6 Yellow and Black Snakes

6 Yellow and Black Snakes with Photo and Information

When people see a snake they cannot identify, they tend to look it up by the colors or other descriptions. Big snake. Long snake. Thick black snake. If you want to know how to identify snakes by looking at the variables that define them and differentiate them, see our “How To Identify a Snake?” post.

Yellow and Black Snake Identification

Here are some yellow and black snakes with photos for most. If you don’t find the snake here – will you leave a comment or send a photo to us so we can try to identify it?

1. Mangrove Cat-eyed Snake

The mangrove cat snake is a yellow and black snake. This one pictured at night in situ, secondary tropical rainforest in Southern Thailand's Krabi province.
One of the B dendrophila snakes I’ve found at night in the tropical secondary rainforest in Southern Thailand, Krabi Province. ©Vern Lovic

This black and yellow snake is native to Southeast Asia. It is a colubrid (rear fanged) with a mild venom that doesn’t affect most people. Bites by this snake are not known to have been deadly in the past. This snake is sometimes confused with the Banded Krait, but you can see in #2 below, they really don’t look much alike.

Thailand Snakes – Venomous and Non-Venomous snake information!

2. Yellow and Black Banded Krait

Banded Kraits are yellow and black snakes found in most of Southeast Asia. In Indonesia they can also be white and black.
Banded kraits can be yellow and black or white and black. ©Vern Lovic

Deadly and beautiful, the yellow and black Banded Krait is a really amazing-looking snake. Southeast Asia is where you will find these snakes in the wild. The yellow and black snakes on this page are from SE Asia, so their identities are sometimes confused.

3. Laotian Wolf Snake

A small yellow and black snake, the  Laotian Wolf Snake, harmless and common in Southeast Asia.
Lycodon laoensis – the Laotian wolf snake. Harmless. ©Vern Lovic

A small (70 cm) snake which is known to be non-venomous, is also a native of Southeast Asia and Laos – the country it is named after. These snakes are typically timid and not interested in biting at all. Laotian wolf snakes are black with yellow and white bands across the dorsal (top) of the length of the body of the snake. Toward the tail the pattern changes to more of a yellow or white spider-web type effect.

4. Wagler’s Pit Viper

Tropidolaemus wagleri - very yellow phase with some black. Coloration not altered.
Yellow and Black phase of T. wagleri – Wagler’s Pit Viper – one of our favorite Thailand snakes.

Though not always yellow and black, Tropidolaemus wagleri can come in a stunningly beautiful yellow and black snake phase like you see in the image above. This snake was from Krabi, Thailand where I live. We don’t see these snakes often, but when we do – we get lots of photos!

5. Juvenile King Cobra

Yellow and black king cobra hatchling snake in southern Thailand.
Hatchling yellow and black King Cobra snake. ©Vern Lovic

Some juvenile king cobras are yellow and black snakes upon hatching and for a short while until they turn into adults. Above you see the head of one very small (50cm) hatchling King Cobra which was quite yellow and black. King Cobras are of course quite deadly, even as hatchlings – where their venom is even more toxic than adult snakes.

6. Golden Tree Snake

Golden Tree Snakes are very yellow and black from juvenile to adult.
Golden Tree Snake – Venomous – Little Danger to Humans. ©Vern Lovic

The Golden Tree Snake is sometimes called a “yellow and black snake” but in most cases they are some shade of very light green and black. The photo above shows the most yellow and black C. ornata I’ve ever seen.

There are other snakes with yellow and black colors, but they also have other colors mixed in. The snakes above are the ones that I think of for yellow/black snakes.

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Thailand Snakes – Venomous and Non-Venomous snake information!

9 Comments

    1. My dog found this snake in my yard. It’s internal yellow and black and have one inch diameter and 43 inch length.

  1. I came to this site to try to identify a snake that I had encountered in the rainforest of Malaysian Borneo. From the images, i think it could have been a mangrove snake or a banded krait or possibly a pit viper (a local suggested that could have been it)

  2. I saw a black and bright hello snake this morning below my feet going into a drain. I think it was a banded krait but not 100% sure and my phone was dead so didn’t get a photo to send to you. Location was on sukhumvit 33 in Central Bangkok. Are these snakes native to Central Thailand and in Particular Bangkok?

      1. Thin yellow bands or thick? Thin meaning, around 2-4mm, thick meaning, a couple of centimeters….

    1. Yes, the banded krait is all over Thailand. Some have reported them in Bangkok. They don’t mind cruising through the sewer system either. Could be that one.

  3. SDK, i found either a mangrove cat-eyed snake (or less likely juvenile king cobra) dangling around the toilet at 3am. Given we are surrounded by mangroves here on koh phangan, can relax knowing it’s all good. My new home feels just like my old home (Australia). Thanks for your site, really appreciate kob khun maag krub

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