Snake Identifier

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.

Smooth Earth Snake

Smooth Earth Snake

A small, plain, burrowing colubrid of the eastern and central United States, closely resembling the Rough Earth Snake but with smooth scales.

Smooth Earthsnake

Smooth Earthsnake

A small, plain-colored, smooth-scaled snake found under forest debris across a broad swath of the eastern U.S.

Rough Earth Snake

Rough Earth Snake

A tiny, plain-colored, fossorial colubrid common in leaf litter and gardens across the southeastern United States.

Smooth Snake

Smooth Snake

A secretive, smooth-scaled European colubrid often mistaken for a viper, notable for constricting prey including other reptiles.

Indian Smooth Snake

Indian Smooth Snake

A small, secretive, non-venomous colubrid found across drier parts of India, rarely encountered due to its fossorial habits.

Smooth Green Snake

Smooth Green Snake

A small, docile, grass-green colubrid of meadows and grasslands, distinguished from its relative by smooth, unkeeled scales.

False Smooth Snake

False Smooth Snake

A small, secretive rear-fanged colubrid found around the Mediterranean basin, resembling true smooth snakes but bearing a mild venom used to subdue small prey.

Southern Smooth Snake

Southern Smooth Snake

A small, secretive colubrid of southwestern Europe and North Africa, closely resembling the smooth snake but with a more southerly range.

Common Smooth-Scaled Water Snake

Common Smooth-Scaled Water Snake

A small, mildly venomous, aquatic colubrid common in the rice paddies, ponds, and waterways of Southeast Asia.

Sunbeam Snake

Sunbeam Snake

A glossy, iridescent burrowing snake of Southeast Asia named for the rainbow sheen its smooth scales produce in sunlight.

Frog-eating Rat Snake

Frog-eating Rat Snake

A widespread South and Southeast Asian colubrid closely tied to wetlands, feeding heavily on frogs.

Glossy Snake

Glossy Snake

A pale, sleek desert snake resembling a gophersnake but with smoother scales and a distinctly glossy sheen.

Cape Wolf Snake

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.

Baja California Rat Snake

Baja California Rat Snake

A smooth, glossy reddish-brown rat snake endemic to rocky canyons of the Baja California peninsula.

Peters' Thread Snake

Peters' Thread Snake

A tiny, worm-like burrowing snake from Africa with smooth, glossy scales and no functional venom delivery to humans.

Bibron's Blind Snake

Bibron's Blind Snake

A small, worm-like burrowing blind snake widespread across southern and eastern Africa, with vestigial eyes and a smooth, glossy body.

Rough Earthsnake

Rough Earthsnake

A tiny, drab, keeled-scaled snake commonly hidden beneath leaf litter and garden debris across the Southeast.

Elliot's Shieldtail

Elliot's Shieldtail

A small, burrowing shieldtail snake endemic to the Western Ghats, named for its distinctive hardened tail tip used for burrowing.

False Water Cobra

False Water Cobra

A large, aquatic South American colubrid capable of flattening its neck into a cobra-like hood when threatened.

Anaconda

Anaconda

One of the heaviest snakes on Earth, a massive semi-aquatic constrictor of South American rivers and swamps.

Slender Blind Snake

Slender Blind Snake

A tiny, worm-like blind snake often mistaken for an earthworm, spread worldwide through the potted plant trade.

Braminy Blind Snake

Braminy Blind Snake

The world's most widely distributed snake species, a tiny, all-female burrower often mistaken for an earthworm and spread globally via potted plants.

Short-headed Garter Snake

Short-headed Garter Snake

A small, range-restricted garter snake found only in a narrow area of Pennsylvania and New York, specialized for hunting earthworms.