Data and methodology
Snake Finder answers one question well: which snakes have actually been documented where you live, anywhere in the world. Every location page, from a country down to a single county, is built from verified wildlife-occurrence records and established scientific classification, not from guesswork. This page explains exactly where our data comes from, how a page is built, and what the data cannot tell you.
Where the data comes from
- GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility). Provides worldwide species occurrence records aggregated from museums, surveys, and citizen-science archives, resolved to country, state or province, and county. This is our primary signal for which species have been recorded in a given place. GBIF data is published under open licenses. gbif.org
- iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons. Provide research-grade observations (used to confirm the species list and gauge how often a species is observed) and the photographs shown on this site. Most photos carry open licenses (CC0, CC BY, CC BY-SA); for rarer species where no open-licensed photo exists, we use a Creative Commons non-commercial (CC BY-NC) photo for educational identification, always with the photographer credited on the image. We honor takedown requests from any photographer who does not want their work used here. To request removal or correct an attribution, see our editorial policy. inaturalist.org
- Established herpetology and medical toxinology. Whether a snake is venomous is determined at the family and genus level from long-settled scientific classification: the vipers and pit vipers (Viperidae), the cobras, mambas, kraits, coral snakes and sea snakes (Elapidae), the stiletto snakes (Atractaspididae), and the small number of rear-fanged colubrids known to be medically significant. This is consensus herpetology, not a judgment we make ourselves. Species natural-history descriptions (habitat, behavior, appearance) are written at the genus level from the same well-documented body of knowledge.
- CDC, NIOSH, and the WHO.Public-health authorities for bite first-aid and for the global picture of medically important snakes. We rely on CDC and NIOSH for U.S.-specific emergency guidance and on the World Health Organization's snakebite work for the worldwide context, rather than forming our own medical conclusions. cdc.gov
How a location page is built
For each place, from a whole country down to a single county or division, we pull the occurrence records mapped to that area, match them against the confirmed species list, and assemble the resulting set of snakes. Each species is then paired with its genus-level natural-history profile and, where licensing allows, a representative photo. Pages are generated from this structured data rather than written by hand one at a time, which keeps facts consistent across tens of thousands of pages and tied directly to the records behind them.
How venom status is determined
We do not decide on our own whether a snake is dangerous. Venom status follows the established scientific classification described above, applied at the family and genus level (for example the rattlesnakes and adders among the vipers, and the cobras, mambas and coral snakes among the elapids). A snake outside the recognized venomous groups is labeled harmless in the medical sense. Harmless does not mean a snake will not bite if handled or threatened, and a few non-front-fanged species can still cause real reactions, so the safe assumption is always to keep your distance from any snake you cannot positively identify.
What records and observations mean
A "record" or "observation" is a single documented sighting of a species that has been verified in the source dataset. Counts reflect how often a species has been observed and reported, which is influenced by how many people are looking and where. A higher count usually means a snake is seen and reported more often, not that it is more dangerous or more abundant.
Limitations you should know
- Absence of records is not absence of the species. If a snake has no records in your county, it may still live there. Under-surveyed areas simply have fewer reports.
- Data can be incomplete or out of date. Occurrence datasets lag real populations, contain gaps, and occasionally include misidentified or mislocated records.
- County is a coarse boundary. Habitat varies within a county, so a species recorded countywide may not be present at your exact location, and vice versa.
- This is not field identification. Photos and ranges help you narrow possibilities; they are not a substitute for expert identification of a live snake.
Corrections
Found something wrong? We want to know. See our editorial and accuracy policy for how to report an error and how we handle it.