Snake family · Sunbeam snakes
Xenopeltidae
Burrowing snakes famous for brilliantly iridescent scales.
About the Xenopeltidae family
Sunbeam snakes are smooth, harmless burrowers whose highly polished scales shine with rainbow iridescence in sunlight. They are powerful for their size and feed on frogs, reptiles, and small mammals.
- Where they live
- Southeast Asia.
- How to recognize one
- Glossy dark body with striking iridescence and a wedge-shaped head.
- Danger to people
- Harmless. Non-venomous.
Species (2)
Genera in the Xenopeltidae family
1 genera with two or more species. Open one to read about the group and browse all its snakes.
Keep learning
- What Is a Snake? Anatomy and the BasicsA clear overview of what makes a snake a snake: limbless body plan, anatomy, evolution from lizards, species diversity, and why they are ectothermic.
- How Snakes Move, Hunt, and EatHow snakes move without legs, hunt as ambushers or active foragers, kill by constriction or venom, and swallow prey wider than their head.
- What Do Snakes Eat?All snakes are carnivores. Learn what snakes eat, how diet changes with size and age, how often they feed, and how they hunt and swallow prey.
- Venomous vs Nonvenomous: How to Tell the DifferenceThe folk rules for telling venomous snakes apart, where each one fails, and why location-based identification beats guessing by sight.