Snake Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ snakes from around the world — with family, range, size, habitat, and how to tell similar species apart.
Elegant Sea Snake
A large, robust sea snake native to Australian waters, patterned with broad dark bands that fade with age, often found in reef and estuarine habitats.
Elephant Trunk Snake
A wholly aquatic snake with loose, baggy, wrinkled skin covered in tiny rough scales, giving it a texture reminiscent of an elephant's trunk.
Elliot's Shieldtail
A small, burrowing shieldtail snake endemic to the Western Ghats, named for its distinctive hardened tail tip used for burrowing.
Emerald Snake
A vividly emerald-green African forest snake known for its keeled scales and glossy iridescence.
Emerald Tree Boa
A vivid green, arboreal boa of the Amazon rainforest, prized for its striking coloration and specialized ambush-hunting posture.
Equatorial Spitting Cobra
A predominantly black or dark-colored spitting cobra found across the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
Erabu Sea Krait
A banded amphibious sea krait from Japan's Ryukyu Islands, known for coming ashore to digest food, rest, and lay eggs, and long featured in local island culture.
Espirito Santo Rainbow Boa
A regional form of Brazilian rainbow boa from eastern Brazil known for its iridescent sheen and vivid patterning.
European Adder
The only snake native to much of the British Isles, with an enormous range spanning from western Europe to the Russian Far East, including areas within the Arctic Circle.
European Blind Snake
A small, worm-like burrowing snake with vestigial eyes, found across the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean, spending most of its life hidden underground.
European Cat Snake
A small, secretive colubrid of the Mediterranean and Balkans, easily recognized by its vertical cat-like pupils.
Everglades Rat Snake
An orange to reddish rat snake variant native to South Florida's Everglades, prized for its vivid coloration among rat snake forms.
Eyelash Viper
A small, arboreal pit viper famous for the raised scales above its eyes and its wide range of color morphs.
False Coral Snake
A slender Neotropical snake whose bold red, black, and cream banding mimics coral snakes, deterring predators.
False Fer-de-lance
A colubrid widely known for resembling fer-de-lance pit vipers through dramatic head-flattening displays.
False Horned Viper
A desert viper of the Middle East that mimics true horned vipers with supraocular scale projections, but belongs to a distinct genus.
False Smooth Snake
A small, secretive colubrid found around the Mediterranean basin, resembling true smooth snakes.
False Water Cobra
A large, aquatic South American colubrid capable of flattening its neck into a cobra-like hood when threatened.
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.
Fea's Viper
A strikingly patterned, primitive viper of montane forests, considered one of the most ancient living viper lineages.
Fer-de-lance
A large, fast-moving pit viper found across much of Central America.
Field's Horned Viper
A small desert viper of the Middle East recognized by hornlike scales above the eyes, adapted for a burrowing, sand-dwelling lifestyle.
Fiji Boa
The largest species in the genus Candoia, native to Fiji and found also in the Solomon Islands.
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.
Fishing Snake
A heavy-bodied, strongly aquatic colubrid of South American wetlands specialized for catching fish and eels.
Fitzinger's Coral Snake
A South American coral snake named in honor of naturalist Leopold Fitzinger, marked with tricolor rings.
Flat-Headed Snake
A tiny, secretive burrowing snake with a flattened head, rarely seen due to its small size and hidden lifestyle.
Florida Brown Snake
A small, secretive brown snake common in Florida gardens and leaf litter, a frequent resident of suburban yards.
Florida Brownsnake
A small, common brown snake of Florida gardens and woodlands, closely related to the widespread De Kay's Brownsnake.
Florida Cottonmouth
A large, semi-aquatic pit viper of Florida wetlands, often confused with water snakes.
Florida Crowned Snake
A tiny, secretive snake endemic to peninsular Florida's sandy scrub habitats, marked by a dark crown-like cap over the head.
Florida Green Water Snake
A large, heavy-bodied, uniformly greenish water snake common in Florida's lakes, marshes, and swamps.
Florida Kingsnake
A regional kingsnake of the Florida peninsula, exhibiting a variable pattern often intermediate between banded and blotched forms.
Florida Pine Snake
A large, pale, burrowing constrictor of Florida's sandhills, associated closely with gopher tortoise burrows.
Flowerpot Snake
The world's most widely distributed snake species, a tiny worm-like blind snake spread globally through the potted plant trade.
Flying Snake
A slender tree-dwelling colubrid capable of gliding between trees by flattening its body into a concave, wing-like shape.
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.
Forest Cobra
The largest true cobra species, an elapid of Central and West African forests with a glossy dark body and pale lip markings.
Forest Flame Snake
A slender tricolor Neotropical snake whose banded red-and-black pattern resembles that of coral snakes.
Forest Racer
A slim, keel-scaled racer inhabiting the leaf litter and understory of humid Neotropical forests.
Fork-marked Sand Snake
A slender arid-zone sand snake named for the fork-shaped marking on its head, found across the dry western landscapes of southern Africa.
Forsten's Cat Snake
A large, powerfully built cat snake found in India and Sri Lanka, known for its bold blotched pattern and strong climbing ability.
Four-Lined Snake
One of Europe's largest snakes, named for the four dark longitudinal stripes running along its body in adults.
Frog-eating Rat Snake
A widespread South and Southeast Asian colubrid closely tied to wetlands, feeding heavily on frogs.
Gaboon Adder
One of the largest and heaviest vipers in the world, renowned for its intricate geometric camouflage.
Gaboon Viper
One of the largest vipers in the world, with a broad triangular head and remarkably calm movements.
Garter Snake
One of North America's most widespread and familiar snakes, easily recognized by its longitudinal stripes and adaptability to varied habitats.
Giant Garter Snake
California's largest garter snake, an endangered wetland specialist of the Central Valley.