Ladder snake
Zamenis scalaris (Schinz, 1822)
Status not recordedsnakes
The ladder snake (Zamenis scalaris) is a species in the family Colubridae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 1.59 kg.
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Quick facts about the ladder snake
- Weight
- 1.59 kg
- Length
- up to 1.6 m
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 23 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- shrubland, woodland
- Egg incubation
- 61 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 7.5 – 10
- Reproduction
- Eggs
- Active
- By day (diurnal)
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the ladder snake live?
Not recorded
Is the ladder snake endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the ladder snake classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyColubridae
- genusZamenis
- SpeciesZamenis scalaris (Schinz, 1822)
Synonyms Coluber bilineatus, Coluber elaphis, Coluber hermannii, Coluber quater radiatus, Coluber scalaris, Elaphe scalaris, Rhinechis agassizii, Rhinechis scalaris, Xenodon michahelles
Other names and names in other languages (22)
- Ladder snakesEnglish
- Cullebra blancaAragonese
- Serp blancaCatalan
- užovka iberskáCzech
- TrappesnogDanish
- TreppennatterGerman
- culebra de escaleraSpanish
- Eskailera-sugeBasque
- TikaskäärmeFinnish
- Couleuvre à échelonsFrench
- serpe riscadaGalician
- hegyesorrú siklóHungarian
- Serpente scalaItalian
- połoz drabinkowyPolish
- Cobra de EscadaPortuguese
- Европейский лазающий полозRussian
- užovka rebríčkováSlovak
- Trapslangroot
- 梯紋鼠蛇Chinese
- Couleuvre à échelons (La)French
- Serpente della scalaItalian
- Cobra-de-escadaPortuguese
Relatives of the ladder snake
Other species in the same genus Zamenis.

Aesculapian snake
Zamenis longissimus
Leopard snake
Zamenis situla
Caucasian rat snake
Zamenis hohenackeri
Italian Aesculapian snake
Zamenis lineatus
Persian rat snake
Zamenis persicus
CompareLadder snake vs Aesculapian snakeLadder snake vs Leopard snakeLadder snake vs Caucasian rat snakeLadder snake vs Italian Aesculapian snake
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the ladder snake?
An adult ladder snake weighs 1.59 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the ladder snake?
The ladder snake (Zamenis scalaris) belongs to the family Colubridae in the order Squamata.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
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Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Ladder snake (Zamenis scalaris). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/ladder-snake
“Ladder snake (Zamenis scalaris).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/ladder-snake.
@misc{ladder_snake_2026,
title = {Ladder snake (Zamenis scalaris)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/ladder-snake},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}