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.
Twig Snake
A slender, cryptically colored tree-dwelling snake whose twig-like body and mottled coloring make it nearly invisible among branches; it is rear-fanged and produces a potent hemotoxic venom.
African Beaked Snake
A fast-moving, mildly venomous African colubrid with an upturned snout used for digging out rodent burrows.
African Rock Python
The largest snake species in Africa, a massive constrictor found across the sub-Saharan savanna belt, capable of taking prey as large as antelope.
West African Gaboon Viper
A massive, ornately patterned viper with the longest fangs of any snake, native to West African rainforests.
West African Egg-eater
A harmless, egg-specialist snake from West and Central African forests, notable for its ability to swallow eggs many times the width of its head.
Common Vine Snake
A slender, twig-mimicking African tree snake with exceptional camouflage and keyhole-shaped pupils, possessing venom that, though rear-fanged, can be medically significant.
Cape File Snake
A distinctive African colubrid with unusually rough, file-like body scales and a specialized diet that includes other snakes, notably venomous species.
Brown House Snake
A common, adaptable African colubrid frequently found around human dwellings, valued informally for its role in controlling rodent populations.
Cape Wolf Snake
A small, nocturnal African colubrid named for its enlarged, fang-like front teeth used to grip smooth-scaled reptile prey such as lizards and other snakes.
Emerald Snake
A vividly emerald-green, non-venomous African forest snake known for its keeled scales and glossy iridescence.
Spurred Sand Snake
A slender, fast-moving, diurnal sand snake widespread across Africa, known for its active daytime foraging and mild rear-fanged venom.
Mole Snake
A large, powerfully built, non-venomous African snake specialized in preying on burrowing rodents.
Semiornate Snake
A large, patterned African bush snake with cross-barring on the neck, harmless to humans and one of the bigger species in its genus.
Vine Snake
An extremely slender, twig-like colubrid that camouflages among vines and branches, striking rapidly at lizard prey.
Northern Green Snake
A slender, bright green tree-dwelling colubrid of West and Central Africa, harmless to humans and well camouflaged among foliage.
Egg-Eating Snake
A remarkable colubrid with a highly specialized diet consisting entirely of bird eggs, swallowed whole and crushed internally.
Moila Snake
A robust, fast-moving desert snake of North Africa and Arabia, known as the 'false cobra' for its hood-flattening threat display.
Clifford's Snake
A robust, boldly blotched diadem snake found in sandy and rocky desert habitats from North Africa across the Middle East into Central and South Asia.
Common Egg-Eating Snake
A slender African colubrid famed for a diet consisting almost entirely of bird eggs, which it swallows whole and crushes internally.
Common Mole Snake
A large, powerfully built, non-venomous African snake specialized for hunting burrowing rodents, common across a wide range of southern African habitats.
Bark Snake
A small, cryptically colored, rear-fanged African colubrid that lives on tree bark and rock surfaces, of minimal risk to humans.
Herald Snake
A small, common African colubrid recognized by its reddish lips and defensive flattening display, generally considered harmless to humans despite being mildly venomous.
Cape Grass Snake
A common southern African grass snake with a diamond-patterned back, mildly venomous but not dangerous to humans.
Sundevall's Garter Snake
A small, secretive African garter snake with a banded pattern, related to cobras but with weak venom and a reclusive, burrowing lifestyle.