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.
Common Puff Adder
A widespread and heavy-bodied African viper responsible for more snakebite fatalities than any other African species, due to its abundance and cryptic camouflage.
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.
Spectacled Cobra
One of India's 'Big Four' medically significant snakes, famous for the spectacle-shaped mark on its raised hood.
Cuban Boa
The largest native snake in Cuba, a powerful constrictor known for hunting bats at cave entrances and adapting to a range of habitats across the island.
Burmese Python
One of the largest snake species in the world, a massive constrictor native to Southeast Asia and infamous for establishing invasive populations elsewhere.
Common Lancehead
The most widespread lancehead of the Amazon Basin, a major cause of snakebite envenomation across tropical South America.
Olive Whipsnake
A slender, olive-brown to greenish diurnal snake of Neotropical forests known for its speed and agility in fleeing threats.
Calabar Boa
A cylindrical, burrowing boa-like snake from West and Central Africa with a distinctive blunt tail used to confuse predators.
Terciopelo
A large, medically significant pit viper responsible for the majority of snakebite incidents across its Central American range.
Brazilian Lancehead
A medium to large lancehead pit viper of central Brazil's savanna, responsible for a significant number of snakebite cases in the region.
Indian Cobra
A highly venomous cobra of the Indian subcontinent, famous for the spectacle-like marking on its hood and its role in traditional snake charming.
Kingsnake
A glossy, nonvenomous constrictor famous for preying on other snakes, including venomous species, thanks to partial immunity to their venom.
Round Island Boa
A now likely-extinct burrowing boa once endemic to Round Island near Mauritius, notable for its unique jaw structure among snakes.
Black Mamba
One of the world's most feared snakes, the black mamba is Africa's longest venomous snake, renowned for its speed, potent neurotoxic venom, and the black interior of its mouth.
Boomslang
A slender, large-eyed African tree snake famous for its potent hemotoxic venom delivered through rear fangs, making it one of the few colubrids capable of causing severe or fatal envenomation in humans.
Fer-de-lance
A large, fast-moving, and medically significant pit viper responsible for the majority of snakebite incidents across much of its Central American range.
Reticulated Centipede-eater
A small, secretive African snake specialized for hunting centipedes, with a fine reticulated pattern and a mild venom adapted to subdue its arthropod prey.
Neotropical Snail-eater
An alternate common name for the widespread snail-specialist snake found across humid Neotropical forests, known for its slender build and molluscivorous diet.
Many-Banded Krait
A slender, black-and-white banded krait of East and Southeast Asia with venom among the most potent of any land snake, well known in the herpetological and medical literature.
Malayan Pit Viper
A medium-sized, heavy-bodied pit viper of Southeast Asia known for its distinctive triangular head markings and its role in significant numbers of snakebite cases in the region.
Common Krait
A highly venomous nocturnal elapid of South Asia, glossy blue-black with faint white crossbands, responsible for a significant number of snakebite cases in the region.
Round Island Keel-Scaled Boa
The last surviving species of an ancient, highly endangered snake family, found only on Round Island near Mauritius and rescued through conservation breeding.
Saw-Scaled Viper
A small but highly venomous viper found across the Middle East and South Asia, notable for producing a distinctive rasping sound by rubbing its scales together and responsible for a large number of snakebite incidents in its range.