Snake

A snake is a legless reptile in suborder Serpentes. It is not one species. About 3,900 described species live on every continent except Antarctica, and they are absent from places such as Ireland, Iceland and New Zealand. The IUCN does not give "snake" a single Red List category.

Snakes swallowed their lizard ancestors' legs over evolutionary time. Some boas and pythons still show vestigial spurs. They smell with forked tongues and swallow prey whole.

This page is the group encyclopaedia. Grass snakes: grass snake. Pythons: python.

WARN publishes education for partner countries with rich snake faunas. It does not run a herpetological hospital.

Roughly 3,900 recognised species, and new ones are still described, especially in the tropics. They range from threadsnakes as thin as a spaghetti strand to reticulated pythons more than six metres long and green anacondas among the heaviest. There is no single snake size, diet or lifespan.

A baby is usually called a hatchling or neonate; a group of eggs is a clutch. There is no single "snake size".

Use named guides when you have a species. This hub will not pretend a corn snake and a king cobra share one care sheet.

Counts move with taxonomy. That is normal, not a scandal.

No. About 600 species are venomous; roughly 200 cause significant medical harm to people. Most snakes flee or hide. Venom evolved mainly to subdue prey, not to hunt humans. Killing every snake in a village does not replace boots, lighting and antivenom.

Elapids (cobras, mambas, coral snakes) often use neurotoxins. Vipers often use haemotoxins. Colubrids include many harmless species and some rear-fanged snakes.

Killing every snake in a village does not replace boots, lighting and antivenom. It does remove rodent control.

Cobra detail: cobra. Rattlesnake detail: rattlesnake.

All snakes are carnivores. Prey includes rodents, birds, eggs, amphibians, fish, other reptiles or invertebrates depending on species. They swallow prey whole. Constriction stops blood flow; venom chemically disables prey. A well-fed pet snake is not a wild diet sheet.

A well-fed pet snake is not a wild diet. Wild snakes hunt on their own schedule.

Community "feeding" of wild snakes is usually a bad idea. Do not post frozen rodents from Britain to a partner. WARN has no snake-feeding programme.

Rodent control is why many farmers later regret a massacre of harmless colubrids.

Some are. Most are not. Medically important bites kill and disable tens of thousands of people a year, concentrated in tropical Asia, Africa and Latin America — WHO treats snakebite envenoming as a neglected tropical disease. That is not a reason to kill grass snakes in Britain.

Give wild snakes space. Do not handle unknown species. Wear boots in tall grass in range countries. Learn local species rather than swinging a stick at every shed skin.

A swapped FAQ that dumps the hub one-liner into "where do snakes live" helps nobody. Habitat is not a kilogram.

This page will not rank which snake is "the deadliest" as clickbait.

It varies by species, climate and whether the animal is wild or captive. Many small wild snakes live only a few years. Large constrictors in managed care can live two decades or more. There is no honest single number for "how long do snakes live".

If a source does not name the species, treat the figure as marketing.

Hatchlings of many species are independent immediately. Parental care is the exception (some pythons brood eggs).

Lifespan is not an IUCN generation length for the whole suborder.

From about 10 cm Barbados threadsnakes to reticulated pythons over 6 m and green anacondas among the heaviest snakes, sometimes quoted around 200 kg at the extreme. Most species people meet are under two metres. Do not use an anaconda weight as the weight of "a snake".

Do not use an anaconda weight as the weight of "a snake". Always name the species.

Anaconda guide: anaconda. Python guide: python.

Giant-snake clickbait is a poor substitute for local ID.

Snakes lack movable eyelids and external ear openings; most lizards have both. Snakes have a single row of wide belly scales and extremely kinetic skulls for swallowing large prey. Limbs are absent (except vestigial spurs in some boas and pythons). Both are squamate reptiles.

A slow worm is a legless lizard, not a snake. It has eyelids.

The comparison table on this page is the at-a-glance split.

A snake is not an eel. Eels are fishes.

They eat rodents and other prey, and they are themselves prey for raptors and mammals. Removing snakes often increases pest damage. They are also cultural symbols and a medical resource — snake venoms have informed drug research — which is not a reason to keep a wild cobra in a flat.

Threatened species still need habitat even if they scare people.

Fear-driven killing is a conservation and public-health failure at once.

Habitat grants: habitat protection appeal. That is not an antivenom factory.

WHO describes snakebite envenoming as a neglected tropical disease. Tens of thousands of people die each year, and more are left disabled, mostly in rural tropical Asia and Africa where antivenom is scarce and expensive. First aid myths (tourniquets, cutting, sucking) often make outcomes worse.

The answer is health-system access, correct antivenom, education and boots — not eradicating snakes.

WARN does not manufacture antivenom and does not claim a hospital programme. This hub cites WHO so the query gets a sourced public-health answer.

If you were bitten, this page is not clinical advice. Seek emergency care.

Most species are not. They need species-specific heat gradients, humidity, hiding places and diets. Ball pythons dominate the pet trade and still suffer in poor setups. Giant pythons outgrow homes. Wild-caught animals fuel trafficking. Never release an unwanted pet snake.

Never release an unwanted snake. Invasive Burmese pythons in Florida show the cost.

WARN does not sell snakes and does not rehome pets in Britain.

If you want a companion animal, a registered rescue cat or dog is the honest UK path — not a king cobra.

Learn local species, do not kill non-venomous snakes, keep yards clear of rodent attractants, and support habitat protection. WARN does not run antivenom manufacturing. Further sourced detail, including range, IUCN status and programme links, follows in the paragraphs below.

If you still want to give to WARN, habitat protection appeal is the honest door. That is not a named-snake sponsorship.

Read grass snake or python when the query was a specific animal.

If you want a UK pet, stop here. If you want habitat grants, use the appeal URL.