Snake Identifier

Snake Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.

Rainbow Snake

Rainbow Snake

A glossy, iridescent black snake with three bright red or pink stripes running the length of its body, closely tied to freshwater eel populations.

Cape Coral Snake

Cape Coral Snake

A small, brightly banded burrowing elapid of arid southern Africa, known for its bold red-and-black or coral pattern.

Ringneck Snake

Ringneck Snake

A small, widespread North American snake recognized by a bright yellow, orange, or cream neck ring against a dark, uniform body.

Cross-marked Sand Snake

Cross-marked Sand Snake

A small, slender southern African sand snake named for the distinctive cross- or arrow-shaped marking on its head and neck.

Black Swamp Snake

Black Swamp Snake

A small, glossy black semi-aquatic snake with a bright red-orange belly, found in southeastern wetlands.

West Coast Garter Snake

West Coast Garter Snake

A common streamside garter snake of the Pacific coast, often seen basking near rivers and creeks in California and Oregon.

Baird's Rat Snake

Baird's Rat Snake

A handsomely patterned orange-and-gray rat snake of the arid Trans-Pecos region, with faint striping along its length.

Spotted Whip Snake

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.

Copperbelly Water Snake

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.

Black-banded Cat-eyed Snake

Black-banded Cat-eyed Snake

A widespread nocturnal colubrid of the Americas with large cat-like eyes and a banded or blotched pattern, common near wetlands.

Aurora House Snake

Aurora House Snake

A small southern African snake named for the striking orange-red dorsal stripe reminiscent of an aurora glow.

Plains Garter Snake

Plains Garter Snake

A grassland garter snake of the central Plains, typically showing a bright orange or yellow dorsal stripe on a dark body.

Redbelly Water Snake

Redbelly Water Snake

A heavy-bodied water snake with a plain dark back and a bright reddish-orange belly, common along ponds and swamps of the American South.

Twin-barred Tree Snake

Twin-barred Tree Snake

A small relative of the flying snakes, marked with paired dark bars along a reddish or orange body, native to Southeast Asian forests.

Trans-Pecos Rat Snake

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.

Black-headed Cat Snake

Black-headed Cat Snake

A slender, reddish-brown cat snake distinguished by its solid black or dark head, found in lowland forests of Southeast Asia.

Northwestern Garter Snake

Northwestern Garter Snake

A small, colorful, and highly variable garter snake common in gardens and forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Plain-bellied Water Snake

Plain-bellied Water Snake

A stout water snake with a plain, unpatterned belly ranging from yellow to orange, and a mostly uniform dorsal color as an adult.

MacClelland's Coral Snake

MacClelland's Coral Snake

A small, brightly patterned coral snake of Asian montane forests, recognized by its orange-brown body with black crossbands and a black-and-orange head pattern.

Duberria Lutrix

Duberria Lutrix

A small African colubrid known scientifically as Duberria lutrix, specialized in eating slugs and snails.

Black Mussurana

Black Mussurana

A large, glossy black colubrid widespread across Latin America, famed for eating other snakes, including vipers and coral snakes.

Cape Centipede-Eater

Cape Centipede-Eater

A small, secretive southern African snake that specializes in hunting centipedes.

Common Slug-eater

Common Slug-eater

A small African colubrid that feeds exclusively on slugs and snails.

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.