Texas Blind Snake

(Leptotyphlops dulcis)
Subspecies: Plains, New Mexico

Description:

5-10 3/4" (12.7-27.3 cm). Smooth, shiny cylindrical snake; reddish-brown, pink, or silvery tan, with blunt head and tail. Small spine on tip of tail. Eyes mere black spots beneath ocular scales; more than 1 scale on top of head between large scale covering each eye. No enlarged belly plates. 14 rows of scales around body.

Breeding:

Clutch of 2-7 elongate, thin-shelled eggs, 5/8" (16 mm) long, is laid late June to July. Females tend incubating eggs and may share communal nesting sites in rocky rissures or earthen burrows. Hatchlings are about 2 3/4" (7 cm) long.

Habitat:

Semiarid deserts, prairies, hillsides, mountain slopes with sandy or loamy soil suitable for burrowing; sea level to 5,000' (1,500 m).

Range:

Sc. Kansas through Oklahoma and Texas to Mexico, west to s. New Mexico and se. Arizona.

Subspecies:

Plains (L. d. dulcis), 1 upper lip scale between large scale containing eye and scale surrounding nostril; s. Oklahoma, c. Texas into Mexico.

New Mexico (L. d. dissectus), 2 upper lip scales between ocular and lower nasal scale; s. Kansas, w. Texas, s. New Mexico, se. Arizona and adjacent Mexico.

Nocturnal. This burrowing snake is seldom seen on the surface except in the evening following heavy summer rains. It is most frequently found in damp soil under slabs of rock, logs, or other surface debris. In farming areas it is sometimes uncovered and eaten by chickens scratching through barnyard soil for worms. It defends itself by coiling and writhing about, smearing cloacal fluid over its body. Eats termites, ants, and ant pupae.

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