S E R PE N T I NE

M A R K L A I TA
S E R P E N T I NE
M A R K L A I TA
INTRODUCTION
W I L L I A M T. VO L L M A N N

Abrams, New York

in association with PQ Blackwell
 The sad truth is that man’s real life consists of a complex of
inexorable opposites — day and night, birth and death, happiness
and misery, good and evil. We are not even sure that one will prevail
against the other, that good will overcome evil, or joy defeat pain.
Life is a battleground. It always has been, and always will be;
and if it were not so, existence would come to an end.
C. G. Jung
Prologue Attraction and repulsion. Passivity and aggression. Allure and danger.

Mark Laita These extreme dichotomies, along with the age-old symbolism connected
with snakes, are what first inspired me to produce this series. Every time
I photograph a snake, I am fascinated by its color and texture, of course,
but what interests me most are the sensual forms its movement creates.
It is as if these creatures are — to their core — so inherently beautiful that
there is nothing they can do, no position they can take, that fails to be
anything but mesmerizing.

As a photographer, my most successful efforts have always been where

my subject, whether an especially beautiful model, a perfectly timed
landscape, or a tragically poignant portrait, was such that it would be
impossible to produce imagery that was anything less than precisely what
I imagined it could be. To look through my camera and take in these
sensual, luxurious, and elegant creatures is intoxicating at times. It’s the
ultimate “look, but don’t touch” scenario.

All this sensual allure, combined with a dangerous, unpredictable, and

mysterious nature, makes these creatures an irresistible subject for me.
Thirteen years ago, the first snake I photographed in this fashion was
a fairly harmless royal python, but even with the lack of a serious threat, it
was still a captivating creature. My more recent images of many of the
world’s most dangerous and beautiful snakes benefit from the tension
of beauty and danger. Their beauty heightens the danger. The danger
amplifies their beauty.

That snakes, especially the more impressive species like a black mamba
or a king cobra, are without arms or legs and yet are still so quick and
infinitely capable of doing whatever they want, awakens the primitive,
ancestral nightmare that our civilized minds prefer to keep buried:
that we were once prey ourselves. As humans, we look to the eyes to
detect meaning or warmth, but snakes leave us feeling defenseless and
vulnerable. The unwillingness of a snake’s cold, unblinking eyes to reveal
anything that it might be contemplating horrifies us.

Yet snakes are basically passive creatures, at least to humans. They

mean us no harm until we provoke them into protecting themselves. And
that occasionally fatal defense mechanism of many snakes is what repels,
attracts, and mystifies.

My hope is that this project illuminates the beauty of these immeasurably

strange creatures, as we see ourselves reflected in their inhuman eyes —
our dreams, both good and evil; our fears, both present and imagined;
our humanity, both symbolic and visceral. These exquisite predators
embody our fears; they symbolize our mortality. But they are neither good
nor evil unto themselves. As we understand them, we come to understand
those darker corners of our humanity, and accepting them helps us
accept ourselves.
Introduction This Eastern coral snake looped once over itself, its alternating bands of red and black separated by yellow

William T. Vollmann stripes, its outthrust neck ending in that inconspicuous black head which the glitter of the photographer’s
light source transforms into the mimic of a beetle-shell, in total what is it? A belt, strap or some other
manufactured appliance —

In contradistinction, the blue Malaysian coral snake coiled across itself in illustration of that timeworn word,
“elegant,” or perhaps “stylized,” or even “calligraphic” — a rounded Greek letter delta, a dollar sign, an
ocotillo twisted by an obsessive cooper and then whittled away at either end to reveal the salmon-pink
heartwood — appears, at least in this one pose, to be less of a constructed thing, more of a creature than
the first coral snake, but how much can it “understand” in that tiny pink head?

Jung opines, to me very convincingly, that

it is not the conscious subject but the unconscious which does the projecting. Hence one meets
with projections; one does not make them. The effect of projection is to isolate the subject from
his environment, since instead of a real relationship to it there is now only an illusory one. Projections
change the world into the replica of one’s own unknown face. In the last analysis, therefore, they
lead to an autoerotic or autistic condition in which one dreams a world whose reality remains forever
unattainable.1

Like all rebels, Jung succeeded in removing himself only to a point from the repressive paradigms which
informed his youth. Thus even his mysticism partakes of moralism and, specifically, of Puritanism. Although
he extols the inner life, offering lively, even profound if occasionally preposterous speculations about
serpents in relation to alchemy and the collective unconscious, he nonetheless presents the “autoerotic or
autistic condition” as potentially deficient, neurotic, dangerous, precisely because it is unrealistic. Be that as
it may (let’s call his warning well taken), since I am a seeker of beauty wherever I may find it, projection is my
meat. The pleasure in color and joy in pattern which I receive from Serpentine owes little to any awareness,
let alone intention, of the reptiles involved. I have always believed that the best way to experience a book is
alone, or, as Jung would say, isolated from my environment. When I become enraptured by a novel whose
author has long since achieved the glories of subterranean dust and whose characters never existed, upon
what can my absorption be founded but some glorious triumph of projection? To be sure, the unknown
face of my self which I superimpose in turn upon this or that imaginary personage alters according to the
dead novelist’s intentionality. However, completeness being unattainable in human affairs, he can portray
this villain and that lovely ghost only so far. Then, if the book “speaks to me,” my projection does the rest.

And what if a snake speaks to me? Our most impressive projections upon the natural world take the form
of poetry, prayer and incommunicable dreads and ecstasies. Hence if I were to glimpse a blue Malaysian
coral snake by chance, I would see and feel — what?

Of course the published image of each snake came into being through some blend of chance and
intentionality. Mark Laita chose when to capture what he saw, and which of his captures to preserve, but
he could hardly have instructed the reptile precisely how to display itself, much less which skin to wear.
Even the simple red and white alternations of an albino Honduran milksnake, ending in that classic forked
tongue (rather pallid in this case), must vary from specimen to specimen. Our every choice is inherently
limited, which renders choosing no less essential. What component of choice is projection? I cannot tell
you. And is projection a choice? More or less — probably less.

As one might expect from a visual artist, Laita thinks more in images than in words, so when I inquired into
Serpentine’s purpose, he defined the project as “just something that’s compelling in this case, sensual and
captivating. I’m not trying to show you what that Mexican black kingsnake looks like. It’s just a beautiful form.”

1
 . G. Jung, Aspects of the Feminine, trans. R. F. C. Hull [from The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, vols. 6, 7, 9 i, 9 ii, 10, 17]
C
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, Bollingen ser. XX), p. 166 (“The Shadow and the Syzgy”).
On the weekend before I met him, he had been bitten by a black mamba, an event which could have
rendered Serpentine a posthumous publication. Laita’s fundamental axiom on snakecraft: “If you don’t
move, he won’t strike.” Apparently the correct clothing for this pursuit is shorts; one does not wish a
venomous reptile to disappear up one’s pant-leg. In this case, “the snake started moving up; the handler
got the hooked pole and hooked a power cord instead of the snake — lots of blood. He told me most
likely it was a dry bite.”

Like any good photographer of life, this man (blond, slender, much younger looking than his age) is brave
and driven, perhaps a trifle ruthless. His first book consisted of paired portraits of humans from various
walks of life. “It’s the physiognomies and so on,” he remarked. “I love shooting that kind of stuff. I can’t
get enough of it.” The pairings in that book, Created Equal, are sufficiently ironic and at times disturbing to
render this ingenuous characterization of his motives highly suspect. Laita knew well enough that he was
about to create documentary portraits as fine as Avedon’s. Intentionality was most definitely at work there.
Hence I will assume the same about Serpentine.

But, as I cannot help but repeat, the supremely alien qualities of the snakes in this book leave my
engagement with them no expressive outlet except for projection. What the snake experiences will always
lie beyond my knowledge; and therefore Serpentine, while less conventionally “informative,” may also be
less false than the compilation of “wildlife photos” which lays out its subjects in attitudes of supposed
coherence and awareness. Hence Laita’s portrait of a Wagler’s pit viper as a meandering loop, the
head nearly touching the tail, of yellow-green bands, which are somewhat irregular, like the pre-painted
threads of ikat cloth, and which glow with a seeming phosphorescence comparable to that of the minerals
autunite and willemite which my parents gave me when I was a boy, along with long-wave and short-
wave ultraviolet lamps to make visible those two rocks’ eerie yellow-green and yellow-white pustulations
of loveliness in the darkness. (By the way, what is the equivalent darkness on each page of Serpentine?
Mark Laita: “I set up the black velvet back-drop, with the lights over here, and I set up the camera,
looking down.”) — Perhaps on another occasion this portrait might not have made me recollect autunite
and willemite at all. I might simply have been reminded of another page’s Sri Lankan green pit viper.
But in either case, I think its beauty would have startled me, I suppose because “one meets with projections;
one does not make them.” — The viper’s head is substantial, almost a spearhead, so I can conveniently
begin to project upon it my own beloved prejudices about consciousness . . .

Were I to relate my own snake-associations and idle snake-thoughts to you at any great length, they
would strike you as banal in their fundamental quality of accident, because, good projector that I am, I
can only make them about me. But then the reason that so much music criticism is nearly unreadable to a
lay audience is that the musical experience lies beyond words. And I experience like a musical chord the
spectacular yellow V’s upon the black weave of a mangrove snake’s body, a wasplike pattern upon the
blackness of the photographer’s background, the head wider than either of the two coral snakes’ but still
somehow blind or unconscious. This snake strikes me as less “artificial” or “mechanical,” more plantlike
than the coral snake, I think on account of those yellow hatchings, which could almost be narrow pinnate
leaves upon the black stalk of a tall and waving weed. When Laita tells us, “it’s just a beautiful form,” that
may be all that’s worth saying. Being a projector, I will say more.

Perhaps it was the same Christmas when one of my little sisters unwrapped her gift and discovered
a toy called a Geomograph2, through whose means the whirling of a pencil locked in a hole in a round
template within another hole produced inhumanly precise curlicues. As I now stare into the blackness
of the photographer’s square, the black cross-hatchings and black rims of an aurora house snake’s golden
scales, especially as curved by this reptile’s frozen writhe (reason to be grateful to Laita: under “normal”
conditions one could but rarely gain an opportunity to study the animal in an uncoiled, alert but motionless
position), cause this memory to visit me, a splendid guest with an unknown purpose coiled within him.

2
It had a different name, but I decline to be an unpaid pimp for any consumer product.
Why does he come now? The aurora house snake was his travel vehicle tonight. But he and the snake are
separate. He stands there, smilingly showing me the living room on Christmas, the morning sky still black,
both my parents still alive, my sisters both children, the Christmas tree lights reinvested with that glamor
which they display for children (they repel me nowadays). Meanwhile, the aurora house snake is a stream
of molten gold upon an anvil of night.

One might say that these associations further nothing. Am I but looking to see my own face? Perhaps
my gaze waits for me within the night emptiness at the center of a certain viper’s pinkish coilings (its
arcs of tail resemble double-braided cord). Here is a red spitting cobra (Naja pallida) photographed
in mid-gape like some beautiful nightmare, the head almost brassy-hued like the fright-figurehead on
some old Viking longship, the gaze of that round dark eye unknowable as usual; what does it see, and
does it know why it spits poison? Is it fearful, angry, hungry or none of the above? Page by page, the
beautifully alien intentionality of all these posings slowly bereaves me of my drive to ask such questions.
To be sure, my projections and reactions writhe automatically on: If I were a weaver, the inspiration
I could take! And were I a Buddhist, I might be guided toward some kind of perfection like unto the
loop of this desert kingsnake upon itself. I turn the page and turn the page, finding now a Vogel’s pit
viper seen from underneath, a bright green frond or frill, like some night-stalk caught in too bright a
flash, the spade-shaped leaf of the head puffed out at the cheeks after the fashion of my daughter’s
pet lizard when it seeks to magnify its impression upon the world; in this fashion my own beautiful,
trivial life keeps me company as faithfully as the sanguine-brick-filled diamond-shaped vertebrae (skin
decorations, of course) inform the russet presence of the Northern viper through all its twistings. I put
Serpentine away, pattern-satiated. After awhile I open it again, ready once again to browse through its
treasury of forms. This world, even the reptilian world alone, is so far superior in its myriad designs to
anything I could ever have dreamed up that I cannot but be strengthened and magnified every time
I take the trouble to open my eyes. As Thoreau says:

We are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by the perpetual instilling and
drenching of the reality which surrounds us.3

And yet it seems just as true to repeat Jung’s admonition about projection, that one “dreams a world whose
reality remains forever unattainable,” in the form, for example, of my childhood resurrected, or approximated,
or pretended to, in those two random images carried to me on the patterned backs of snakes. The world
from before my father’s death is certainly as “forever unattainable” as Thoreau’s sojourn at Walden Pond
became after he moved away. To be sure, he could revisit his house, but it would have altered in the
manner of abandoned things. The “reality” of its plants and seasons must still have approximated what
he remembered, all the more so since his sentences, founded in detailed journal notes, fixed a certain
experience beautifully and accurately. Walden is forever (or is it “forever unattainable”?) Thoreau asserts and
implies — how I wish it were so! — that the place he discovered, or invented, remains eternally available
to anybody brave, industrious and self-denying. (I went to Walden once; I could hardly see round all
the joggers. Likewise, I once saw a Wagler’s pit viper and did not understand it.) His vision is as lovely as
Laita’s lighting upon the multitudinous small and irregular polka dots of the speckled kingsnake. He knows
his plants far better than I do my snakes; he tills his earth and measures his pond; he observes an ant-war
and eats a woodchuck; isn’t he reality-drenched? I happen to own (and prize) an edition of The Illustrated
Walden whose gentle photographs, taken considerably later by a man named Gleason, pair image and
text to make Thoreau’s descriptions of meadow-flowers, fields and hooting trains all the realer. But the way
of life Walden upholds and exhorts us to share is to a significant extent a rhetorical one — otherwise why put
an end to it after two years? Moreover, the airy self-reliance at its center sometimes constitutes selfishness
or worse. For instance, to dismiss as did Thoreau the horrors of slavery with the remark that we (the free
men who possess the privilege of squatting on Emerson’s land) suffer far worse overseers in ourselves

3
 enry D. Thoreau, The Illustrated Walden, with Photographs from the Gleason Collection, ed. J. Lyndon Shanley (Princeton: Princeton
H
University Press, 1973), p. 97 (“Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”).
than do Africans down south is, while not exactly abhorrent, a trifle callous, and calls into question the
enlargement of sympathy to which the author lays claim in his pseudo-state of nature. Walden is one
of my favorite books. I too hope someday to live alone for awhile, perhaps in a desert or on an island.
Thoreau’s exaltation of the dawn potentialities which still remain to us, no matter how much of our lives
we might have wasted, his call to independence of mind and body, his thrilling assertions of how little we
actually need, all these glow like liquid metal upon the scales of the black Pakistan cobra’s head. I let him
inspire me without trusting in his righteousness, or even necessarily in his rightness. What is this world of
his? Call it projection. Wherein lay his paradise of voluntary solitude; how invented was it? Who can say
how something “really” was? When my youngest sister delightedly opened her Geomograph and began
constructing perfect whirligigs within circles, while the snakeskin-bright wrapping paper lay crumpled on
the floor until my father burned it up in the fire, and my mother was warming up the Christmas cake in the
oven, it must have still been dark outside because my sisters always got so excited on Christmas that they
would get us up early; but what if this actually happened on Christmas Eve (when we were each allowed
to open one present), in which case it would have been dark for a different reason and there would have
been no cake-fragrance, and what if the Geomograph actually pertained to my second youngest sister,
and, by the way, whatever did become of that thing? I seem to remember it lying in a stack of board games
year after year, unplayed with, and finally vanishing. The more I question this memory, the less I trust it.
So what was it then?

As Laita has caught him, the albino black pastel royal python lacks a head; he is merely a paisley coil of life,
potentially endless — capable, no doubt, of violent explosion. If I could project on him a meaning grand
and true enough, maybe (as Thoreau would have me do) I could improve myself in a new and unknown
way. Or would it be more “sublime and noble” to receive whatever his reality consists in? If I could describe
him for you, or photograph him, would that constitute projection, documentation or something else? The
shaggy-scaled squatness of an African bush viper, whose white double tongue, as delicate as two grass
blades, might be death’s tripwire; and the blue beauty ratsnake’s bright coils as bewilderingly numerous as
that classic so-called “instantaneous photograph” of a high school drum majorette’s baton twirls; and the
juvenile mussurana coil of black glitter upon a coil of pinkish-red; and the appropriately named beautiful pit
viper (Trimeresurus venustus), what shall I tell you and myself about all these? When will I begin?

A king cobra, which for all I can tell has been sliced in half longitudinally, so flattened do its coils appear,
and even its lifted upper jaw — it must be on the verge of striking — appears to be a triangular origami
flap which the paper enthusiast has creased once perpendicularly to the horizontal axis and then once
more in parallel; how can this construction (which by the way is comprised of ocher-golden-orange
irregulars mortared into place by some obsessive-compulsive paper mason) possibly be alive? And if
it is, in what does life consist; and why do I, who to my own way of thinking am also alive, comprehend it
so little? And who understands whom less, the snake or I?

And the silver-black weave of a Mexican black kingsnake upon that now familiar black square (he is similar
in hue to my favorite, the black Pakistan cobra, whose coils dispose themselves utterly differently: in an
S whose tail half resolves into a stunningly perfect spiral), and the way an urutu somewhat resembles a
giraffe in its markings (there is also, to me at least, something gruesome about the creature, as if it had
been skinned to reveal a long strip of meat padded with alien vesicles), and that Brazilian rainbow boa,
as beautifully obscene as the vulva of a red-lit nightclub girl, what will they be to you? “One meets with
projections; one does not make them.” No, I never could have imagined this world.
 If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people
somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary
only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line
dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.
Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil
to one who is striking at the root . . .
Henry David Thoreau
 Evil in the human psyche comes from a failure to bring together,
to reconcile, the pieces of our experience. When we embrace all that
we are, even the evil, the evil in us is transformed . . . When the diverse
living energies of the human system are harmonized, the present bloody
face of the world will be transformed into an image of the face of God.
Andrew Bard Schmookler
 We live in a time when there dawns upon us a
realization that the people living on the other side of the
mountain are not made up exclusively of red-headed devils
responsible for all the evil on this side of the mountain.
C. G. Jung
 If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.
If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.
Jesus, The Gospel According to Thomas
I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil.
Albert Einstein
 The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together:
our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not; and our
crimes would despair, if they were not cherish’d by our virtues.
William Shakespeare
 Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is
embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker
and denser it is . . . At all counts, it forms an unconscious
snag, thwarting our most well-meant intentions.
C. G. Jung
 If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find
in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 The great epochs of our lives are at the points when we
gain courage to rebaptize our badness as the best in us.
Friedrich Nietzsche
There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
Martin Luther King Jr.
 Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are
only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage.
Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence,
something helpless that needs our love.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Information
Editor’s note: We have made every effort to ensure that all information provided is accurate. However, as classification of snake species continues to undergo change and research is ongoing, the distribution, habitat,
length, feeding, and breeding information for some subspecies (trinomials) was not always verifiable. In such cases we have instead provided information on the species (binomial) or genus to which that snake belongs.
This is indicated in the descriptions as follows: * information relates to species
Eastern Brown Snake, 2012
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Pseudonaja textilis
Other name(s): Common brown snake
Distribution: Central, eastern, and
northern Australia, New Guinea
Habitat: Dunes, pasture, grassland,
woodland, scrub
Length: 5–7 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats amphibians, birds,
lizards, small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 10–35 eggs
King Cobra, 2011
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Ophiophagus hannah
Distribution: Southern and
southeastern Asia
Habitat: Forest
Length: Up to 18 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Predominantly eats
other snakes, occasionally lizards
and small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to
40–50 eggs
** information relates to genus
Hagen’s Pit Viper, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Trimeresurus hageni
Other name(s): Indonesian pit viper
Distribution: Indonesia, Malaysia,
Thailand
Habitat: Forest
Length: Up to 5 feet**
Feeding: Venomous. Eats lizards,
small mammals
Boa Constrictor, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Boidae/Boinae
Binomial: Boa constrictor
Other name(s): Common boa,
red tail boa (used by breeders)
Distribution: Central America,
South America, Caribbean
Habitat: Includes arid woodland
and scrub, rainforest, around
human dwellings
Length: 6.5–13 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 50 young
Mexican Black Kingsnake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Lampropeltis getula nigritus
Other name(s): Common kingsnake
(Mexican black kingsnake is a
subspecies of the common kingsnake)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Includes woodland,
marshland, forest, desert*
Length: 3–6 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
mammals, other snakes, reptiles*
Breeding: Egg-layer, 3–24 eggs*
Blue Malaysian Coral Snake, 2011
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Calliophis bivirgata
(previously Maticora bivirgata)
Other name(s): Blue long-glanded
coral snake
Distribution: Southeast Asia
Habitat: Forest
Length: Up to 6 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats other snakes
Breeding: Egg-layer
Eastern Coral Snake, 2010
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Micrurus fulvius
Other name(s): Harlequin coral snake,
northern coral snake
Distribution: Southeastern U.S.,
as far west as Texas
Habitat: From dry woodland to
tropical hammocks
Length: 2–3 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats reptiles
Breeding: Egg-layer, 2–12 eggs
Beautiful Pit Viper, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Trimeresurus venustus
Distribution: Southern Thailand
Habitat: Jungle, limestone mountains,
rubber plantations
Length: 1.5–2.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous. Eats frogs, lizards
Breeding: Live-bearer, 20–30 young
Western Green Mamba, 2012
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Dendroaspis viridis
Other name(s): West African
green mamba
Distribution: West Africa
Habitat: Forest
Length: Up to 6.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats birds, small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 15 eggs
Mexican Black Kingsnake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Lampropeltis getula nigritus
Other name(s): Common kingsnake
(Mexican black kingsnake is a
subspecies of the common kingsnake)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Includes woodland,
marshland, forest, desert*
Length: 3–6 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
mammals, other snakes, reptiles*
Breeding: Egg-layer, 3–24 eggs*
Inland Taipan, 2011
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Oxyuranus microlepidotus
Other name(s): Fierce snake,
small-scaled snake
Distribution: Central Australia
Habitat: Arid plains
Length: 6–8 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 11–20 eggs
Urutu, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Bothrops alternatus
Distribution: South America
Habitat: Includes forest, rocky areas
Length: Up to 5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer
Sri Lankan Green Pit Viper, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Trimeresurus trigonocephalus
Other name(s): Ceylon pit viper
Distribution: Sri Lanka
Habitat: Forest, thickets
Length: Up to 2.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (a weak venom,
only potentially dangerous to humans).
Eats frogs, lizards, small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer
Albino Honduran Milksnake, 2011
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Lampropeltis triangulum
hondurensis
Other name(s): Milksnake (Honduran
milksnake is a subspecies of this, and
the albino form is a mutation)
Distribution: North, Central,
and South America*
Habitat: Includes wetlands*
Length: Up to 6.5 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats lizards,
mammals*
Breeding: Egg-layer*
Timber Rattlesnake, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Crotalus horridus
Other name(s): Cane-brake rattlesnake
Distribution: U.S.
Habitat: Montane woodland,
lowland swamps, cane fields
Length: Up to 6 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats birds, small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 19 young
Albino Black Pastel Royal Python,
2010
Family: Pythonidae
Binomial: Python regius
Other name(s): Royal python (albino
black pastel is a mutation), ball python
Distribution: Central and West Africa
Habitat: Grassland, dry forest
Length: 3–5 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 4–8 eggs
Speckled Kingsnake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
Other name(s): Common kingsnake
(speckled kingsnake is a subspecies
of the common kingsnake)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Includes woodland,
marshland, forest, desert*
Length: 3–6 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
mammals, other snakes, reptiles*
Breeding: Egg-layer, 3–24 eggs*
Mojave Rattlesnake (with young),
2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Crotalus scutulatus
Other name(s): Mohave rattlesnake
Distribution: U.S., Mexico
Habitat: Desert, mountains, woodland,
scrubland
Length: Up to 4.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats lizards, other snakes,
small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer
Green Vine Snake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Ahaetulla nasuta
Other name(s): Long-nosed whip
snake, long-nosed tree snake
Distribution: South and Southeast Asia
Habitat: Forest, cultivated land
Length: Up to 6 feet but very slender
Feeding: Venomous (weak venom,
not dangerous to humans). Eats birds,
lizards
Breeding: Live-bearer, 3–23 young
Mexican Rosy Boa, 2010
Family: Boidae
Trinomial: Charina trivirgata trivirgata
(previously Lichanura trivirgata trivirgata)
Other name(s): Rosy boa (Mexican rosy
boa is a subspecies of the rosy boa)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Desert, rocky areas*
Length: Up to 3.5 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats small
mammals*
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 12 young*
Rosy Boa, 2010
Family: Boidae
Binomial: Charina trivirgata
(previously Lichanura trivirgata)
Distribution: North America
Habitat: Desert, rocky areas
Length: Up to 3.5 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats small
mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 12 young
Black Pakistan Cobra, 2010
Family: Elapidae
Trinomial: Naja naja karachiensis
Other name(s): Indian spectacled
cobra, Sri Lankan cobra
Distribution: South Asia
Habitat: Grassland, monsoon forest,
paddy fields
Length: 3–5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats amphibians,
birds, lizards, other snakes and
their eggs, small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 8–45 eggs
King Cobra, 2011
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Ophiophagus hannah
Distribution: Southern and
southeastern Asia
Habitat: Forest
Length: Up to 18 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous to
humans). Predominantly eats other
snakes, occasionally lizards and small
mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 40–50 eggs
Chinese Mountain Pit Viper, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Ovophis monticola
Other name(s): Mountain pit viper
Distribution: Asia
Habitat: Forest, rocky mountainous
areas
Length: 1.5–3.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer
Reticulated Python (with Alligator),
2011
Family: Pythonidae
Binomial: Python reticulatus
Distribution: Southeast Asia
Habitat: Rainforest
Length: Up to 32 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
mammals (including humans)
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 100 eggs
Green Tree Python, 2012
Family: Pythonidae
Binomial: Morelia viridis
Distribution: Indonesia, New Guinea,
Queensland (Australia)
Habitat: Rainforest
Length: 3–5 feet
Feeding: Eats birds, mammals, reptiles
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 25 eggs
Habu, 2012
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Protobothrops flavoviridis
(previously Trimeresurus flavoviridis)
Other name(s): Okinawa habu
Distribution: Japan
Habitat: Forest, sugarcane fields
Length: Up to 9 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats rodents
Breeding: Egg-layer, 5–17 eggs
Florida Kingsnake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Lampropeltis getula floridana
Other name(s): Common kingsnake
(Florida kingsnake is a subspecies
of the common kingsnake)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Includes woodland,
marshland, forest, desert*
Length: 3–6 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
mammals, other snakes, reptiles*
Breeding: Egg-layer, 3–24 eggs*
Gaboon Viper, 2000
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Viperinae
Binomial: Bitis gabonica
Other name(s): Gaboon adder
Distribution: Africa
Habitat: Forest, woodland
Length: 4–6.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer
Sulawesi Mangrove Snake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Boiga dendrophila
gemmicincta
Other name(s): Mangrove snake
(Sulawesi mangrove snake is a
subspecies of the mangrove snake)
Distribution: Southeast Asia*
Habitat: Rainforest, mangrove
swamps*
Length: Up to 8 feet*
Feeding: Venomous (weak venom, only
potentially dangerous to humans). Eats
birds, reptiles, small mammals*
Breeding: Egg-layer, 4–15 eggs*
Rhinoceros Snake, 2011
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Rhynchophis boulengeri
Other name(s): Rhino ratsnake
Distribution: China, North Vietnam
Habitat: Forests
Length: 2.5–5 feet
Feeding: Not yet known
Breeding: Not yet known
Vogel’s Pit Viper, 2011
(female on left, male on right)
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Trimeresurus vogeli
(also Viridovipera vogeli)
Distribution: Thailand, Cambodia,
Laos, Vietnam
Habitat: Evergreen and tropical forest
Length: Up to 4 feet
Feeding: Venomous. Eats birds, frogs,
lizards, small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer**
Wagler’s Pit Viper, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Tropidolaemus wagleri
Other name(s): Wagler’s temple
pit viper
Distribution: Southern Asia
Habitat: Forest, swamps
Length: Up to 4 feet
Feeding: Venomous. Eats birds, lizards,
mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, 15–40 young
Beauty Snake, 2011
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Orthriophis taeniurus
(previously Elaphe taeniura)
Other name(s): Taiwan beauty snake
Distribution: Asia
Habitat: Forest
Length: 4–8 feet
Feeding: Eats birds, small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer
Mussurana, 2011
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Clelia clelia
Distribution: Central and South America
Habitat: Moist forest
Length: Up to 8 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. May be
venomous. Eats reptiles, small
mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer
Moellendorff’s Ratsnake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Orthriophis moellendorffi
(previously Elaphe moellendorffi)
Other name(s): Flower snake, hundred
flower snake, red-headed ratsnake
Distribution: China, North Vietnam
Habitat: Caves, forest
Length: 5–6 feet
Feeding: Eats rodents
Breeding: Egg-layer, at least 6 eggs
Thai Red Bamboo Ratsnake, 2011 White-Lipped Island Pit Viper/
Sundra Island Pit Viper, 2012
Family: Colubridae
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Trinomial (taxonomy is contentious):
Oreocryptophis porphyraceus coxi Binomial (controversial): Cryptelytrops
(also Oreophis porphyraceus and insularis/Trimeresurus insularis
Elaphe porphyraceus/porphyracea coxi)
Other name(s): Wetar Island pit viper
Other name(s): Red bamboo snake, (unofficial name, used by breeders)
also known as red mountain ratsnake,
Distribution: Indonesia
black-banded trinket snake (Thai red
bamboo ratsnake is a subspecies of Trimeresurus habitat: Forest**
the red bamboo snake)
Trimeresurus length: Up to 5 feet**
Distribution: Thailand Trimeresurus feeding: Eats frogs,
Habitat: Mountainous areas* lizards, small mammals**
Length: Up to 3 feet*
Feeding: Eats small mammals*
Breeding: Egg-layer*
Yellow Anaconda, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Boidae/Boinae
Binomial: Eunectes notaeus
Other name(s): Paraguayan anaconda
Distribution: South America (Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay)
Habitat: Marshland, rainforest, swamps
Length: 8–15 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds, fish,
mammals, reptiles
Breeding: Live-bearer, 4–20 young
Eastern Green Mamba, 2010
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Dendroaspis angusticeps
Other name(s): East African
green mamba
Distribution: Eastern and southern
Africa
Habitat: Forest, thickets
Length: 6 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats birds, small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 10–17 eggs
Many-Banded Krait, 2011
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Bungarus multicinctus
Distribution: Taiwan, South China,
Burma, Laos, North Vietnam, Thailand
Habitat: Humid environments,
agricultural areas
Length: Up to 6 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats eels, fish, frogs,
lizards, rodents, snakes
Breeding: Egg-layer, 3–20 eggs
Albino Cottonmouth, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Agkistrodon piscivorus
Other name(s): Cottonmouth (albino
is a mutation), eastern cottonmouth,
water moccasin
Distribution: Southeastern U.S.
Habitat: Marshes, streams, swamps
Length: 2.5–4 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats amphibians, fish,
other snakes, small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, 4–12 young
Slender Hognose Viper, 2011
Family: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Porthidium ophryomegas
Distribution: Mexico, Central America
Habitat: Dry forest, including dry
tropical forest
Length: Up to 2.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous. Eats frogs,
lizards, small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer
Mangshan Pit Viper, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Protobothrops
mangshanensis
Other name(s): Mang Mountain
pit viper, Mt. Mang pit viper
Distribution: Hunan Province (China)
Habitat: Forest
Length: 5.5–7 feet
Feeding: Venomous. Eats frogs,
insects, mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer
Rough-Scaled Death Adder, 2012
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Acanthophis rugosus
Distribution: Indonesia, Australia
Habitat: Lowland grassland, savanna
Length: 2.5–5 feet**
Feeding: Venomous. Eats birds, lizards,
small mammals**
Breeding: Live-bearer
Moroccan Cobra (juvenile), 2010
Family: Elapidae
Trinomial: Naja haje legionis
Other name(s): Egyptian cobra
(Moroccan cobra is a subspecies
of the Egyptian cobra)
Distribution: Africa*
Habitat: Savanna, dry woodland, semi-
desert*
Length: Up to 8 feet*
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous to
humans). Eats eggs, other snakes,
small mammals, toads*
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 20 eggs*
African Bush Viper, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Viperinae
Binomial: Atheris squamigera
Other name(s): Rough-scaled
bush viper
Distribution: Central Africa
Habitat: Rainforest
Length: 1.5–2.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats amphibians, lizards,
other snakes, rodents
Breeding: Live-bearer, 4–16 young
Piebald Royal Python, 2000
Family: Pythonidae
Binomial: Python regius
Other name(s): Royal python
(piebald is a mutation), ball python,
piebald ball python
Distribution: West and Central Africa
Habitat: Grassland, forest
Length: 3–5 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats small
mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 4–8 eggs
Monocled Cobra, 2011
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Naja kaouthia
Other name(s): Thai monoculate cobra,
Thai cobra, monoculate cobra
Distribution: Southeast Asia, India,
Nepal, southern China
Habitat: Forest, paddy fields,
near human habitations
Length: 5–7 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats amphibians, birds,
reptiles, small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 45 eggs
Indian Cobra, 2011
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Naja naja
Other name(s): Spectacled cobra
Distribution: Nepal, Pakistan, India,
Sri Lanka
Habitat: Forest, woodland, paddy
fields, near human habitations
Length: 4–7 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous to
humans). Eats amphibians, reptiles,
small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 10–30 eggs
California Kingsnake (banded),
2010
Family/Subfamily: Colubridae
Trinomial: Lampropeltis getula
californiae
Other name(s): Common kingsnake
(California kingsnake is a subspecies
of the common kingsnake)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Includes woodland,
marshland, forest, desert*
Length: 3–6 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
mammals, other snakes, reptiles*
Breeding: Egg-layer, 3–24 eggs*
Ashe’s Bush Viper, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Viperinae
Binomial: Atheris desaixi
Other name(s): Mount Kenya
bush viper
Distribution: Kenya
Habitat: Forest
Length: 1.5–2 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer
Yellow-Blotched Palm Pit Viper,
2012
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Bothriechis aurifer
Other name(s): Ornate palm viper
Distribution: Mexico, Guatemala
Habitat: Forest
Length: Up to 3.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous. Eats amphibians,
birds, reptiles, small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer
Southwestern Speckled Royal Python, 2010 Royal Python, 2010
Rattlesnake, 2001
Family: Pythonidae Family: Pythonidae
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Python regius Binomial: Python regius
Trinomial: Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus
Other name(s): Ball python Other name(s): Ball python
Other name(s): Speckled rattlesnake
Distribution: West and Central Africa Distribution: West and Central Africa
(Southwestern speckled rattlesnake
is a subspecies of the speckled Habitat: Grassland, forest Habitat: Grassland, forest
rattlesnake)
Length: 3–5 feet Length: 3–5 feet
Distribution: U.S., Mexico*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats small Feeding: Constrictor. Eats small
Habitat: Rocky desert areas, woodland, mammals mammals
scrubland*
Breeding: Egg-layer, 4–8 eggs Breeding: Egg-layer, 4–8 eggs
Length: Up to 4 feet*
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats birds, lizards,
mammals*
Breeding: Live-bearer*
Boa Constrictor (skeleton), 2011 Black-Headed Bushmaster, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Boidae/Boinae Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Boa constrictor Binomial: Lachesis melanocephala
Other name(s): Common boa Distribution: Costa Rica
Distribution: Central America, Habitat: Rainforest
South America, Caribbean
Length: 6.5–8 feet
Habitat: Includes arid woodland
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
and scrub, rainforest, around
to humans). Eats rats and other
human dwellings
small mammals
Length: 6.5–13 feet
Breeding: Egg-layer, 9–16 eggs
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 50 young
Aurora House Snake, 2011
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Lamprophis aurora
Distribution: South Africa
Habitat: Desert, forest, human
dwellings
Length: 3–4 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats lizards,
small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 8–12 eggs
Desert Kingsnake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Lampropeltis getula
splendida
Other name(s): Common kingsnake
(desert kingsnake is a subspecies
of the common kingsnake)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Includes woodland,
marshland, forest, desert*
Length: 3–6 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
mammals, other snakes, reptiles*
Breeding: Egg-layer, 3–24 eggs*
Black Mamba, 2011
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Dendroaspis polylepis
Distribution: Africa
Habitat: Savanna, woodland,
rocky hillsides
Length: Up to 11.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 6–17 eggs
Hundred-Pace Snake, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Deinagkistrodon acutus
Other name(s): Chinese moccasin,
hundred pacer, hundred-pace
pit viper, Chinese copperhead,
sharp-nosed pit viper
Distribution: China, Taiwan,
North Vietnam
Habitat: Wooded mountains, hills
Length: Up to 5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous to
humans). Eats amphibians, birds,
lizards, mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 35 eggs
Mangrove Snake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Boiga dendrophila
Other name(s): Gold-ringed cat snake
Distribution: Southeast Asia
Habitat: Rainforest, mangrove swamps
Length: Up to 8 feet
Feeding: Venomous (weak venom,
only potentially dangerous to humans).
Eats birds, reptiles, small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 4–15 eggs
California Kingsnake (striped), 2010
Family/Subfamily: Colubridae
Trinomial: Lampropeltis getula
californiae
Other name(s): Common kingsnake
(California kingsnake is a subspecies
of the common kingsnake)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Includes woodland,
marshland, forest, desert*
Length: 3–6 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
mammals, other snakes, reptiles*
Breeding: Egg-layer, 3–24 eggs*
Turan Blunt-Nosed Viper, 2012
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Viperinae
Trinomial: Macrovipera lebetina turanica
Other name(s): Levantine viper, Levant
viper, Lebetine viper (Turan blunt-nosed
viper is a subspecies of these)
Distribution: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan,
Pakistan
Habitat: Rocky hillsides, vegetated
ravines*
Length: Up to 6.5 feet*
Feeding: Venomous. Eats mammals*
Breeding: Egg-layer*
Speckled Rattlesnake, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Crotalus mitchellii
Distribution: U.S., Mexico
Habitat: Rocky desert areas, woodland,
scrubland
Length: Up to 4 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous to
humans). Eats birds, lizards, mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer
Coastal Rosy Boa, 2011
Family: Boidae
Trinomial: Charina trivirgata roseofusca
(previously Lichanura trivirgata
roseofusca)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Desert, rocky areas*
Length: Up to 3.5 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats small
mammals*
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 12 young*
Rowley’s Palm Pit Viper, 2012
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Bothriechis rowleyi
Distribution: Mexico
Habitat: Forest
Length: 2.5–5 feet**
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous to
humans). Eats frogs, lizards, small
birds, small mammals**
Breeding: Live-bearer**
Beautiful Pit Viper (after feeding), 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Trimeresurus venustus
Distribution: Southern Thailand
Habitat: Jungle, limestone mountains,
rubber plantations
Length: 1.5–2.5 feet
Feeding: Venomous. Eats frogs, lizards
Breeding: Live-bearer, 20–30 young
Nose-Horned Viper, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Viperinae
Binomial: Vipera ammodytes
Other name(s): Long-nosed viper
Distribution: Southeast Europe,
Southwestern Asia
Habitat: Dry rocky hillsides, woodland,
scrubland
Length: Up to 3 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats birds, lizards,
small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, 5–15 young
Adder/Northern Viper, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Viperinae
Binomial: Vipera berus
Other name(s): Northern cross adder,
European viper
Distribution: Widespread — Britain,
Scandinavia, Central Europe,
northern Asia
Habitat: Includes woodland,
uncultivated plains, bogs, marshes,
mountain ranges
Length: Less than 3 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous to
humans). Eats reptiles, small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, 3–20 young
Cantil, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Agkistrodon bilineatus
Distribution: Mexico, Central America
Habitat: Dry forest, tropical deciduous
woodland
Length: 2.5–4 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats amphibians,
mammals, reptiles
Breeding: Live-bearer, 5–20 young
Indo-Chinese Spitting Cobra, 2012
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Naja siamensis
Other name(s): Black-and-white
spitting cobra
Distribution: Southeast Asia
Habitat: Lowlands, hill country
Length: Up to 4 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats other snakes,
rodents, toads
Breeding: Egg-layer, 13–19 eggs
Yellow Ratsnake, 2011
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Pantherophis obsoletus
quadrivittata (previously Elaphe
obsoleta quadrivittata)
Other name(s): Eastern ratsnake,
American ratsnake, common ratsnake
(yellow ratsnake is a subspecies of these)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Swamps, woodland, farmland,
forest*
Length: Up to 6 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds, small
mammals*
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 30 eggs*
Diamond Python, 1999
Family: Pythonidae
Trinomial: Morelia spilota spilota
Other name(s): Carpet python
(diamond python is a subspecies
of the carpet python)
Distribution: New South Wales
(Australia)
Habitat: Savanna, woodland, scrubland
Length: 6.5–10 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
mammals, reptiles
Breeding: Egg-layer, 10–50 eggs
Terciopelo, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Bothrops asper
Other name(s): Fer de Lance
Distribution: Central and South America
Habitat: Most habitats
Length: 6–8 feet
Feeding: Venomous (very dangerous
to humans). Eats amphibians, birds,
reptiles, small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, 5–86 young
Albino Western Diamondback
Rattlesnake, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Crotalus atrox
Other name(s): Western diamondback
rattlesnake (albino is a mutation)
Distribution: Southwestern U.S.,
northern Mexico
Habitat: Desert, dry forest, grassland
Length: 4–6 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats birds, lizards,
small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, 4–21 young
Eastern Ribbon Snake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Thamnophis sauritus
Distribution: North America, Mexico,
Caribbean
Habitat: Damp areas near water
Length: Up to 3.5 feet
Feeding: Eats amphibians, fish
Breeding: Live-bearer, 3–26 young
Mole Snake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Pseudaspis cana
Distribution: Southern Africa
Habitat: Grassland, scrub, desert,
hillsides
Length: Up to 7 feet
Feeding: Eats small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 100 young
Royal Python, 2010
Family: Pythonidae
Binomial: Python regius
Other name(s): Ball python
Distribution: West and Central Africa
Habitat: Grassland, forest
Length: 3–5 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats small
mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 4–8 eggs
Broad-Banded Copperhead, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Trinomial: Agkistrodon contortrix
laticinctus
Distribution: Southeastern U.S.,
northeastern Mexico
Habitat: Grassland, rocky hillsides,
semi-desert, swamps, woodland
Length: 2–4 feet
Feeding: Venomous. Eats amphibians,
birds, insects, small mammals, small
snakes
Breeding: Live-bearer, 2–10 young
Rinkhals, 2010
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Hemachatus haemachatus
Other name(s): Spitting cobra, ringhals
Distribution: Southern Africa
Habitat: Grassland
Length: Up to 5 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats amphibians, birds,
small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 60 young
Red Spitting Cobra, 2010
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Naja pallida
Distribution: East Africa
Habitat: Dry savanna, semi-desert
Length: Up to 4 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats amphibians, birds,
small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 15 eggs
Yellow Anaconda, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Boidae/Boinae
Binomial: Eunectes notaeus
Other name(s): Paraguayan anaconda
Distribution: South America (Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay)
Habitat: Marshland, rainforest, swamps
Length: 8–15 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds, fish,
mammals, reptiles
Breeding: Live-bearer, 4–20 young
Puff Adder, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Viperinae
Binomial: Bitis arietans
Distribution: Africa, some parts of
the Middle East
Habitat: Most habitats, excluding
desert
Length: 3–6 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats birds, mammals,
reptiles
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 50 young
(but record exists of 156)
Texas Ratsnake, 2011
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Pantherophis obsoletus
lindheimeri (previously Elaphe obsoleta
lindheimeri)
Other name(s): Eastern ratsnake,
also known as American ratsnake and
common ratsnake (Texas ratsnake is
a subspecies of the eastern ratsnake)
Distribution: North America*
Habitat: Swamps, woodland, farmland,
forest*
Length: Up to 6 feet*
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds, small
mammals*
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 30 eggs*
Corn Snake, 2010
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Pantherophis guttatus
(previously Elaphe guttata)
Other name(s): Eastern corn snake,
red ratsnake
Distribution: North America, especially
southeastern U.S.
Habitat: Woodland, farmland
Length: 2–3 feet
Feeding: Eats birds, frogs, lizards,
small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 6–30 eggs
Vogel’s Pit Viper, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Trimeresurus vogeli
(also Viridovipera vogeli)
Distribution: Thailand, Cambodia,
Laos, Vietnam
Habitat: Evergreen and tropical forest
Length: Up to 4 feet
Feeding: Venomous. Eats birds, frogs,
lizards, small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer*
Blue Beauty Ratsnake, 2011
Family: Colubridae
Trinomial: Orthriophis taeniurus
callicyanous
Other name(s): Beauty snake,
blue beauty snake
Distribution: Southeast Asia
Length: 8 feet
Habitat: Cultivated fields, forest,
mountainous areas
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
lizards, small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, 8–20 eggs
Brazilian Rainbow Boa, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Boidae/Boiane
Trinomial: Epicrates cenchria cenchria
Distribution: Northern and central
South America
Habitat: Rainforest, woodland,
grassland
Length: 5–6 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, 10–30 young
Emerald Tree Boa (with young), 2010
Family/Subfamily: Boidae/Boinae
Binomial: Corallus caninus
Distribution: South America
Habitat: Rainforest
Length: Up to 6.5 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. Eats birds,
small mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, up to 20 young
Philippine Pit Viper, 2011
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Crotalinae
Binomial: Trimeresurus flavomaculatus
Distribution: Philippines
Habitat: Forest, near water
Length: Up to 2 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Eats frogs, lizards
King Cobra, 2011
Family: Elapidae
Binomial: Ophiophagus hannah
Distribution: Southern and
southeastern Asia
Habitat: Forest
Length: Up to 18 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous
to humans). Predominantly eats
other snakes, occasionally lizards
and small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer, up to 50 eggs
Rhinoceros Viper, 2010
Family/Subfamily: Viperidae/Viperinae
Binomial: Bitis nasicornis
Other name(s): River Jack
Distribution: West and Central Africa
Habitat: Rainforest, riverine forest
Length: 3–4 feet
Feeding: Venomous (dangerous to
humans). Eats amphibians, small
mammals
Breeding: Live-bearer, 6–40 young
Mussurana (juvenile), 2011
Family: Colubridae
Binomial: Clelia clelia
Distribution: Central and South America
Habitat: Moist forest
Length: Up to 8 feet
Feeding: Constrictor. May be
venomous. Eats reptiles,
small mammals
Breeding: Egg-layer
Acknowledgments I would like to thank the following people for their help on this project: Tom Crutchfield, whose magnificent collection of elapids,
vipers, and pythons in Homestead, Florida, was key in getting Serpentine off the ground; Rick Halpin, whose expertise in
handling Tom’s snakes was a great help; Jules Sylvester in Los Angeles, who had a wonderful selection of venomous and
nonvenomous snakes and great skill in handling them; Jim Harrison, Kristin Wiley, and Peter Lindsay at the Kentucky Reptile
Zoo and Venom Resource, who opened their amazing collection of all sorts of venomous snakes to me; Darren Paolini in
New York, who provided some of the world’s most beautiful and rare vipers from his private collection; Carl Person at
Loma Linda University, whose collection includes some of the world’s most venomous snakes; Alan Kardon and Eddie Sunilla
at the San Antonio Zoo, who gave me access to their great collection; Joel Almquist, Jim Brockett, Mark Elliot, and Sean Manning,
who all helped in finding individual species or with referrals; a certain Central American collector who shall remain anonymous
out of fear of losing his license because of the black mamba incident; David Fahey, Gisele Schmidt, Aaron Drucker, and
Ellie Laita, who all helped in various ways with organizing my thoughts and the presentation of the book; Tom Slatky, who
prepared the files for printing; and my studio manager, Noelle Whitfield, who held everything together while I was off chasing
(or being chased by) snakes. I would also like to thank my assistants, Daniel Byrne and Axel Forno.
— ML

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Concept and design copyright © 2012 PQ Blackwell
Images copyright © 2012 Mark Laita
Text copyright © 2012 Mark Laita
Introduction copyright © 2012 William T. Vollmann
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Book design: Helene Dehmer
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Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may
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ISBN: 978-1-4197-0630-1
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