There is one question that sits at the center of nearly every human-snake encounter: what is that?
Not out of curiosity. Out of urgency. Because the answer determines what happens next – to the person, and to the snake.
I’ve been doing snake rescues in and around Bangalore for years. Around 400 documented calls, across apartments, farms, construction sites, and backyards. And in almost every one of them, the first thing I’m asked – sometimes before they even tell me where they are – is: “Is it poisonous?”
Wrong question, technically. Poison is ingested. Venom is injected. A snake isn’t poisonous the way a mushroom is. It’s venomous – or it isn’t. But that’s a pedantic correction to make to someone standing two feet from a Russell’s Viper, so the real problem isn’t the vocabulary. It’s that nobody knows the answer.
They’ve already photographed it. Usually from a safe and useless distance, or from dangerously close because someone wanted a better shot. Then they send it on WhatsApp to whoever they think might know. A neighbor. A group. Me. Often at 11PM.
The problem isn’t that people are curious. The problem is that a wrong answer – or no answer – can end with a dead snake, a panicked household, or worse, delayed treatment because someone assumed a bite was harmless.
So I built something.
You upload a photo of a snake – any snake, from anywhere in the world – and the app identifies it. Venomous or not. Species, behavior, what to do, what not to do.
Think Merlin for birds. Think Shazam for songs. You have a thing in front of you that you don’t recognize, you point your phone at it, and you get an answer. Fast and specific.
The difference here is stakes. Getting a bird ID wrong means you write the wrong name in your notebook. Getting a snake ID wrong is a different kind of problem.
Human-snake conflict is not primarily a snake problem. It’s an information problem. Most bites happen when someone tries to handle, kill, or corner a snake they’ve already misidentified. Better ID doesn’t solve everything – but it gives people a starting point that’s more reliable than instinct and faster than finding an expert at midnight.
This is probably the most practically useful thing I’ve built. Not the most complex. But the most directly connected to a real, recurring, high-pressure situation where better information changes outcomes.
The app is free, works on any device, and needs no account.
If you encounter a snake, photograph it from a safe distance and upload it. You’ll know what you’re dealing with before you call anyone. That’s usually the part that was missing.
Go ahead and try it at: snakeid.shiftingradius.com
