Texas Blind Snake

(Leptotyphlops dulcis)

Color Photograph: U.S. Forest Service

Texas Blind Snake (Leptotyphlops dulcis)

Identification: Length 5 to 11 inches. Blind snakes are characterized by; 1) the absence of enlarged, rectangular scales on the underside of the body, 2) the lack of eye-sight, with the eye covered with a scale and the eye appearing as a black dot, 3), 14 rows of scales wraping around the body, and 4) the dentition reduced to a few small teeth all set in the lower jaw. The Texas Blind Snake is almost earthworm like with a smooth, shiny, cylindrical body. The color is reddish-brown, pink, or shiny tan. Head and tail blunt. This species has 3 scales situated between the scales covering the eye on either side of the head.

Geographical Variation:

Texas Blind Snake (L. d. dulcis): Characters technical. Range: Central and southern Texas.

New Mexico Blind Snake (L. d. dissectus): Characters technical. Range: Northern and western Texas westward to southeastern Arizona and northward to western Kansas.

Range (see map on left): The Texas Blink Snake is a species of the south-central United States reaching from southern Kansas in the north to Mexico in the south. The species occurs in southeastern New Mexico in the west ranging eastward to eastern Texas and Oklahoma.

Habitat: This species is found in dry prairie, shrubby desert, and along hill and mountains sides. It prefers loose soil or sand because of its burrowing habits.

Behavior: The Texas Blind Snake is nocturnal and a borrower. It is seldom seen above surface except during periods of high rainfall. It can sometimes be found in the dirt below rocks and logs.

Food: Termites, ants, and ant larvae and pupae.

Reproduction:  Females lay between 2 to 7 elongate, cylindrical eggs in June and July. They tend the eggs and may nest with other females. Nests are in crevices or in earthern burrows.

Texas Blind Snake (Leptotyphlops dulcis)

Similar Species:

Western Blind Snake (Leptotyphlops dulcis)

Similar Species