Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Mexican Garter Snake
A wetland-dependent garter snake of the desert Southwest and Mexico, now rare across much of its northern range.
Rossman's Garter Snake
A little-known garter snake from western Mexico, named after herpetologist Douglas Rossman.
Plains Garter Snake
A grassland garter snake of the central Plains, typically showing a bright orange or yellow dorsal stripe on a dark body.
Angolan Garter Snake
A small African garter snake with faint banding, related to the African garter snakes of the genus Elapsoidea.
Giant Garter Snake
California's largest garter snake, an endangered wetland specialist of the Central Valley.
West Coast Garter Snake
A common streamside garter snake of the Pacific coast, often seen basking near rivers and creeks in California and Oregon.
Mexican Blackbelly Garter Snake
A semi-aquatic garter snake from the Mexican Plateau notable for its dark, often solid black underside.
Short-headed Garter Snake
A small, range-restricted garter snake found only in a narrow area of Pennsylvania and New York, specialized for hunting earthworms.
Narrow-headed Garter Snake
A highly aquatic, fish-eating garter snake of clear mountain streams, notable for its unusually narrow head.
Western Terrestrial Garter Snake
A highly variable and widespread western garter snake found from mountain meadows to coastal lowlands.
Coral Snake
A brightly ringed elapid with red, yellow, and black bands, known for the order in which its bands touch.
False Coral Snake
A slender Neotropical snake whose bold red, black, and cream banding mimics coral snakes, deterring predators.
Desert Banded Snake
A tiny, burrowing banded elapid of the Western Australian desert, rarely seen due to its subterranean lifestyle.
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 Water Snake
A heavy-bodied, boldly banded water snake of the southeastern US, often mistaken for the cottonmouth.
Stephens' Banded Snake
A boldly banded, tree-dwelling elapid found in coastal forests of eastern Australia.
Water Coral Snake
An unusually aquatic coral snake of the Amazon Basin, bearing classic red-black-yellow banding, but rarely encountered due to its semi-aquatic habits.
Mexican Alpine Blotched Garter Snake
A high-altitude garter snake from central Mexico's volcanic peaks, marked by a ladder-like blotched pattern rather than clean stripes.
Southern Durango Spotted Garter Snake
A montane garter snake from the pine-oak forests of southern Durango, distinguished by a spotted rather than striped dorsal pattern.
Coral Pipe Snake
A brightly banded red-and-black burrowing snake from the Amazon, resembling coral snakes in pattern.
Barred Coral Snake
A brightly banded coral snake native to the Pacific coastal region of Mexico, notable for its wide black bands.
Tricolored Coral Snake
A coral snake whose common name directly reflects its bold red-black-yellow banded pattern.
Redtail Coral Snake
A slender coral snake distinguished by its black-and-white banded body ending in a strikingly reddish-orange tail.
Sonoran Coral Snake
A small, brightly banded desert coral snake found in Arizona and northwestern Mexico, distinguished by its blunt black snout.