Snakes, Ranked

The world's longest venomous snake at up to 18 feet, it preys mainly on other snakes and can raise a third of its body off the ground to look a person in the eye.

The fastest land snake on Earth at up to about 12 mph in short bursts, its highly potent neurotoxic venom was almost always fatal before antivenom existed.

The longest snake species in the world, with reliably measured individuals exceeding 20 feet, it kills by constriction rather than venom.

The heaviest snake on the planet, it can exceed 200 pounds and ambushes prey from South American swamps and rivers.

Considered the most venomous land snake by LD50, a single bite carries enough toxin to theoretically kill scores of people, yet it is shy and rarely encountered.

It has the longest fangs of any venomous snake at up to 2 inches and delivers one of the largest venom yields, while its leaf-pattern camouflage is nearly perfect.

The most popular pet snake globally, prized for its docile temperament and huge range of bred color morphs, it curls into a ball when stressed.

A calm, hardy North American rat snake that is the go-to first pet for keepers, harmless to humans and a natural rodent controller.

An iconic New World constrictor that gives birth to live young and squeezes prey until circulation stops, ranging widely across Central and South America.

The largest rattlesnake and heaviest venomous snake in the Americas, its warning rattle and hemotoxic bite make it the icon of the US Southeast.

A harmless colubrid whose red, black, and yellow banding mimics the venomous coral snake, spawning the old 'red touches black' rhyme.

With the greatest distribution of any snake in North America, this small, harmless species is the one most people meet first in gardens and fields.

When threatened it flattens its neck, hisses, then flops over and plays dead with its tongue out, using an upturned snout to dig for toads.

This small rattlesnake moves by throwing loops sideways across loose sand, leaving distinctive J-shaped tracks and minimizing contact with hot ground.

A tree-dwelling African snake whose potent hemotoxin famously killed herpetologist Karl Schmidt in 1957 after he assumed the rear-fanged bite was harmless.

Escaped and released pets established a breeding population in Florida's Everglades, where they have decimated native mammal numbers and triggered ongoing removal programs.

Accidentally introduced to Guam after WWII, this invasive snake drove most of the island's native forest birds to extinction and causes recurring power outages.