Range in California: Red
Green: Desert Threadsnake
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Adult, coastal San Diego County |
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Threadsnakes will sometimes enter homes. Jerry McMurry discovered this snake in his home one summer night in coastal San Diego County. |
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Habitat, 1500 ft., San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County
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Habitat, Riverside County |
Habitat, San Diego County |
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Description |
Nonvenomous |
| Considered harmless to humans. |
| Size |
| Adults 7 - 16 inches long (18-41 cm). Hatchlings are around 4 - 5 inches long. |
| Appearance |
A very thin snake with a blunt head and tail. The tail is tipped with a small spine. Eyes are nonfunctional dark spots visible under translucent plates. The scales are shiny and cycloid. Belly plates are not enlarged. The lower jaw is countersunk.
Coloring is brown, purple, or pink. This snake can be mistaken for a large worm. |
| Behavior |
When hunting for food, burrows under roots, rocks, and into ants nests. Often found under rocks, boards, or other surface debris where the soil is slightly moist. Sometimes found crawling on roads at night.
When threatened, this snake often writhes around, forming a tight coil while releasing pungent fluids from the cloaca. These fluids serve to repel defensive attacks by the ants and termites on which it feeds. |
| Diet |
Eats ants and termites and their larvae and pupae, and occasionally other small insects.
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| Reproduction |
| Mates in the spring, lays eggs July - August. Females tend to the eggs, and may use communal nests. |
| Range |
| Occurs along the Southern California coast, the east, north of the range of L.h.cahuilae, into southern Nevada and western Arizona, and south along the west coast of Baja California. |
| Habitat |
| Inhabits areas where the soil is suitable for burrowing: brushy mountain slopes, deserts, rocky hillsides, washes near streams, beach sand. |
| Taxonomic Notes |
| Some herpetologists do not recognize subspecies of Leptotyphlops humilis. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None. |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Leptotyphlopidae |
Blind Snakes (Threadsnakes) |
| Genus |
Leptotyphlops |
Threadsnakes |
| Species |
humilis |
Western Threadsnakes |
Subspecies
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humilis |
Southwestern Threadsnake |
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Original Description |
Leptotyphlops - Fitzinger, 1843 - Syst. Rept., p. 24
Leptotyphlops humilis - (Baird and Girard, 1853) - Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. 1, p. 143
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Leptotyplhops - Greek - leptos - slender or thin, Greek - typhlos - blind and Greek - ops - eye -- referring to the small size, slender aspect and lack of functional eyes.
humilis - Latin - small or ground dwelling -- no specific reason in original description.
humilis - Latin - small or ground dwelling
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Leptotyphlops humilis - Western Blind Snake
Southwestern Blind Snake (no subspecies recognized)
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Related or Similar California Snakes |
L. h. cahuilae - Desert Threadsnake
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bartlett, R.D. , & Alan Tennant. Snakes of North America - Western Region. Gulf Publishing Co., 2000.
Ernst, Carl H., Evelyn M. Ernst, & Robert M. Corker. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003.
Wright, Albert Hazen & Anna Allen Wright. Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press.
Brown, Philip R. A Field Guide to Snakes of California. Gulf Publishing Co., 1997.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
This snake is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
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| USDA Forest Service |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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