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.
Aesculapian False Coral Snake
A mildly venomous South American colubrid that mimics true coral snakes with bold red, black, and white banding.
Rainbow Boa
A South American boa renowned for its iridescent sheen, which produces a shimmering rainbow effect in direct sunlight.
Brown-banded Water Snake
A common, semi-aquatic South American snake with brown banding, well adapted to life in rivers, ponds, and marshes.
Brazilian Coral Snake
A brightly ringed coral snake of southern South America's grasslands and forests, notable for its bold black-yellow-red banding and secretive lifestyle.
Olive Whipsnake
A slender, olive-brown to greenish diurnal snake of Neotropical forests known for its speed and agility in fleeing threats.
California Whipsnake
A slim, quick-moving chaparral specialist with a black body accented by a bold cream side stripe.
Spotted Whip Snake
A fast, alert colubrid with a row of dark spots or blotches along its back, common in arid and semi-arid habitats across Central and Southwest Asia.
Guyana Blackback Coral Snake
A small coral snake of northern South America and southern Central America, patterned in tricolor rings with narrow pale bands.
False Water Cobra
A large, aquatic South American colubrid capable of flattening its neck into a cobra-like hood when threatened.
Mertens' Coral Snake
A South American coral snake honoring herpetologist Robert Mertens, found in the dry western forests of Ecuador and Peru.
Leopard Water Snake
A boldly spotted aquatic snake of southern South American wetlands, named for the leopard-like blotches covering its body.
Ringneck Snake
A small, widespread North American snake recognized by a bright yellow, orange, or cream neck ring against a dark, uniform body.
Jararacussu
One of the largest South American lanceheads, a heavy-bodied forest pit viper capable of delivering large venom yields.
Painted Coral Snake
A vividly ringed coral snake of the South American Atlantic Forest, notable for its black snout and tricolor banding pattern.
Jararaca
A widespread South American pit viper important both medically and pharmacologically, as its venom led to the development of ACE inhibitor drugs.
Reddish Whip Snake
A slender, fast-moving colubrid with a reddish-brown, striped pattern, widely distributed across arid regions of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Striped Coral Snake
One of the largest and most widespread South American coral snakes, boldly banded in red, black, and white, with medically significant neurotoxic venom.
Pygmy Coral Snake
A small monadal-pattern coral snake of the dry Chaco and Cerrado regions of southern South America.
Blotched Snake
A large, powerfully built ratsnake of the Caucasus and steppe regions, patterned with bold dark blotches along a pale body.
Dahl's Whip Snake
A slender, fast-moving whip snake of dry, open habitats across the Balkans, Middle East, and parts of Central Asia.
Afro-Asian Sand Snake
A slim, fast-moving diurnal sand snake distributed across arid regions of Africa and Asia, mildly venomous but not medically significant to humans.
Banded Krait
A large, boldly banded krait of South and Southeast Asia, easily recognized by alternating black and yellow rings and a distinctive triangular cross-section.
Common Lancehead
The most widespread lancehead of the Amazon Basin, a major cause of snakebite envenomation across tropical South America.
Dumeril's Coral Snake
A tricolor coral snake of humid forests in northern South America, named for French naturalist Auguste Dumeril.