01. Blind Snake
This slender snake is a harmless blind snake species and part of the non-venomous category. Mainly small with cylindrical bodies and blunt snouts, their body is enveloped in smooth shiny scales. Most commonly found on the ground after heavy rains or at night, these snakes are dark brown to black in color and easily missed on human sight.
Supposedly, no male species of this snake has been discovered! This brings us to the point of reproduction, where the female snake reproduces through parthenogenesis (producing viable eggs without finding the need to fertilize). That is why the babies that are born seem to be identical in features and shape to their mother. This makes the blind snake powerful in producing babies without ever finding a mate, thus making this snake viable to producing snake colonies within no time!
02. Flying Snake
Can snakes fly? This one almost can! These amazing snakes are great gliders and have the power to lunge from one tree to another. It does so by pulling in its stomach and flattening himself, thus giving the impression of it flying.
Comparing them to a squirrel, this snake glides up to loom or more as opposed to 60 m with a flying squirrel. While they are mid-way between their glide, these snakes slither in air, allowing them better flight and more distance during their flight. To sustain their flights, they feed on lizards and small animals and are also venomous, but not to humans.
03. Tentacled Snake
This snake hails from Southeast Asia and has super-fast reflexes! Look at it and the first thing you will notice is the small little tentacles on the front of the snout, which actually possess very powerful sensors that detects any movement of fish near him/her in the sea. Imagine taking just about 15 milliseconds to capture his food! That’s the incredible speed that this snake possesses!
It also has a few clever tricks up its sleeve! If the fish is approaching from one direction, the snake moves its body a little. That’s when the fish senses the snake and moves in the opposite direction, little knowing that this is exactly what the snake expects it to do. The tentacle snake is waiting with its angled head on the other side and the fish swims right toward it! With this unusual quality of interpreting the prey’s reaction to the attack, almost all its kills are successful!
This snake lives in the water and measures only about 2.9 feet (90 cm) in length and cannot come out on land.
04. Barbados Thread Snake
One of the smallest species of the world, this is part of the family of blind thread snakes and is identified as the smallest snake species to exist as of today. To let you understand how tiny this snake is, the adult version can fit on a tiny American dollar coin! Measured to be as tiny as four inches only, this tiny spaghetti like snake could be easily mistaken as an earthworm or a centipede passing by! It is known to produce only one egg, maybe because of limitation in size.
05. Eastern Hognose Snake
Measuring nearly 4 feet in length, these snakes are thick in width. With black distinctive patches on their brown or orange bodies, these snakes can even be in an all-black color. Their mating season is in June and these snakes can lay up to 60 eggs at a time!
When attacked by a predator, they inflate their necks to make it appear longer, almost resembling a Cobra snake, making this is a very distinctive move on their part. They are also very good at playing dead and limp when picked up. They rarely bite people, feeding mostly on toads, frogs, lizards, and smaller snakes.
06. Elephant Trunk Snake
The combination of an elephant and a snake just doesn’t fit, yet there is a snake that looks weirdly like that of an elephant trunk! Found mostly in Indonesia, this snake probably gets its name from the wrinkled, loose, and baggy skin it possesses. Like a pair of clothes that’s nearly 3 sizes big – that exactly how this snake looks!
Growing to a length of almost 2.5 m. elephant trunk snakes are almost always water bound. Unlike other snakes, this species is actually quite helpless on land because they lack the broad scales at the bottom of their bodies that helps them move. They are also one of the limited few species that lack venom, thus they constrict their prey to make the kill.
07. Black Banded Sea Krait
This is like a zebra in a snake form! Ranked as one of the most toxic snakes amongst all snakes, they are surprisingly docile and non-threatening! They are amphibious snakes that are able to live on both land and water and are most often spotted in the coral reefs or the shallow waters. The female snakes can withstand higher water pressures than the males, thus they are often seen catching their prey in the greater depths of the ocean.
Being put in the sea snake category, these snakes usually lay their young either in the sand or just close to it. These poisonous snakes also possess the ability to breathe through their skin or their lungs. One of the most amazing features of this snake is its venom – it is supposedly 10 times more toxic than a rattlesnake and each single snake can produce about 10 to 15 mg of venom!
08. Iwasaki’s Snail Eater
This snake is native to the Ryukyu Island in Japan and has the name because it is known for its snail eating qualities! The snake attacks the snail from the back in a sudden attack and grasps the entire snail by its shell. It wiggles the meat right out of the snail shell by turning the shell in one direction and the meat in the other.
The snails that rotate counter clockwise were the ones who were saved from being devoured by the snake because it can supposedly only catch those snails that rotate clockwise!
09. Langaha Nasuta
Known in English as the leaf nosed snake, this one can classify as one of the strangest snakes in the world! This snake can be easily distinguished from the rest by its appearance and the long leaf like beak or horn on its snout. Both genders have this attachment but the male is yellow in color with a sharp horn while the females have rough-looking brown scales on its body with a leaf-shaped horn in the front. They live in the endangered rain forests of Madagascar and it has one of the most painful, venomous bites.
10. Saharan Horned Viper
Also known as the Desert Horned Viper, their habitat is the stony dry desert and measures about 4 – 5 ft. long. It is distinctive in the way it looks, having a broad and triangular shaped head with horns sticking out above each eye. Its tan body with darker spots enables it to camouflage in the desert sand easily, as they do so often to keep their bodies cool.
They move by first placing their body ahead of their face to block away the harsh sun. Their distinctive feature is the venom they emit. Though not harmful, their venom has over 13 different toxins mixed together. This can cause acute pain and irritation along with excessive bleeding, abdominal pain, and heart irregularities!
11. Spiny Bush Viper
This is a venomous animal that is native to South America, mostly living in Congo, Uganda, and Kenya. Usually ranging in colors of green, olive green, bluish, or browns, its body gives the appearance of it having hair. Its bristle like scales give it an almost feather like appearance to the body, and is conscious of its appearance, as Bush Viper is an adept tree climber and climbs up to the bushy flowering plants where it gets its share of sun. These dangerous animals are nocturnal carnivores that feed on lizards, rodents, and frogs.
As active predators, they curl around their prey before they devour their meat by digging its fangs into the meat. Their bite is extremely dangerous because of the venom it emits.
12. Iridescent Shieldtail
This species is native to India and is found in the Western Ghats mountainous regions. Bright blue in appearance, this serpent is wonderfully colored and attractive. This snake is extremely rare and endangered, and, sadly, probably even close to being extinct. It also possesses a distinctive bright yellow stripe on its body, making it quite an attractive looking snake overall.
13. Rhinoceros Rat Snake
Native to Vietnam and China, this snake is one of the most unique looking snakes present. Born with a snout and a horn, it grows up to 5 feet in length! With silver scales, they turn an amazing green as they grow older. Under proper care and concern, this snake can live up to 15 or even 20 years within the forest areas.
Because their horns are fragile, this snake needs proper care and attention. They are non-venomous and fragile, and their snout appearance in the front is what led to its name.
14. Rhinoceros Viper Snake
Also known as the River Jack, they can grow to a great length. Adults usually reach about 2 to 4 feet in length and sometimes to a drastic 7 feet! Their head is one of the most distinguishing characteristics as it is triangular in shape and they have about 2 to 3 horns above each nostril! It exists in shades of light and dark brown, which allows it to camouflage with the jungle floor color and this is how it hides away from attackers.
It is one of the most dangerous snakes to be found in the region of Africa and has a smaller head as opposed to its body. The venom that this snake releases on its attack reaches the circulatory system of the victim, causing great damage to the bodily functions.
15. Spider Tailed Viper
Undoubtedly one of the scariest snakes of them all, this creature lives in the Arabian Desert sands! It cannot get worse than combining a snake and a spider than both of the dangerous kind! Starting with the frontal features, this creature has tiny horn like structures on its face, almost like little horns and a tail that resembles a spider being attached to it. The snake possibly uses its tail to attract birds to that of a spider and then catching the same bird as its food.