The Cape Cobra occurs in a range of colours – usually various shades of yellow, brown or mottled and they have a dark tipped tail. They usually have a shiny appearance and juveniles have  a dark throat bar which fades as the snake matures.

The Snouted Cobra is usually brown to mustard yellow in colour with a darker back or darker mottled back. (a banded form of this snake does also occur). The belly is off yellow with a lot of feint splotching and usually one feint crossbar. There is often a dark tear under the eye and they have a pronounced rostral (nose) scale.

It’s possible to confuse a Cape Cobra vs Snouted Cobra, but their distribution does not overlap. The graphic below illustrates how to recognize the key differences between the two species.