Country guide
Snakes of the Philippines
Snakebite in the Philippines is poorly recorded: there are no national statistics, and many people who are bitten go to traditional healers rather than hospitals. The two native cobras, the Philippine cobra in the north and the Samar cobra in the south, cause dangerous paralysing bites, while the country's pit vipers, such as the temple pit vipers, are listed by WHO as medically important but little studied.
~40
venomous snake species in the Philippines2
1
antivenom made in the country, against one cobra2
8%
of cobra-bite victims studied had reached hospital (1987)4
If someone is bitten
Call now. Then go to hospital.
Antivenom is given in hospitals. Don’t wait for symptoms.
Australia
Australian first aid for snakebite uses a pressure immobilisation bandage and splint, and advises not washing the bite.
Bangladesh
A 2017 study noted that the Indian polyvalent antivenom used in Bangladesh is not made from the venoms of local species such as the monocled cobra, and it did not prevent local tissue damage from cobra bites.
Brazil
Antivenom is free in Brazil's public health system (SUS), but it is only given in hospital, at reference hospitals chosen by each state.
India
Indian polyvalent antivenom is raised against the 'Big Four' and may not neutralise some regional species, such as the monocellate cobra in the North-East and the hump-nosed pit viper in the south-west.
Indonesia
Indonesia's own antivenom, made by Bio Farma, is raised against only three species (Javan spitting cobra, banded krait and Malayan pit viper), so it may work poorly for bites by other snakes such as green pit vipers.
Kenya
Antivenom is usually stocked only at hospitals and some health centres, so people bitten in rural areas often need to be referred, and delays are common.
Mexico
Mexico's public health system uses two anti-viper antivenoms; one is made from the venoms of the terciopelo and the Mexican west coast rattlesnake.
Nepal
100 is the police emergency number; call 102 for an ambulance.
Nigeria
Antivenoms made from Nigerian snake venoms (EchiTAb G and EchiTAb-Plus-ICP) have proved effective in clinical trials, while some imported antivenoms made from non-African snake venoms have proved ineffective.
Pakistan
Rescue 1122 handles ambulance and fire emergencies; the police number is 15.
Philippines
The only antivenom made in the Philippines is Philippine Cobra Antivenom, raised against the Philippine cobra; there is no locally made antivenom for pit viper bites.
South Africa
112 works for all emergencies from a mobile phone; 10177 is ambulance and fire, and 10111 is police.
Sri Lanka
119 (or 118) is the police emergency number; call 1990 for an ambulance.
United States
For free, expert 24/7 advice you can also call Poison Help on 1-800-222-1222, but call 911 in an emergency.
Not listed? Call your local emergency number.
Harmless to people
Snakes that won’t hurt you
They may still bite if handled. Give every snake space.
Every species
All 105 snake species recorded in the Philippines
3 have a full profile so far. The others are listed by family, without a venom status until they have a sourced profile.
Colubridae53
- Boiga angulataLeyte Cat Snake
- Boiga philippinaPhilippine Cat Snake
- Boiga schultzeiSchultz's Blunt-headedTree Snake
- Calamaria alcalaiAlcala's Reed Snake
- Calamaria bitorquesLuzon Dwarf Snake
- Calamaria everetti
- Calamaria gervaisiiGervais’ Reed Snake
- Calamaria joloensisJolo Worm Snake
- Calamaria palavanensisPalawan Worm Snake
- Calamaria suluensisSulu Reed Snake
- Coelognathus philippinusReddish Rat Snake
- Dendrelaphis flavescensSulu Islands Tree Snake
- Dendrelaphis fuliginosusPhilippine Lamp-black Tree Snake
- Dendrelaphis levitoniLeviton’s Bronze-back Tree Snake
- Dendrelaphis luzonensisLuzon Bronze-back Tree Snake
- Dendrelaphis marenaeMaren’s Bronzeback
- Dendrelaphis philippinensisPhilippine Bronze-back Tree Snakeweinell
- Dryophiops philippinaPhilippine Whip Snake
- Liopeltis philippinaPhilippine Liopeltine Snake
- Lycodon alcalaiAlcala's Wolf Snake
- Lycodon biboniusOta's Wolf Snake
- Lycodon chrysopraterosRoss' Wolf Snake
- Lycodon dumeriliiDuméril's Wolf Snake
- Lycodon faustiFaust’s Wolf Snake
- Lycodon ferroniFerron’s Asian Wolf Snake
- Lycodon muelleriMüller’s Wolf Snake
- Lycodon philippinusPhilippine Dryocalamus
- Lycodon sealeiSeale’s Banded Asian Wolf Snake
- Lycodon solivagusCommon Wolf Snake
- Lycodon tessellatusManila Wolf Snake
- Oligodon ancorusNorthern Short-headed Snake
- Oligodon maculatusSpotted Kukri Snake
- Oligodon meyerinkiiSulu Kukri Snake
- Oligodon modestusLuzon Kukri Snake
- Oligodon notospilusPalawan Kukri Snake
- Oligodon perkinsiPerkin's Short-headed Snake
- Opisthotropis alcalaiGary's Mountain Keelback
- Opisthotropis typicaOlive Mountain Keelback
- Pseudorabdion aterZamboanga Burrowing Snake
- Pseudorabdion mcnamaraeMcNamara's Burrowing Snake
- Pseudorabdion montanumMountain Burrowing Snake
- Pseudorabdion oxycephalumGünther's Dwarf Reed Snake
- Pseudorabdion talonuranPanay Island Reed Snake
- Pseudorabdion tayloriTaylor's Burrowing Snake
- Ptyas luzonensisSmooth-Scaled Mountain Rat Snake
- Rhabdophis auriculatusWhite-lined Water Snake
- Rhabdophis barbouriBarbour's Water Snake
- Rhabdophis lineatusZigzag-lined Water Snake
- Sibynophis bivittatusWhite-striped Snake
- Stegonotus muelleriPhilippine groundsnake
- Tropidonophis dendrophiopsSpotted Water Snake
- Tropidonophis negrosensisNegros Spotted Water Snake
- Tropidonophis spilogasterBoie's Keelback
Elapidae21
- Calliophis bilineatusTwo-stripped Coral Snake
- Calliophis philippinus
- Calliophis salitanDinagat Island Banded Coralsnake
- Calliophis suluensisSulu Islands Banded Coral Snake
- Emydocephalus annulatusTurtle-headed seasnake
- Hemibungarus calligasterBarred Coral Snake
- Hemibungarus gemianulisBarred Coral Snake
- Hemibungarus mcclungiMcClung’s Philippine Coral Snake
- Hydrophis atricepsBlack-headed seasnake
- Hydrophis belcheriFaint-banded Seasnake
- Hydrophis cyanocinctusAnnulated Sea Snake
- Hydrophis inornatusInornate Sea Snake
- Hydrophis lambertiLambert's Sea Snake
- Hydrophis semperiLake Taal Snake
- Hydrophis spiralisYellow Sea Snake
- Laticauda laticaudataBlue-banded Sea Krait
- Microcephalophis graciliscommon small-headed sea snake
- Naja philippinensisPhilippine Cobra
- Naja samarensisPeters' Cobra
- Ophiophagus bungarusSunda king cobra
- Ophiophagus salvatanaLuzon king cobra
Typhlopidae15
- Acutotyphlops banaorumBalbalan Blind Snake
- Malayotyphlops andyiAndy’s Blind Snake
- Malayotyphlops canlaonensisTaylor's Worm Snake
- Malayotyphlops castanotusWynn's Worm Snake
- Malayotyphlops collarisCollared Worm Snake
- Malayotyphlops denrorumSierra Madre Blind Snake
- Malayotyphlops hypogiusCebu Island Worm Snake
- Malayotyphlops luzonensisLuzon Worm Snake
- Malayotyphlops manilaeManila Worm Snake
- Malayotyphlops ruberRed Worm Snake
- Malayotyphlops ruficaudaRed-headed Worm Snake
- Ramphotyphlops cumingiiCuming's Blind Snake
- Ramphotyphlops marxiMarx's Worm Snake
- Ramphotyphlops olivaceusOlive Blind Snake
- Ramphotyphlops suluensisSulu Islands Worm Snake
Cyclocoridae8
- Cyclocorus lineatusReinhardt's Lined Snake
- Cyclocorus nuchalisSouthern Triangle-spotted Snake
- Hologerrhum dermaliDermal’s Cylindrical Snake
- Hologerrhum philippinumPhilippine Stripe-lipped Snake
- Levitonius mirusWaray Dwarf Burrowing Snake
- Myersophis alpestrisMyers’ Mountain Snake
- Oxyrhabdium leporinumGünther's Philippine Shrub Snake
- Oxyrhabdium modestumPhilippine Shrub Snake
Viperidae4
- Trimeresurus flavomaculatusPhilippine pitviper
- Trimeresurus mcgregoriMcGregor's pitviper
- Trimeresurus schultzeiSchultze's Pit Viper
- Tropidolaemus philippensisSouth Philippine temple pitviper
Homalopsidae3
- Cerberus microlepisLake Buhi Bockadam
- Cerberus schneideriiSoutheast Asian Bockadam
- Gerarda prevostianaGerard's Water Snake
Gerrhopilidae1
- Gerrhopilus hedraeusNegros Island Worm Snake
Source: Uetz, P. et al. (eds.), The Reptile Database, version 2026-06, via the Catalogue of Life (COL26.9). CC BY 4.0. Ranges in the source can be incomplete.
References
- 1
Patikorn C, Ismail AK, Abidin SAZ, et al. Situation of snakebite, antivenom market and access to antivenoms in ASEAN countries. BMJ Global Health. 2022;7:e007639. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- 2
Castillo DAE, Seneci L, Chowdhury A, Rimando MG, Fry BG. Bite first, bleed later: how Philippine Trimeresurus pit viper venoms hijack blood clotting. Toxins. 2025;17(4):185. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- 3
Palasuberniam P, Chan YW, Tan KY, Tan CH. Snake venom proteomics of Samar cobra (Naja samarensis) from the southern Philippines: short alpha-neurotoxins as the dominant lethal component weakly cross-neutralized by the Philippine cobra antivenom. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2021;12:727756. doi.org
- 4
Watt G, Padre L, Tuazon ML, Hayes CG. Bites by the Philippine cobra (Naja naja philippinensis): an important cause of death among rice farmers. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 1987;37(3):636–639. doi.org