Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Western Fox Snake
A stout, tan-and-brown blotched constrictor of the Midwest prairies, sometimes mistaken for a rattlesnake due to tail vibration.
Western Green Mamba
A vivid green, arboreal mamba of West African forests, closely related to the eastern green mamba but geographically separated by the continent's dry central belt.
Western Groundsnake
A small, highly variable desert snake that may be striped, banded, or plain depending on the population.
Western Hognose Snake
A stout, upturned-nosed colubrid of the North American prairies, known for its bluffing displays.
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 Massasauga
A small prairie rattlesnake with a lighter, more contrasting blotched pattern than its eastern relative.
Western Patch-Nosed Snake
A slender, fast-moving desert snake named for the enlarged, shield-like scale covering the tip of its snout.
Western Rat Snake
A large, dark constrictor of the central U.S. that darkens with age, closely related to the eastern and gray rat snakes.
Western Rattlesnake
A widespread pit viper of the western United States and Canada, recognized by its dark blotches and rattling tail.
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 Shovel-Nosed Snake
A small, banded desert specialist with a flattened, shovel-shaped snout adapted for burrowing through loose sand.
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 Terrestrial Garter Snake
A highly variable and widespread western garter snake found from mountain meadows to coastal lowlands.
Western Whip Snake
A fast, alert colubrid of southern Europe known for its bold yellow-and-black pattern.
Western Worm Snake
A small, uniformly purplish-brown burrowing snake of the central plains, closely resembling its eastern relative.
Western Yellow-bellied Sand Snake
A slender, arid-adapted sand snake of southwestern Africa distinguished by its bright yellow underside and swift diurnal foraging.
Whitaker's Sand Boa
A small, burrowing sand boa native to western India, named for herpetologist Romulus Whitaker and closely related to the more widespread red sand boa.
White-Bellied Mangrove Snake
A stocky, mildly aquatic mangrove-dwelling snake specialized in feeding on soft-shelled crabs.
White-Lipped Island Pit Viper
A striking island pit viper found across the Lesser Sunda Islands, notable for its variable turquoise, blue, or yellow coloration.
White-Lipped Pit Viper
A common bright green pit viper of South and Southeast Asian forests, easily recognized by its pale lower lip.
White-Lipped Snake
A small, cold-tolerant elapid of cool southern Australian habitats, named for the pale scales bordering its upper lip.
White-lipped Keelback
A small forest-floor colubrid of Southeast Asia distinguished by its contrasting white upper lip scales.
White-spotted Cat Snake
A slender, marbled cat snake often marked with pale flecks, found in the forests of Southeast Asia.
Wirot's Pit Viper
A green arboreal pit viper found in forests of Thailand and the Malay Peninsula, named after Thai herpetologist Wirot Nutaphand.
Woma Python
A python of Australia's arid interior, unusual among pythons for lacking heat-sensing labial pits.
Worm Snake
A tiny, glossy, worm-like colubrid of the eastern United States that spends nearly all its life burrowed underground in loose soil and leaf litter.
Worm Snake Eastern
A small, glossy, worm-like colubrid of eastern North American forests, spending nearly all its life burrowed in loose, moist soil.
Yapen Green Tree Python
An island locality of the green tree python from Yapen Island in Cenderawasih Bay off the northern coast of New Guinea.
Yaqui Black-Headed Snake
A small, secretive snake of southeastern Arizona's mountain canyons, with a tan body and dark head cap.
Yellow Anaconda
A large, semi-aquatic constrictor of South American wetlands, smaller than its relative the green anaconda but still among the heaviest snakes in the Americas.
Yellow Rat Snake
A striking striped rat snake variant found in the Deep South, typically yellow or olive with four dark longitudinal stripes.
Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake
The most widely distributed snake species in the world, a fully pelagic sea snake found drifting across open tropical oceans.
Yellow-Faced Whipsnake
A slender, fast-moving Australian elapid named for the distinctive yellowish marking on its face, active by day and generally shy toward humans.
Yellow-Lipped Sea Krait
A boldly banded, air-breathing sea krait of Indo-Pacific coral reefs and coastlines.
Yellow-bellied House Snake
A small South African house snake distinguished by its bright yellow underside contrasting with a darker back.
Yellow-bellied Liophis
A widespread South American colubrid with a bright yellow belly, often found near wetlands and grasslands.
Yellow-bellied Puffing Snake
One of South America's largest colubrid snakes, known for inflating its neck and hissing loudly when threatened, with a bright yellow underside.
Yellow-blotched Palm Pit Viper
A green arboreal pit viper of Guatemalan and Chiapan cloud forests, marked with pale yellow blotches along its back.
Yellow-speckled Wolf Snake
A nocturnal Asian wolf snake with fine yellow speckling on a dark body, preying chiefly on lizards.
Yellow-tailed Cribo
A large, powerful South American colubrid related to indigo snakes, known for its glossy scales and impressive length.
Yellowbelly Water Snake
A plain, dark-backed water snake subspecies with a pale yellow belly, common in bottomland wetlands of the Mississippi Valley and Gulf states.
Yunnan Pit Viper
A green pit viper native to Yunnan Province in southern China and adjacent regions.
Zayu Mountain Pit Viper
A little-known, regionally endemic pit viper from the mountainous borderlands of southeastern Tibet.
Zebra Spitting Cobra
A boldly banded spitting cobra of the arid southwestern African coast, named for its striking black-and-cream crossbanded pattern.
Arunachal Pit Viper
A green pit viper endemic to Arunachal Pradesh, part of a wave of newly described pit viper species from the eastern Himalayan foothills.
Awl-Headed Snake
A small desert colubrid with a pointed, awl-like snout used for burrowing, closely related to the crowned leaf-nosed snake and adapted to sandy habitats.
Bahamian Boa
A West Indian boa endemic to islands of the northern Bahamas.
Balsan Coral Snake
A slender tricolor coral snake endemic to Mexico's Balsas River depression, recognized by narrow black-white-black triads separated by broad red bands.