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.
Indian Smooth Snake
A small, secretive, non-venomous colubrid found across drier parts of India, rarely encountered due to its fossorial habits.
Rainforest Hognosed Pit Viper
A small, well-camouflaged terrestrial pit viper of Central and South American rainforests, named for its upturned snout.
Guatemalan Milk Snake
A vividly banded milk snake subspecies from southern Mexico and Guatemala, known for its bold red, black, and yellow tricolor pattern.
Annulated Tree Boa
A slender, ring-patterned arboreal boa found in Central American and northwestern South American forests, named for the ring-like blotches along its body.
Common Bridal Snake
A small, slender nocturnal colubrid from South Asia with a delicate banded pattern.
Speckled Shield Cobra
A dangerously venomous cobra of Central Asian deserts and semi-arid regions, distinguished by its plain, faintly speckled scales.
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.
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.
Viper Boa
A short, stout ground boa that mimics the appearance of a viper despite being harmless.
Clark's Coral Snake
A tricolor coral snake of Pacific lowland rainforests in Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador.
Nueces Coral Snake
A regional coral snake population from south Texas, closely related to the Texas coral snake.
Desert Black Snake
A glossy black elapid of arid Middle Eastern deserts, closely related to cobras and possessing potent neurotoxic venom.
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.
Himalayan Pit Viper
A cold-adapted pit viper found at high elevations across the Himalayas, among the highest-altitude venomous snakes in Asia.
Eastern Brown Snake
A fast, alert, and highly venomous Australian elapid considered one of the most medically significant snakes on the continent.
Copperbelly Water Snake
A regionally threatened subspecies of the Redbelly Water Snake, named for its vivid orange-red underside, restricted to isolated wetlands of the American Midwest.
Horseshoe Pit Viper
A pit viper of the Western Ghats named for horseshoe-shaped markings on its head.
Chinese Cobra
A medium-large venomous cobra of East Asia, notable for a pale, often single or double, ring-like marking on the back of its hood.
East African Gaboon Viper
A large, elaborately patterned viper found in East and Central African rainforests, closely related to the West African Gaboon Viper.
Forest Racer
A slim, keel-scaled racer inhabiting the leaf litter and understory of humid Neotropical forests.
Olive-Headed Sea Snake
A moderately large sea snake with an olive-toned head and faint banding, found in the estuarine and coastal waters of northern Australia.
Aesculapian False Coral Snake
A mildly venomous South American colubrid that mimics true coral snakes with bold red, black, and white banding.
Pacific Ground Boa
A small, variably colored ground boa found across New Guinea and nearby Indo-Pacific islands.
Sorong Green Tree Python
A locality form of the green tree python from the Sorong area of New Guinea's Bird's Head Peninsula, prized for its vivid emerald-green adult coloration.
Japanese Rat Snake
A common, blue-green to olive rat snake native to Japan, historically regarded as a benevolent house guardian in Japanese folklore.
Java File Snake
A fully aquatic file snake covered in rough, granular scales, found in the rivers and estuaries of Java and the surrounding Southeast Asian region.
Blomberg's Tree Boa
A slender, less commonly encountered tree boa native to western Ecuador and Colombia, named after Swedish explorer Rolf Blomberg.
Copperhead
A copper-colored pit viper common across the eastern US, known for its hourglass-shaped crossbands and reliance on camouflage.
Turks Island Boa
A small West Indian boa endemic to the Turks and Caicos Islands and nearby southern Bahamian islands.
Allen's Coral Snake
A tricolor Central American coral snake found in humid lowland forests near the Caribbean coast.
Florida Brown Snake
A small, secretive brown snake common in Florida gardens and leaf litter, harmless to people and a frequent resident of suburban yards.
Black Garter Snake
A dark, aquatic garter snake native to the highland lakes and wetlands of central Mexico.
Emerald Snake
A vividly emerald-green, non-venomous African forest snake known for its keeled scales and glossy iridescence.
Redtail Bamboo Pit Viper
A slender green bamboo pit viper of South and Southeast Asia, named for the reddish tail found in many individuals.
Usambara Bush Viper
A small, horn-scaled arboreal viper endemic to the Eastern Arc mountain forests of Tanzania, known for distinctive raised scales above the eyes.
False Smooth Snake
A small, secretive rear-fanged colubrid found around the Mediterranean basin, resembling true smooth snakes but bearing a mild venom used to subdue small prey.
Plain Tree Snake
A fast-moving, slender brown colubrid found in the forests of Central America and northwestern South America.
Bismarck Ringed Python
A small, boldly ringed python from the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, known for dramatic color change with age.
Eastern Ribbon Snake
A slender, striped water-loving snake closely related to garter snakes, distinguished by its very long tail and slim build.
Spiny Bush Viper
A distinctive arboreal viper covered in long, spine-tipped scales that create a shaggy, thorny appearance.
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
The largest venomous snake in North America, a heavy-bodied rattlesnake of southeastern pine forests and coastal habitats.
Loveridge's Garter Snake
A short-tailed garter snake found in high-elevation grasslands and pine-oak forests of Mexico.
Eastern Coral Snake
A slender, brightly banded elapid of the southeastern United States, famous for its red-yellow-black ring pattern and the mnemonic rhyme used to distinguish it from harmless mimics.
White-Lipped Pit Viper
A common bright green pit viper of South and Southeast Asian forests, easily recognized by its pale lower lip.
Katuali
A banded sea krait found only around the island of Niue in the South Pacific, known locally as the katuali.
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.
Prairie Kingsnake
A secretive, moderately patterned kingsnake of grasslands and open woods, often mistaken for a young rat snake or gopher snake.
Dwarf Crowned Snake
One of the smallest Australian elapids, a secretive litter-dwelling snake named for the pale crown-like collar behind its head.