Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Australian Scrub Python
Australia's longest snake, a large iridescent python of the tropical rainforests of northeastern Queensland and Cape York.
Baird's Rat Snake
A handsomely patterned orange-and-gray rat snake of the arid Trans-Pecos region, with faint striping along its length.
Baja California Rat Snake
A smooth, glossy reddish-brown rat snake endemic to rocky canyons of the Baja California peninsula.
Baja California Rattlesnake
A small rattlesnake endemic to the arid Baja California peninsula, adapted to desert scrub and rocky terrain.
Balkan Whip Snake
A slender, fast-moving colubrid common across the Balkans, known for its alert nature and rapid, jerky movements.
Ball Python
A small python native to West and Central Africa, famous for curling into a tight ball.
Bamboo Pit Viper
A slender green pit viper found in forests of peninsular India, closely associated with bamboo thickets and dense foliage.
Banded Cat-eyed Snake
A slender, nocturnal snake with bold banding and cat-like pupils, common near wetlands.
Banded Krait
A large, boldly banded krait of South and Southeast Asia, easily recognized by alternating black and yellow rings and a distinctive triangular cross-section.
Banded Kukri Snake
A boldly banded egg-eating colubrid found across Southeast Asian lowlands.
Banded Malaysian Coral Snake
A small, slender coral snake of Southeast Asian forests, marked with fine dark crossbands and a red underside, that spends most of its life hidden underground.
Banded Racer
A fast-moving diurnal colubrid from South Asia with juveniles showing bold banding that fades with age.
Banded Rock Rattlesnake
A small, colorful rattlesnake of rocky mountain slopes, known for its bold black or dark bands set against a bluish-gray to greenish body.
Banded Sand Snake
A tiny, brightly banded desert colubrid built for burrowing through loose sand, closely resembling the shovelnose snakes it shares habitat with.
Banded Sea Krait
A distinctive black-and-pale banded sea snake that comes ashore to rest, digest, and lay eggs, unlike fully aquatic sea snakes.
Banded Water Cobra
A large, semi-aquatic African cobra of the Congo Basin, distinguished by bold banding and a strongly aquatic lifestyle centered on rivers and lakes.
Banded Water Snake
A heavy-bodied, boldly banded water snake of the southeastern US, often mistaken for the cottonmouth.
Banded Wolf Snake
A nocturnal Southeast Asian colubrid with bold banding that resembles krait species.
Bandy-Bandy
A striking black-and-white banded elapid famous for arching loops of its body when threatened.
Barbados Threadsnake
One of the smallest known snake species in the world, endemic to the small Caribbean island of Barbados and rediscovered in the early 2000s.
Bardick
A stout, short-tailed elapid of southern Australia's heath and mallee, notable for its viper-like ambush hunting style.
Bark Snake
A small, cryptically colored African colubrid that lives on tree bark and rock surfaces.
Barkly Tableland Death Adder
A grassland-dwelling death adder restricted to the black soil plains of the Barkly Tableland in northern Australia.
Baron's Green Racer
A striking, boldly patterned racer of the dry Gran Chaco woodlands, prized for its variable red, black, and cream coloration.
Barred Coral Snake
A brightly banded coral snake native to the Pacific coastal region of Mexico, notable for its wide black bands.
Barred Grass Snake
A water-loving colubrid of Western Europe, closely related to the grass snake and often showing dark vertical barring along the flanks.
Barred Wolf Snake
A small, sharp-toothed colubrid with narrow crossbands, frequently confused with kraits.
Battersby's Green Snake
A little-known, slender green colubrid from Central and East African forests, closely related to other bush snakes.
Beaked Blind Snake
A robust African blind snake with a distinctive hardened, beak-like snout adapted for digging.
Beaked Sea Snake
A fully aquatic sea snake often entangled in fishing nets.
Beautiful Pit Viper
A striking green pit viper with a red-bordered lateral stripe found in southern Thailand.
Beauty Rat Snake
A strikingly patterned, long-bodied rat snake from East and Southeast Asia, prized for its glossy scales and bold longitudinal stripes near the tail.
Beddome's Cat Snake
A slender, forest-dwelling cat snake endemic to the Western Ghats of southern India, named in honor of British naturalist Richard Henry Beddome.
Beddome's Coral Snake
A small, secretive coral snake endemic to the rainforests of the Western Ghats in southern India, named after naturalist Richard Beddome.
Belcher's Sea Snake
A fully aquatic sea snake, rarely encountered by people.
Bengal Sand Boa
A stout, burrowing South Asian boa with rough, patterned scales and a blunt tail.
Berg Adder
A small mountain-dwelling viper of southern Africa.
Biak Green Tree Python
An island locality form of the green tree python from Biak Island in Cenderawasih Bay, often noted for bold blue speckling on an emerald-green body.
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.
Bibron's Burrowing Asp
A secretive African burrowing snake known for its unusual sideways stabbing strike delivered without opening its mouth wide.
Bibron's Coral Snake
A small, elusive coral snake endemic to the Western Ghats of southern India, named after French herpetologist Gabriel Bibron.
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.
Big Bend Patch-Nosed Snake
A desert colubrid with an enlarged, upturned rostral scale used for digging, marked by a bold pale vertebral stripe.
Bismarck Ringed Python
A small, boldly ringed python from the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, known for dramatic color change with age.
Black Desert Cobra
A uniformly black desert elapid of the Middle East and North Africa, adapted to arid and sandy habitats.
Black File Snake
A small, dark, heavily keeled fossorial snake from East Asian forests, named for the rasp-like texture of its scales.
Black Garter Snake
A dark, aquatic garter snake native to the highland lakes and wetlands of central Mexico.
Black Kingsnake
A largely uniform glossy black kingsnake found in the central and southeastern United States, sometimes showing faint traces of pattern.