Brahminy Blind Snake

6 Feb

Indotyphlops braminus

The Brahminy blind snake is also known as the 'flowerpot snake' because it often hides in the soil of flowerpots, resulting in its spread throughout most of the world. It looks and acts like a worm — some 13 cm (5 in) long and subterranean — but it's one of the world's smallest snake species.

The Thing in the Flowerpot

Is that an earthworm wriggling in the flowerpot? Its blunt, brown-purple head pokes out from the soil, followed by the rest of its slick, cylindrical body. It's quite a hefty worm, thick-bodied and long. Looking closer, there's something strange about it. Instead of the circular bands that would typically enwrap the length of an earthworm, this creature is covered in minute scales. As it moves about, finding a spot to re-burrow into the pot, it doesn't pump itself along a segment at a time, like a worm should, but slithers in a swimming, serpentine fashion. Before it plunges back beneath the ground, it raises up its front end and its head splits in a silent scream. Just above its tiny mouth, it has a pair of tiny, black-dot eyes. The weird "worm" retreats into the potted soil.

Earthworm-Snake

It looks like an earthworm and acts like an earthworm, but it's a Brahminy blind snake. It is a reptile, a true snake; relative to vipers, cobras, and pythons, but clearly an oddity among the serpents. For one, the blind snake is fossorial — it lives a life of burrowing ¹ — or otherwise spends its time secreted away in cramped hiding spots. As such, it is rarely seen, despite being one of the most widespread snake species in the world. But that's putting the flowerpot before the blind snake, so to speak. Let's first learn what makes a Brahminy blind snake, before getting to its global invasion.

As a Brahminy blind snake surfaces from the soil, it gradually reveals a length of 5 centimetres (2 in), then 10 cm (4 in), and then 15 cm (6 in) as it fully slides out of the earth. This is, usually, the upper range of its size, although some exceptional individuals may grow up to 20 cm (7.9 in) long.²

In its anatomy, the Brahminy blind snake is like a reversed, back-to-front earthworm. The snake's tail is tapered to a point, like the head of an earthworm, and brandishes a short, sharp spine. Its head is blunt, like the tail of an earthworm, and although appearing featureless, closer inspection reveals a tiny mouth — bearing no venomous fangs — and two wide-set, black dots. These, its eyes, are covered in a translucent layer of scales, making the Brahminy an all-but-blind snake, since its eyes cannot make out images but can detect light intensity — enough to tell it whether it's above ground or below, but little else.

The Subterranean Serpent

The world beneath the soil is dank and dark. Even the largest, most sensitive eyes couldn't make out anything down here, since at least a trickle of light is needed to see. Eyes then, for the perpetual denizens of the underworld, become energetically costly organs that offer few benefits.³ Earthworms, for instance, have no eyes at all. It makes sense then that the Brahminy blind snake, possibly the most subterranean of all serpents, would evolve to lose these organs over time and come to rely instead on senses like smell and taste. It flicks its tongue to detect chemical trails in the dark. It invades ant and termite nests, slithering through their excavated tunnels, hunting down the residents, swallowing insects, larvae and eggs whole.

Occasionally, this subterranean snake is found in the above world. Heavy downpours often force it to the surface, just as they do for earthworms. It'll hide under a log or stone, beneath some leaf litter or humus, but up here, this mass murderer of insects is far from the food chain's apex. From feral cats to owls to other snakes, the blind snake's roster of predators varies depending on locality. To any creature bigger than an ant, the blind snake is pretty much harmless — its little mouth snaps ineffectually and the most it can really do is push away a threat with the tip of its tail while releasing an unpleasant-smelling musk. It's not very threatening, and neither is it particularly bright or fast. How then did it manage to coil its scaley body around the world?

Potted Plants & Parthenogenetic Pioneers

The Brahminy blind snake is believed to originate from Asia, specifically from the Indo-Malayan region with some evidence pointing to India as its original, native home. But its global diaspora has been so absolute, that it's now difficult to determine where exactly the blind snake originated from. The natural dispersal ability of the Brahminy blind snake is poor, which is to say, it's no great globetrotter, and yet it now lives across most of Asia, from Japan to Iran, throughout Africa, southern Europe, the Americas, and several islands of Oceania. How? The answer, of course, is us. The black rat would not be so ubiquitous if not for our ships, neither the nutria if not for our fur trade, nor the rose-ringed parakeet if not for our pet trade. The Brahminy blind snake conquered the world on our love of pretty, exotic plants.

This blind snake has unwittingly jumped from country to country, continent to continent, hidden within the soil of our potted plants — bestowing upon the species the nickname of 'flowerpot snake'. But it's not just its small stature and inconspicuous nature which enabled its dispersion. Its populations were bolstered by a biblical superpower. The Brahminy blind snake can give "virgin birth" or, in more scientific parlance, it is capable of parthenogenesis. A female blind snake — accidentally scooped up with a batch of soil, dumped into a pot, and shipped halfway around the world — can establish a new population without the need for a male. In fact, as far as we know, there's no such thing as a Brahminy blind snake male. Every single specimen found so far has been a female. A single female, completely independently, can have as many as eight offspring; all of them also female, and all genetically identical to their mother and to each other. The result has been a worldwide invasion of tiny blind snakes, initiated by an army of female clones, distributed via potted plants.

Top left to bottom right; a Yucatecan worm snake (*Amerotyphlops microstomus*), western worm snake (*Carphophis vermis*), western threadsnake (*Rena humilis*), Arabian sand boa (*Eryx jayakari*), and a southern stiletto snake (*Atractaspis bibronii*).

¹ There are over 3,000 species of snake and more than a few are adapted to burrowing. The Brahminy blind snake comes from a family (Typhlopidae) — some 200 species large — of similarly worm-like, mostly blind, burrowing snakes. Two species of unrelated worm snakes (Carphophis spp.) live in the U.S., which incidentally look less like worms than the blind snakes. There are 15 species of burrowing asps (Atractaspis spp.) from Africa and the Middle East, which are also known as 'stiletto snakes' because of their protruding teeth that they use to "side-stab" enemies. There are the sand boas (18 species in the subfamily Erycinae) which have noticeably more compact skulls than most other boas in order to push through sand. Finally, there is the family known as thread snakes (Leptotyphlopidae), some 80 species that look like blind snakes but are generally smaller. This family includes the world's smallest known snake, the Barbados threadsnake, with the longest known specimen measuring just 10.4 cm (4.09 inches), and described as having the dimensions of a spaghetti noodle.

The giant Gippsland earthworm (*Megascolides australis*) of Australia can grow up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) long.

² The Brahminy blind snake is fairly large compared to your typical earthworm, although, even the largest garden wrigglers — such as the common earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) — can reach maximum lengths longer than this snake, at up to 35 cm (13.8 in). And the blind snake comes nowhere near such behemoths as Australia's giant Gippsland earthworm, which averages a metre (3.3 ft) long and maxes out at 3 metres (9.8 ft).

³ The most well-known examples of visually impaired diggers are moles. There are several groups around the world, not closely related, each losing their sight independently of one another. The European mole, for instance, has eyes 1 mm (1⁄32 in) in diameter. The naked mole rat has tiny pinprick eyes with degenerated optic nerves. While the eyes of golden moles and marsupial moles are completely covered by skin.

**Where Does It Live?**

⛰️ Lives underground in loose and wet soil, often in urban or agricultural areas. It can also be found hiding under rocks, logs, or leaf litter.
📍 Likely native to South and East Asia, but now spread throughout much of the world.

Size // Small
Length // 10 - 20 cm (3.9 - 7.9 in)
Weight // 0.75 grams (0.03 oz) on average
Activity: Nocturnal 🌙
Lifestyle: Solitary 👤
Lifespan: Up to 20 years
Diet: Carnivore (Insectivore)
Favorite Food: Ants and termites 🐜
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Typhlopidae
Genus: Indotyphlops
Species: I. braminus

The Brahminy is an almost-blind snake; its tiny, black-dot eyes can't make out images but they can detect light intensity.

Every single Brahminy blind snake found so far has been a female. A lone female can (through parthenogenesis) have as many as eight offspring — all of them also female, and all genetically identical to their mother and to each other.

This species likely originated in Asia, specifically in the Indo-Malayan region with some evidence pointing to India. Today, however, it has spread (mostly as a stowaway in flowerpots) across most of Asia, throughout Africa, southern Europe, the Americas, and several islands of Oceania.

Despite being one of the most widespread species of snake in the world, the little Brahminy blind snake is rarely seen, as it lives a fossorial (a burrowing) lifestyle and is often mistaken for an earthworm.

It slithers through ant and termite nests, flicking its tongue to detect chemical trails in the dark. When it catches its prey — an insect or its larvae and eggs — it swallows the thing whole.

Most Brahminy blind snakes measure around 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long. While there are lengthier individuals, they rarely exceed a length of 20 cm (7.9 in). This makes it, if not the smallest snake — that title goes to the Barbados threadsnake, with a maximum length of 10.4 cm (4.1 in) — then still among the smallest of serpents.

The form of a Brahminy blind snake is like a back-to-front earthworm; the snake's tail is tapered to a point (like the head of an earthworm), while its head is blunt (like the tail of an earthworm).

This worm-like snake is shorter than some actual earthworms — the common earthworm of Europe can grow up to 35 cm, while the giant Gippsland earthworm of Australia averages a metre (3.3 ft) long and maxes out at 3 metres (9.8 ft).

Like earthworms, the Brahminy blind snake is forced to the surface by heavy rains where it does its best to hide, for it is vulnerable in the above world. It has a tiny spike on its tail, but its effectiveness as a weapon is dubious. The most it can usually do is push away its attacker with its tail while stinking up a storm (it emits an unpleasant odour).

This snake is not venomous. It's completely harmless to humans — or anything much bigger than an ant, really.