Research desk

Search herpetology, not the whole internet.

No AI-generated answers. Built from real sources and fixed rules.What this meansClose

When you use this tool, no AI writes your answer. The result comes from rules we set ahead of time, applied to information gathered from sources such as field guides, scientific records and our own courses. It is not made up on the spot.

AI did help us build it: writing code, organizing information and drafting some of the drawings.

How we build our tools

One box, several sources worth trusting: the lessons and the Primer on this site, species records from iNaturalist, peer-reviewed papers from OpenAlex, and one-click searches on the Reptile Database, AmphibiaWeb, CNAH, and more. Off-site results are marked as such and open in a new tab.

Results from this site appear first; everything else is marked off-site and opens in a new tab.

A young hognose snake held over a field datasheet, resting its head on a pen. Photo by Sandy Durso.
A young hognose snake on a field datasheet: the raw material behind species records and papers alike. Photo by Sandy Durso.

How it works

Where the answers come from

Every search runs against a short list of sources we would send a student to ourselves. Results from this site come first: course lessons (with a note on which are free to read), the Primer bulletin by bulletin, and downloadable handouts. Species matches come from iNaturalist, limited to reptiles and amphibians, with links onward to the Reptile Database or AmphibiaWeb, GBIF, and Wikipedia. Papers come from OpenAlex, an open index of the scholarly literature, filtered to herpetology first and widened only when nothing matches; where a free copy of a paper exists, the result says so.

A field biologist in chest waders and a camouflage hat stands knee-deep at a lake's weedy edge, holding a dip net.

Reading the results

Follow every result back to its source.

Nothing here is a substitute for reading the source. Off-site results are clearly marked, open in a new tab, and belong to the people who published them. If a source you rely on is missing, tell us.

Browse the free resources Read the Primer

Go deeper

Keep learning with a course.

Everything on this page is free to use. If you would like to go further, our courses are self-paced and grounded in science, with no deadlines, and the free one is a good place to start.

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Open for enrollment

Certified Herpetological Guide

Covers the biology and the conservation, then pushes further: how to talk about these animals with people who are afraid of them.

Self-paced · $149.00

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7577bdfaa3bb41efbac979178b970174
Open for enrollment

Certified Junior Herpetologist

The certification track written at a younger reading level, with adult-partnered fieldwork.

Self-paced · $109.00

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Owner with Bearded Dragon photo by Sarah Beck
Open for enrollment

Foundations of Herpetological Husbandry

Science-based care for reptiles and amphibians in human care.

Self-paced · $49.00

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Instructor Micha Petty with Sulcata
Open for enrollment

Starting and Running a Reptile & Amphibian Rescue

What it takes to run a reptile and amphibian rescue, and whether it is a path you want.

Self-paced · $35.00

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Eastern Copperhead photo by Justin Sokol
Free

Coexisting With Wild Snakes

The myths, the biology, why identification rules fail, and what to actually do.

Self-paced · Free

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Browse all courses

Free, and staying that way

Help keep these tools running

This tool, the free snakes course, the Primer and everything on our Resources page will always be free. If it helped you and you would like to help keep it running (and help us build the next one), you can pitch in. Everything given goes to LEARN, the nonprofit rescue that runs The Herpetology Collective, so it also helps feed, house and care for the animals we take in.

Ways to support