Blind Snakes: Typhlopidae

Most blind snakes are small, with many species reaching less than 12 inches (31 centimeters) in length at full size. Adult flowerpot snakes, for example, reach only 4 to 6.5 inches (10 to 16.5 centimeters) long. A few species, however, can grow to more than 24 inches (61 centimeters). The largest, known as Peter's giant blind snake or the Zambezi blind snake, can top 3 feet (0.9 meters) in length and weigh 1.1 pounds (0.5 kilograms).

The typical blind snake is smooth and shiny with a tube-shaped body. Usually, the head, body, and tail have about the same diameter, although in a few of the larger species, the back half of the animal may grow fat and become quite thick. The scales on their backs are thick and noticeably overlap one another. In some other families of snakes, the scales barely overlap, if they overlap at all. Such an arrangement of overlapping, thick scales gives the blind snakes a strong protective cover.

Blind snakes have short heads, typically with small eyes covered by a see-through scale and a small mouth that opens on the underside of the snake rather than on the front of the head like most other snakes. In some species, the snout is rounded, but in others it may flatten out toward the front, become pointed or hooked, or have some other shape. A few species have little bits of flesh that stick out of the front of the snout and are used by the snake to feel its way along the dark, underground tunnels in which it lives. The tails are usually rather short and often tipped with a single, thorny spine. The spine is especially noticeable in Typhlops depressiceps and Acutotyphlops subocularis. The tail in a snake begins at the vent, a slitlike opening on the snake's underside. They range from tails that make up less than 1/100th of the body length to tails in some species that consist of 1/10th of the overall body.

Many blind snakes have brown, dark gray, or black backs, and a few have bright patterns, such as speckles, blotches, or stripes of white, yellow, orange, or blue. The bellies are often a lighter color than the backs. A few of the blind snakes, including the Xenotyphlops grandidieri, are completely uncolored and look a rather sickly white.