Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
DeKay's Brown Snake
A small, common brown snake often found in gardens and urban lots, marked by a faint pale stripe bordered by dark spots.
Radiated Rat Snake
A slender, fast-moving colubrid recognized by the radiating dark stripes across its head, common across South and Southeast Asian lowlands.
Japanese Four-lined Rat Snake
A common Japanese rat snake marked with four dark longitudinal stripes running the length of its body, frequently seen in fields and gardens.
Eastern Rat Snake
A large, glossy black constrictor common across the eastern U.S., often seen climbing trees or barn rafters in search of rodents and birds.
Chinese Green Tree Viper
A slender, arboreal green pit viper common across southern China, Taiwan, and northern Vietnam, frequently encountered in forests and cultivated areas.
Dwarf Sand Boa
A small, sandy-colored burrowing boa widespread across Central Asian deserts and steppe, one of the more common sand boas in the region.
Fine-Spined Sea Snake
A stout, boldly banded sea snake common in muddy coastal waters and a frequent bycatch species of trawl fisheries across the Indo-Pacific.
Sonoran Gopher Snake
A desert-adapted gopher snake subspecies with a lighter, more contrasting pattern than its coastal relatives, common throughout the Sonoran Desert.
Schokari Sand Racer
A slender, fast-moving desert racer common across North Africa and the Middle East, notable for its speed and daytime hunting habits.
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.
Spine-Bellied Sea Snake
A stout, small-headed sea snake with distinctly keeled belly scales, common in shallow tropical and subtropical waters and frequently caught as bycatch by trawlers.
Calico Snake
A common name for the tricolor Neotropical snake also called the false coral snake, prized for its striking patchwork of red, black, and cream bands.
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.
Montane Trinket Snake
A regional highland form of the common trinket snake found in the hill tracts of peninsular India, marked by a distinctive patterning adapted to its cooler, elevated habitat.
Brown-Lipped Sea Krait
A widely distributed, boldly banded sea krait recognized by its dark upper lip, common on coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific and known for amphibious habits.
Rhombic Egg-eater
A patterned southern African egg-eating snake, closely related to (and often considered the same species complex as) the common egg-eater, marked by bold diamond-shaped dorsal blotches.
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
One of the most widespread and commonly encountered rattlesnakes of the American Southwest, known for its bold tail rings.
Rough Earthsnake
A tiny, drab, keeled-scaled snake commonly hidden beneath leaf litter and garden debris across the Southeast.
Dekay's Brownsnake
A tiny, secretive brown snake commonly found in gardens and vacant lots across much of eastern North America.
Blomberg's Tree Boa
A slender, less commonly encountered tree boa native to western Ecuador and Colombia, named after Swedish explorer Rolf Blomberg.
Persian Gulf Sea Snake
A moderately sized, banded sea snake commonly found in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf and surrounding Arabian Sea coastlines.
Indian Rat Snake
One of the largest and most commonly encountered snakes in South Asia, a fast-moving diurnal hunter that plays a major role in controlling rodent populations.
Spotted Bush Snake
A slender, bright green African tree snake marked with small dark speckles, commonly seen climbing through shrubs and buildings in search of frogs and lizards.
Pope's Pit Viper
A slender green pit viper of Southeast Asian forests, named after herpetologist Clifford Pope, and commonly encountered in hill and montane rainforest vegetation.