling viper with fragmented populations across Europe.
Ottoman Viper
A large, heavy-bodied mountain viper of Anatolia and the Aegean region.
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.
Pacific Ground Boa
A small, variably colored ground boa found across New Guinea and nearby Indo-Pacific islands.
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.
Painted Coral Snake
A vividly ringed coral snake of the South American Atlantic Forest, notable for its black snout and tricolor banding pattern.
Painted Saw-Scaled Viper
A brightly patterned desert viper of the Arabian Peninsula known for its distinctive warning display and rasping sound.
Palau Ground Boa
A lesser-known Pacific ground boa whose taxonomy and precise range have historically been debated among herpetologists.
Pale Milk Snake
A pale, muted milk snake subspecies from the central Great Plains, with washed-out banding compared to more vividly colored relatives.
Pale-Headed Snake
An arboreal elapid with a pale head, found in woodlands of eastern Australia and often sheltering under loose tree bark.
Palestine Viper
A heavy-bodied viper of the Levant.
Palmerston Carpet Python
A locality of the Darwin carpet python subspecies from the Palmerston area near Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory.
Panamanian Dwarf Boa
A small arboreal dwarf boa closely associated with Panama's tropical forests, sharing much of its biology with the Central American Dwarf Boa.
Panamint Rattlesnake
A rocky-mountain rattlesnake of the Mojave Desert's isolated ranges, often confused with the speckled rattlesnake.
Papuan Python
One of the largest pythons of New Guinea, a powerful constrictor capable of preying on sizeable mammals.
Papuan Taipan
A large taipan subspecies found in the grasslands and agricultural areas of southern Papua New Guinea.
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 Lancehead
A small pit viper found further south than any other pitviper in the world, inhabiting the cold steppes of Patagonia.
Patagonian Racer
A hardy, cold-tolerant colubrid found in the arid steppes of Patagonia, unusually far south for a racer.
Peninsula Brown Snake
A regionally restricted brown snake species found on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, once considered part of a broader brown snake complex.
Peringuey's Adder
A tiny, dorsally-eyed desert adder famous for sidewinding across the Namib's shifting dunes.
Persian Gulf Sea Snake
A moderately sized, banded sea snake commonly found in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf and surrounding Arabian Sea coastlines.
Persian Horned Viper
A desert viper of the Middle East with prominent hornlike scales above the eyes, occupying rocky and sandy terrain.
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 Viper
A rare and localized mountain viper endemic to a small area of the Alborz range in northern Iran.
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.
Peters' Thread Snake
A tiny, worm-like burrowing snake from Africa with smooth, glossy scales.
Philippine Cobra
A cobra endemic to the northern Philippines.