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Animals

Free snake SVG files

Free snake SVG files: a coiled snake, a slithering silhouette, a cobra with its hood spread, a rattlesnake, an ouroboros, a head with a forked tongue, a cute snake, a python on a branch, a snake bent into a heart and a panel of snakeskin. Each is drawn by code as clean closed shapes.

12 designs. Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with them.

One long piece

A snake is a single line that gets thinner, which makes it kind to a cutting machine and unkind to a careless weeder: there are no legs to break off, but the tail and the tongue are fine. Every file is 100 mm on its longer side. At that size the bodies are 9 to 12 mm wide, the tail runs down to about 2 mm at its tip and the forked tongue is about 2 mm wide. Vinyl and card hold that at 80 mm. For wood or acrylic, cut at 150 mm or more, or trim the tongue off in your software first.

The diamonds down the back are windows that sit well inside the body, with about 2.5 mm of rim on each side. Put a second colour behind them, yellow under black or cream under green, and the snake has a pattern without a second cut.

Which snake is which

The cobra is the one with a hood and two eye spots on it. The rattlesnake has a rattle on its tail and its fangs showing. The python is the heavy one hanging from a branch. The ouroboros is a snake swallowing its own tail, a sign for eternity that goes back to ancient Egypt. The rest are no particular species, which suits school projects and reptile birthday parties.

How to open the files

  • Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
  • Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
  • LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
  • Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
  • Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions

How do I stop the tongue tearing when I weed?

Weed towards the head, so the tongue is the last thing you free, and hold it down with a fingertip as the waste comes away. On small cuts, press the tongue with transfer tape before lifting anything. The snake silhouette is the easiest of the set to handle.

What does the ouroboros mean?

It is a snake or dragon eating its own tail, drawn as a ring. It stands for a cycle with no beginning and no end: the year, life and death, or the idea that everything returns. It appears in Egyptian, Greek and Norse art and in the notebooks of alchemists.

Can I use the snakeskin panel behind a letter or a shape?

Yes. Lay the panel over your letter in your cutting software and use the intersect or slice tool, so the scales fill the letter. Keep the letter bold, at least 15 mm in the stroke at 100 mm, or the scales will run off its edges.

More free SVG files