Western Blind Snake

(Leptotyphlops humilis)
Subspecies: Southwestern, Desert, Trans-Pecos, Utah
Description:
7-16" (17.8-40.6 cm). Smooth, shiny cylindrical snake; brown, purplish, or silvery pink with blunt head and tail. Small spine on tip of tail. Black eye spots beneath ocular scales; only 1 scale on top of head between large scale covering each eye. No enlarged belly scales. 14 rows of scales around body.
Breeding:
Mates in spring. Clutch of 2-6 slender eggs, 5/8 (15 mm) long, is laid July to August. Females tend eggs, and may use communal nests. Hatchlings are about 3 1/2" (9 cm) long.
Habitat:
Deserts, grassland, scrub, canyons, and rocky foothills with moist sandy or gravelly soils suitable for burowing; sea level to 5,000' (1,500 m).
Range:
Extreme sw. Utah, s. Nevada and California into Baja California, s. Arizona, sw. New Mexico, w. Texas, and Mexico.

Subterranean in habit, and capable of borrowing quickly into loose soil or sand. On warm evenings it emerges at sunset from beneath moist rocks or among roots of bushes and forages for termites and ants, following their trails by smell.

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