| 1 | Buff-striped keelback |
Maximum length: 80cm.
A 50-70cm species found in most of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand. This species is totally harmless, and usually sticks close to water sources such as lakes, streams and rice paddies. The buff-striped keelback (Amphiesma stolatum) has not only never killed a human, but they’ve never even tried, unless there’s a rogue demented one out there that was raised by cobras.
Buff-striped keelbacks have no venom, and almost never bite when picked up and manhandled. This species is everywhere in certain corners of India, particularly on roads, where they top the rankings for roadkill snakes.
Buff-striped keelbacks mainly prey on frogs and toads, aiming for the head 70% of the time. Favourites include the Asian common toad, Indian bullfrog, and Tapai grass frog, and they also eat plenty of blind snakes. They hunt almost exclusively by day, with just 3 nocturnal hunting escapades ever being recorded.
There’s virtually no way a buff-striped keelback could defeat a human. They could lure you to an Indian cobra’s lair, or in front of a pineapple lorry, potentially. They’re a pretty weak snake, yet they must be doing something right given how dominant they are in India.
| 2 | Sunbeam snake |
Maximum length: 125cm.
Sunbeam snakes are not only harmless to humans, but add excitement to Thai people’s lives by being extremely fun to find. This is the most dazzlingly iridescent snake in southeast Asia, perhaps the world. They’re officially pure black with a pale belly, but are full of shimmering rainbow colours, which activate only when you shine a torch or even streetlamp on them.
Sunbeam snakes are abundant in traditional villages, by forest trails, or on the edges of crop fields. They can be shy, lurking beneath rotting logs or leaf piles, but heavy rains bring them out in droves. One minute they can be nowhere, the next minute covering the entire woodland floor.
You can even pick a sunbeam snake up in your bare hands and suffer no reaction at all. You can inspect every red, blue and lilac shade and suffer no painful bite, although we recommend not touching them to avoid causing distress.
Sunbeam snakes primarily eat a mixture of reptiles and amphibians, including banded bullfrogs, flower blind snakes and striped kukri snakes. Their northernmost extent lies in southern China, and their southernmost extent in Java. This species adds a touch of pizzazz to the Thai countryside, and is one species which definitely isn’t plotting ways to eat you.
| 3 | Yellow anaconda |
Maximum length: 4.6 metres.
Yellow anacondas rank among the top 15 longest snakes worldwide. They have sharp front fangs which could chomp a deep wound into your forearm, and are tricky to adjust to a life in captivity, staying feisty even for years. Yet in the wild, humanity coexists with them peacefully, in their Paraguayan, Argentine and southern Brazilian heartlands.
The yellow anaconda is a massive constrictor which mainly lives in rivers and marshes, and preys on a mixture of rodents and wading birds like storks. While huge and thick, they’ve rarely been recorded to lunge at human beings. If anything, humans are the aggressors, as the yellow anaconda was hunted for its skins on a massive scale until the 1990s, which were converted to luxury handbags in Italy.
This trade was placed under tight government control in 2002, and yellow anacondas seem to have forgiven us rather than deciding to get collective revenge. They even inhabit towns sometimes, such as the metropolitan area of Asunción, coping well with pollution.
Overall, the yellow anaconda is a fairly calm river cruiser, which will only turn vicious if you stray into close quarters. This species lives much further south than the more famous (and larger) green anaconda.
| 4 | Japanese ratsnake |
Maximum length: 230cm.
Easily the most commonly encountered snake in Japan by ordinary people. The Japanese ratsnake (Elaphe climacophora) spends its life exploring woods, fields and farmyards, searching for small mammals and birds’ eggs, which it simply swallows whole.
The Japanese people let them get on with this, as Elaphe climacophora is a completely non-threatening snake, which could even take a shortcut through your bedroom window at 2am without incident. This species is non-venomous, non-nervous, and will only bite if seriously harassed.
Some Japanese people even worship this snake. In the mountains of Ikwada province, there’s an unusual pearly white population, which aren’t albinos, but a natural white morph. Supposedly, these are spiritual guardians of the local hills’ inhabitants, representatives of the Buddhist goddess Benzaiten.
At the Shirohebi shrine, there’s even a large breeding facility for this rare morph, with the goal of replenishing the rare white ratsnake’s population. The plan has succeeded, increasing numbers to 953 by 2005.
Among snakes over 1 metre, the Japanese ratsnake is an unlikely one to be scared of. Their pupils are round, not vertical, they look calm, and they don’t have the sinewy writhing quality of those found in a circus snake pit.
| 5 | Common kingsnake |
Maximum length: 208.3cm.
When the first US settlers docked in the 1500s, they had no idea what kind of snake the common kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula) was. They could have seen its vivid black-white patterns, and assumed that it was a western hemisphere viper offshoot, which spewed a deadly poison.
The opposite is true, as the common kingsnake is a non-venomous constrictor which is abundant in the eastern USA, which has never killed a human being. In fact, Lampropeltis getula is a loyal and faithful ally of humanity, which does great work in the countryside without ever being requested. How, you might ask? Common kingsnakes are strongly ophiophagous – they prey on fellow snakes, even those with venom glands containing corrosive toxins.
Without this species, there would be more timber rattlesnakes, more eastern diamondbacks, and more coral snakes. Common kingsnakes even look kind of cute up close, with round eyes, like they’re just loyal allies that want to assist you, unlike a snarling cottonmouth.
Lampropeltis getula has varied habitats, including meadows, woodlands and farmyards, though rarely urban streets. If you see one slithering past, there’s absolutely no cause for alarm. Other prey in their diet include mammals like house mice and Hispid cotton rats.
| 6 | Ball python |
Maximum length: 182cm.
Ball pythons are regarded as the perfect friendly captive snake, and it’s no different in their native countries. Whether in a Nigerian farmyard, a Ghanaian crop field, or a Togan woodland, ball pythons cause absolutely no problems for their human neighbours, despite being 10 times more abundant than the nearby African rock python.
Ball pythons are non-venomous, and too small (1 metre) to actually hurt humans. Most importantly, they’re completely non-aggressive. This isn’t a given for the true python genus, as Malaysian blood pythons are notoriously snappy. Local Nigerians are comfortable with ball pythons hanging around, and have even spun folklore tales, like the ball python being a relic of Oshimirri, the great sea in ancient times when all of Earth was water.
Ball pythons also help their Nigerian masters by eating rodents in crop fields. They slither at a steady, non-alarming pace, and coil into a ball if they feel seriously threatened.
Ball pythons are easy to recognise, with a thick body and brown blotchy patterns. They have little colour variation, with no random black or red morphs popping up. Ball pythons are also the most westerly python worldwide, reaching Gambia and Senegal on the Atlantic coast. There are no native pythons in the Americas, just boas.
| 7 | Western green snake |
Maximum length: 98cm.
A humble water snake of southern Africa, found by lakes and streams. This is an African equivalent of a garter snake, much greener, but equally harmless.
Western green snakes (Philothamnus angolensis) have no venom, nor a particularly vicious bite. This species is mostly bright green, with a few dark speckles on the upper third of its body, and a paler green or yellow underbelly. Like other Philothamnus members, their diet consists of amphibians, with a confirmed meal being the guttural toad (Bufo gutturalis).
If they detect human presence, western green snakes will either flee or hide in disguising riverside plants. Which option they choose depends on the precise thickness of the vegetation. The one card they won’t play is a frenzied, vicious attack, because they’re smart enough to know that they’ll lose, despite their poorly developed reptilian brains.
This species is often mistaken for venomous green mambas, but has no way to kill a human. This is a widespread species, as to the south, they just cross into far northern South Arica. To the far north, they reach Sudan and the extreme southeast of Nigeria. Many Africans have a chance to meet this well-meaning species and realise just how harmless they are.
| 8 | Andean snail eater |
Maximum length: 84.3cm.
An Ecuadorian species recognisable by a U-shaped marking on the back of its head. This is a non-venomous snail-eater measuring 60-80cm, which switches between the ground and thin branches 0.5 to 3 metres high. Around 50% of its thoughts are occupied with snails, and 0% with humans.
Bumping into this snake in a forest, 20cm from your nose, will never end in a bite, even if it provides fuel for a nightmare or two. They don’t care about humans with their cars and guns; they care about the forest and their snails, occasionally about each other, and fellow jungle creatures which could end their life. There’s no reason for humans and Andean snail eaters to ever interact at all; they’re just a piece of the exotic Ecuadorian scenery, hanging from branches like a tiny scaly alien.
Andean snail eaters inhabit two countries: the majority of western Ecuador, and a small portion of Peru. It’s a small range, but they’re a common species within that range, with regular interactions with local Ecuadorians. They belong to the 55 member Dipsas genus, with the most widespread member being Dipsas indica, which ranges throughout Brazil.
| 9 | Mexican garter snake |
Maximum length: 130.7cm.
If you visit a lake in central Mexico and stick your legs in, there’s a good chance that the Mexican garter snake (Thamnphis eques) will come up to greet you. This is a 100-120cm serpent, which preys on Liobates waterfrogs and sometimes fellow snakes. They inhabit Mexico down to Mexico City, and cross the border into central Arizona.
Mexican garter snakes are extremely widespread in lakes and streams across Mexico, and they’re not a threat to humans in the slightest, whether a swimmer or fishermen. They can swim past your picnic mat with no conflict at all, in an idyllic scene from yesteryear.
Mexican garter snakes have a mild venom, but first, they have to decide to attack you rather than flee, which is very unlikely. Then they have to fit their small mouth around your hand, and then chew for a whole minute. The end probability of envenomation is about 0.1%.
Mexican garter snakes are most notable for their high number of subspecies. At least 10 are confirmed, and these are often endemic to certain lake systems, such as the rare Laguna Totolcingo garter snake.
| 10 | Elegant sea snake |
Maximum length: 2.6 metres.
Let’s face it: being in a hazy underwater world is tense enough without a snake swimming towards you. But despite having a neurotoxic venom, the elegant sea snake coexists peacefully with humans in the shallow coastal areas it calls home.
This common species inhabits coastal Australia, from west to north to east, with hotspots including Cleveland Bay and Shark Bay. They measure up to 2.6 metres, and primarily prey on eels, which they suck out of holes in sandy seabeds.
If you’re not careful, the mere sight of the elegant sea snake (Hydrophis elegans) could induce blind panic. If you hold your nerve instead, it can became a fascinating piece of the exotic aquatic scenery. If you live close by, you probably got used to them years ago.
Elegant sea snakes aren’t especially vibrant, and combined with the underwater murkiness, they can look especially eerie. Yet the fact is that you could swim right through their capital city where the elegant sea snake senate is in session, and still not get bitten, despite swimming through hundreds of snakes (though we don’t know where this place actually is). Tiger sharks are a much bigger worry for Australian swimmers.
Elegant sea snakes cause virtually no deaths, despite an LD50 toxicity rating of 0.27mg, outstripping the notorious cottonmouth at 2.04mg. The one possibility was a 23 year old man, who died while working as a deckhand on a prawn trawler in 2018, but the exact species wasn’t confirmed.