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.
Great Plains Rat Snake
A gray-brown rat snake with dark blotches and a distinctive arrow-shaped mark on the head, common in the prairie states.
Trans-Pecos Rat Snake
A slender desert rat snake with a distinctive H-shaped or blotched pattern, found in rocky canyons and limestone hills of the Chihuahuan Desert.
Japanese Four-lined Rat Snake
A common Japanese rat snake marked with four dark longitudinal stripes running the length of its body, frequently seen in fields and gardens.
Western Whip Snake
A fast, alert colubrid of southern Europe known for its bold yellow-and-black pattern and defensive temperament.
Western Hognose Snake
A stout, upturned-nosed colubrid of the North American prairies, known for its bluffing displays and generally docile nature.
Western Shovelnose Snake
A small, boldly banded desert colubrid with a countersunk lower jaw and flattened snout adapted for swimming through loose desert sand.
Western Worm Snake
A small, uniformly purplish-brown burrowing snake of the central plains, closely resembling its eastern relative.
Western Fox Snake
A stout, tan-and-brown blotched constrictor of the Midwest prairies, sometimes mistaken for a rattlesnake due to defensive tail vibration.
Western Lyre Snake
A slender, big-eyed nocturnal snake of desert canyons and rocky slopes, named for the lyre-shaped mark atop its head.
Western Ribbon Snake
A slender, fast-moving striped snake closely tied to water, ranging from the central US south through Mexico into Central America.
Western Brown Snake
A highly variable and widely distributed Australian elapid with potent venom, found across arid and semi-arid regions of the continent.
Western Blind Snake
A small, glossy, worm-like burrowing snake widespread across the deserts of the American Southwest, feeding almost exclusively on ants and termites.
Western Patch-Nosed Snake
A slender, fast-moving desert snake named for the enlarged, shield-like scale covering the tip of its snout.
Western Shovel-Nosed Snake
A small, banded desert specialist with a flattened, shovel-shaped snout adapted for burrowing through loose sand.
Western Terrestrial Garter Snake
A highly variable and widespread western garter snake found from mountain meadows to coastal lowlands.
Black-striped Snake
A small, secretive tan snake with dark longitudinal stripes, found in brushy lowlands of southern Texas and Mexico.
Desert Black Snake
A glossy black elapid of arid Middle Eastern deserts, closely related to cobras and possessing potent neurotoxic venom.
Black Garter Snake
A dark, aquatic garter snake native to the highland lakes and wetlands of central Mexico.
Black-Headed Snake
A tiny, secretive desert colubrid distinguished by a solid black or dark cap over the head, contrasting with its plain lighter body.
Black Milk Snake
A milk snake subspecies notable for becoming almost entirely glossy black as it matures, losing its juvenile banded pattern.
Black Pine Snake
A rare, uniformly dark subspecies of pine snake found in the longleaf pine forests of the Gulf Coast states.
Black File Snake
A small, dark, heavily keeled fossorial snake from East Asian forests, named for the rasp-like texture of its scales.
Black-Naped Snake
A slender burrowing elapid identified by a distinctive black patch on the back of the neck, native to southern Australia.
Black Whip Snake
A large, fast, and powerfully built colubrid of the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, often appearing nearly all black as an adult.