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.
Keel-Bellied Whip Snake
A slender, mildly venomous, arboreal colubrid of Southeast Asian forests, notable for the distinct keeled scales along its belly.
Dwarf File Snake
A small African file snake with rough, keeled scales, named for its diminutive size relative to its larger relatives.
Sahara Sand Viper
A small, sand-colored desert viper often bearing distinctive hornlike scales above each eye, famous for its sideways "sidewinding" locomotion across loose dunes.
Many-Horned Adder
A rocky-habitat adder distinguished by clusters of small spiny scales above each eye, unlike the single horn of related species.
Northern Eyelash Boa
A small, heavily keeled forest-floor boa from Central and South America named for the spiny scales above its eyes.
Bengal Sand Boa
A stout, burrowing South Asian boa with rough, patterned scales, often mistaken for a venomous species due to its blunt tail.
Nose-Horned Viper Ammodytes
Europe's most venomous snake, easily identified by a distinctive soft horn-like scale projecting from the tip of its snout.
Spotted Leaf-Nosed Snake
A small nocturnal desert snake named for its enlarged, leaf-shaped rostral scale used to dig for buried lizard eggs.
Colombian Rainbow Boa
A medium-sized boa prized for its iridescent sheen, which produces a rainbow-like shimmer on its scales under direct light.
Fan Si Pan Horned Pit Viper
A stout mountain pit viper with small hornlike scales above the eyes, found in high-elevation forests of the Fan Si Pan region.
Paradise Flying Snake
A slender, brilliantly patterned colubrid famed for its ability to glide from tree to tree, marked with black scales speckled in green, yellow, and red.
Ford's Boa
A tiny, rough-scaled leaf-litter dwarf boa from the wet forests of the Choco region, rarely seen due to its cryptic habits.
Argentine Rainbow Boa
A southern member of the rainbow boa group native to drier habitats of Argentina and neighboring countries, notable for its iridescent scales and relatively subdued coloration.
Painted Bronzeback
A brightly patterned, agile tree snake of Southeast Asia, named for the bold black-and-cream striping revealed between its scales when alarmed.
Horned Sea Snake
A distinctive sea snake covered in small spiny scale projections, especially around the head, giving it a rough, thorny appearance unique among sea snakes.
Checkered Keelback
One of the most common water-associated snakes in Asia, recognized by its checkerboard pattern and strongly keeled scales, frequently seen near rice paddies and ponds.
King Rat Snake
A large, powerfully built East Asian rat snake with strongly keeled scales, known for its yellowish crossbanding and its role as a natural predator of venomous snakes.