Blind Snakes of the United States

Also called worm snakes or thread snakes, the slender blind snake are indeed blind, but possess tuny vestigial eyes that appear as black dots beneath an irregularly shanped ocular scale. These snakes are cahracterized by a short blunt head, short tail, and slender cylindrical body covered with close fitting, overlapping smooth scales arranged in 14 rows around the body. They lack enlarged belly scales. Most range in size from 5" to 15". The teeth are only present in the lower jaw.

These snakes are seldom seen as they are burrowers and crevice dwellers that may emerge around sundown and crawl about on the surface. They feed largely on termites and ants. Females lay small clutches of long slender eggs.

 

There are only two species of Blind Snakes in the U.S.

Texas Blind Snake (Leptotyphlops dulcis)

Found from southcentral Kansas through Oklahoma and Texas to Mexico, west to southern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona.

Western Blind Snake (Leptotyphlops humilis)

Found from extreme southwestern Utah, southern Nevada and California into Baja California, southern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, western Texas and Mexuico.