| 1 | Israeli worm snake |
Israel’s main blind snake, with no patterns, and a slimy appearance like an earthworm. Letheobia simonii is one of the pinkest blind snakes you’ll see, and would fit well with your garden flowerbed. This species appears in moister Mediterranean habitats like shrubland and grassland. It reaches a maximum of just 24cm, including the tail. It’s incredibly thin as well, with a diameter of 2-3mm.
While classified as a snake alongside an anaconda, or an Egyptian cobra, the Israeli worm snake couldn’t be more different to them. Its survival strategy depends completely on hiding in soil, beyond the talons of predators, a plan which succeeds. Its range is almost entirely confined within Israel, particularly the centre, including the West Bank. There’s just a small spillage over the border with Jordan and Syria.
This blind snake has no neck; its head carries on seamlessly from the body like a tube. All blind snakes have shrivelled eyes, most resembling miniscule pen dots, but in Letheobia simonii they’re actually invisible, hidden beneath two large ocular plates. Instead, two tiny nostrils are visible, which might be mistaken for scales. Its head has a bizarre flute mouthpiece shape, with a sharpened snout, possibly involved with shifting soil aside. This miniscule species also appears in cultivated areas and gardens.
| 2 | Palestinian viper |
The most common venomous snake in Israel. This menacing, vertical-pupiled species belongs to the same Daboia family as the Russell’s viper of India, possibly the most destructive snake on the planet. Thankfully, this species is milder, though no picnic. They’re shorter at 70-90cm, with a maximum of 130cm, meaning that less venom is injected. The symptoms include extreme pain, swelling, haemorrhaging, and respiratory failure in a small handful of cases.
Daboia palaestinae is abundant in northern and central Israel, skipping the south. They also inhabit Lebanon, western Jordan and western Syria. They prefer slightly moister habitats, instead of parched deserts. Hotspots include agricultural areas, inland hills, shrubland and Mediterranean coastal plains. Most Israeli hospitals stock the antivenom, as the threat of Daboia palaestinae is widely recognised. It’s impossible to live in the area without knowing about them.
In 2018, this species was chosen as the national snake of Israel. A study comparing the two cousins found that Indian Russell’s vipers outstripped the Palestinian viper for toxicity, with an LD50 rating of 0.20mg versus 0.34mg, although both were highly dangerous. Daboia palaestinae was highly haemorrhagic, causing lesions which became larger in direct correlation to the amount of venom used. Palestinian viper venom also caused cellular damage in the kidneys. A difference between the cousins was that Palestinian vipers caused very little skin tissue necrosis compared to Russell’s vipers (which are notorious for amputations).
| 3 | Coin-marked snake |
A common yet harmless Israeli snake, which reaches a maximum of 100cm. Coin-marked snakes are common in central and northern Israel, as well as Lebanon, Cyprus and Turkey. They belong to the small Hemorrhois genus, with just 4 members, another being the horseshoe whipsnake of Spain and Portugal. Rather than shy burrowers, coin-marked snakes slither around confidently for all the world to see. They move by day (diurnal), and primarily inhabit open areas like shrubland and sparse woodlands
There’s still a debate over whether this species has a mild venom. Some keepers have been chewed for ten seconds, ripped the snake off, and only experienced painful puncture wounds later. But an Iranian bite report mentioned minor swelling and redness on the affected limb.
This species was named after its round, coin-shaped markings. H. nummifer usually has an olive undertone, but in Iraq, fully black melanistic forms have been found, which are so dark they’ve been mistaken for the nearby Morgan’s black cobra. These may appear in Israel too, although here, they have their own venomous species they mimic: the Palestinian viper.
| 4 | Palestine kukri snake |
This 30cm snake looks like its head has been accidentally dunked in an ink pot by an absent minded writer, only to realise his mistake and toss it aside. The Palestine kukri snake is a fossorial snake found in most of Israel, as well as Lebanon and western Jordan. They’re a secretive snake with only scraps of research to their name, spending the majority of their time underground.
Classic habitats are hills with with dry, loose soils and sparse bushes, in between villages or next to old dirt roads – not quite in the middle of nowhere, but in sparsely inhabited rural zones. It’s believed that this species is under threat, as many old habitats are converted to agricultural land. Nevertheless, they’re the most common member of the 7-strong Rhynchocalamus family.
Rhynchocalamus melanocephalus eat ant eggs and larvae, and are most often lured to the surface by heavy rains. Looking under loose rocks is the best solution to find them, but it’s never an easy quest. Being 30cm doesn’t automatically make you harmless (see the Namqua dwarf adder), but Rhynchocalamus melanocephalus is completely non-venomous. The maximum known length is just 49.5cm. To the north, they reach southeast Turkey, while their southern limit is Egypt’s Sinai peninsular.
| 5 | Mueller’s two-headed snake |
Israel has an abundance of burrowing, fossorial snakes which hardly anyone ever sees, and Mueller’s two-headed snake is yet another. This is a snake of vivid black and yellow (or white) bands, and a tail that strongly resembles the head, with the goal of confusing birds into a frantic debate about which one’s which. Micrelaps muelleri prefers moister areas with soft soils, in Mediterranean climates like scrub, pine and oak woods. They’ve also been found under hay piles near wheat fields, and are found primarily in central and northern Israel, skipping the arid far south.
This species is nocturnal, reaches a maximum of 40.5cm, and is sluggish and slow-moving. Their diet is a mystery, with just scattered records: a European copper skink swallowed in captivity and a Typhlops blind snake eaten by its close Somalian relative, the black-headed Micrelaps. This snake will never invade someone’s bedroom in Tel Aviv, or chase after your car on a dusty highway – they’re a shy snake that stays out of sight.
Micrelaps muelleri is an egg-laying species, which is easy to recognise, if you actually find one. The curvy yellow-black bands are almost constant, except for an occasional morph that pops up with parallel lengthways stripes.
| 6 | Roth’s dwarf racer |
Another shy snake which lurks under cover at almost all times. Roth’s dwarf racer requires stones to survive, as it has a mortal fear of being exposed. Despite the name, it never strides through the open Israeli countryside like a coin-marked snake. Roth’s dwarf racer averages at 30cm, with a maximum of 42cm, and has similar habits to the Palestine kukri snake, appearing in dry hillsides, but also forests and woods. Again, they have a plain body with a dense black head, though this time with black separated by white markings.
Their diet includes many invertebrates, smaller prey they can fit inside their miniature bodies. These include scorpions, centipedes, insects and spiders. Roth’s dwarf racer is a rare snake in Europe or near Europe to hunt snails, as confirmed in 1991, in a snake found lurking under stones by the gates of a citrus orchard, near Netzer Sereni.
Adding clues, their tail tapers to a fine point, which may be for skewering slimy prey like the US’s sharp-tailed snake. Roth’s dwarf racers seem to lay very small egg totals, as two females laid just 2 large eggs per batch each.
| 7 | Large whipsnake |
The longest snake in Israel, reaching a maximum of 3 metres. Fortunately, they don’t turn this brute size to bullying Israel’s inhabitants, as this is a non-venomous snake which ignores you as long as you ignore them. Instead, large whipsnakes prowl the landscape, hunting for a varied menu of creatures, with confirmed prey including common chameleons, black rats, European goldfinches, and even fellow snakes like eastern montpellier snakes and coin-marked snakes (also on this list).
Black whipsnakes are found in moister areas of Israel, such as grassland, meadows, and sparse woods. They have a particular correlation with agricultural areas, where they’re sometimes caught in the gears of agricultural machinery and shredded. Other manmade habitats they occupy include vineyards and cemeteries. Black whipsnakes are concentrated in northern and central Israel, and further afield, they inhabit southern Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon and northwest Jordan.
This snake has the fame of darkening massively with age. As juveniles, they feature shades of grey intermingled with white. In adulthood, dark shiny black takes over completely, usually after 3 or 4 years. They usually stick to the ground, but are easily agile enough to climb bushes and small trees, as well as bite people who harass them. The black whipsnake was once recorded dying in Israel after unwisely swallowing a porcupine.
| 8 | Dice snake |
The ubiquitous European grass snake doesn’t have colonies in Israel, as it fizzles out just north of Lebanon, despite a gigantic empire worldwide. However, their close relative the dice snake (Natrix tesselllata) does show up, inhabiting lakes and ponds, where it hunts for fish and amphibians.
This is the most water-loving snake on our list, and consequently, they totally avoid the barren deserts of Israel’s lower third. They inhabit moister areas of central and northern Israel, including the West Bank, and the moister Golan Heights close to the Syrian border, sometimes appearing near creatures like Balkan terrapins, Levant water frogs, and Arabian tree frogs. Dice snakes measure 1-1.2 metres (larger than a grass snake) and have a very mild venom secreted through a Duvernoy’s gland, which must be chewed in repeatedly to take effect.
Dice snakes are famous for their varying colours. Histria ruins (Romania) has primarily olive-green versions, and those near Golem Grad island in Macedonia tend to be spotted, with 13% fully black. Israel also has a wide variety, but most seem to be dark olive and grey patterned forms. Israel lies almost at the southern extent of their range, a huge range which begins at Germany in the northwest, although small colonies were recently discovered in Egypt’s Sinai peninsular, close to the Suez canal.
| 9 | Hoogstraal’s catsnake |
A rare snake which inhabits desert steppe in southern Israel. Hoogstraal’s catsnake (Telescopus hoogstraali) inhabits the cross border regions of 3 countries, also including Jordan, and Egypt’s Sinai peninsular. They’re a relative of Greece’s European catsnake, but are far more restricted in range.
This snake has a distinctive black head, with subtle white markings, contrasting against a plain grey body as an adult, which as juveniles has thin dark markings that fade with age. This black head clearly differentiates them from European catsnakes, while the black-headed catsnake (Telescopus nigriceps) found in Iraq and Syria has thick black bands on its body.
With a narrow range, Hoogstraal’s catsnakes may be endangered, due to overgrazing or ending up as roadkill. But they’re probably kept alive by their remote desert locations, which mean that many colonies rarely interact with humanity. They also appear in dry shrubland and grassland, or hide beneath rock piles in the ruins of old fortresses. Hoogstraal’s catsnakes can exceed 1 metre, and have the ability to triangulate their head, most likely to mimic a viper. This species is incapable of killing a human.
| 10 | Field’s horned viper |
The Palestinian viper mainly inhabits central and northern Israel, but there’s no dashing for your car and driving straight into the freedom of southern Israel. If you do, you’ll bump straight into its replacement: Field’s horned viper (Pseudocerastes fieldi). This is a desert-faring species that belongs to the 3-member Pseudocerastes genus, named because they have the same sharp horn as Cerastes vipers, but are only a distant cousin of them really. Field’s horned vipers inhabits a swathe of southern Israel, plus Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and western Jordan.
Pseudocerastes fieldi averages at 60-90cm, and particularly likes sandy areas with sparse shrub cover. They’re active during dusk and night, and reports on their personality are mixed. Some mention a ferocious lunge with a piercing hiss, while others describe them as reluctant to enter battle, typically fleeing if agitated.
Most vipers lay live young, but this is a rare species to lay eggs, typically in batches of 11-21. They have vertical pupils and were originally considered to be a subspecies of the Persian horned viper (Pseudocerastes persica) further north. However, subtle scale differences confirmed them as independent, such as less ventral (belly) scales: 127–142 in Field’s horned viper versus 144-158 for the Persian. It’s estimated that Field’s horned vipers split off 12 million years ago. This species has a highly neurotoxic venom, rich in PLA2s, and low in the metalloproteinases (SVMPs) and serine proteinases (SVMPs) typical of rattlesnakes.