Harmless · Native to southern Asia · Introduced in the United States

Brahminy blind snake

Indotyphlops braminus

Also called flowerpot snake, Brahminy blindsnake
Data updated October 2026

Tiny, shiny dark gray Brahminy blind snake on garden soil, looking like a small earthworm
Fig. 1 — Adult on potting soil. It is often mistaken for an earthworm.
Close view of a Brahminy blind snake held on a fingertip, showing its blunt head and tiny tongue
Fig. 2 — Up close, the tiny tongue flicks like any snake’s; earthworms have no tongue and are ringed.

At a glance

A worm-sized, shiny black burrowing snake from southern Asia that has spread around the warm parts of the world in the soil of potted plants. Every one is female, and they reproduce without males. It is established in Florida and turns up in other southern states. It does not bite.

01

Identification

This is a tiny snake: thin, shiny and silver gray, charcoal, purplish or solid black, sometimes with a paler chin, vent and tail tip. The rounded head has no neck behind it, and the head and tail look so alike that it is hard to tell which end is which. The tiny eyes sit under translucent scales and can sense light but not shapes. It lacks the wide belly scales of most snakes. Juveniles look like adults.

  1. 01No rings or segments. Smooth, even scales all over, unlike the ringed body of an earthworm.
  2. 02Flicking tongue. Hold one gently and you can see a tiny forked tongue.
  3. 03Blunt at both ends. The tail ends in a short point that the snake presses against your skin; it does not hurt.

02

Size

01 in2 in3 in4 in5 in6 in7 in Typical adult · about 5.5 in (14 cm)

Adults in Florida measure about 4.4 to 6.5 inches (11–16.5 cm) in total length, and the body is only about as thick as a strand of spaghetti.

03

Range & habitat

Brahminy blind snake in loose soil at the base of a nursery container plant
Fig. 3 — Container plants from nurseries are how this snake travels around the world.

The Brahminy blind snake comes from southern Asia and the shores of the Indian Ocean, but it has been carried so widely in the soil of potted plants and nursery stock that it now lives in tropical and warm temperate regions around the world. Because a single snake can start a colony, it establishes easily wherever it lands.

In the United States it was first reported in Miami in the 1970s and now ranges from Key West north through much of the Florida peninsula, with scattered Panhandle records such as in Pensacola. It has also been recorded in Hawaii and Boston, in New Orleans and Lafayette, Louisiana (first found in 1993), and recently at a few sites in Harris County, Texas, including a 2019 find in Bellaire. It lives in loose, moist soil and leaf litter and under rocks and logs, often in landscaped yards and gardens.

State guides: Florida · Texas

04

Diet & predators

It feeds mainly on ants and termites, especially ant eggs and larvae, along with other small invertebrates in the soil. Its predators in the introduced range have not been well studied.

Feeds on

  • Ant eggs and larvae
  • Termites
  • Other small soil invertebrates

Preyed on by

  • Poorly documented in the US
Ants tending larvae inside a nest chamber
Prey — ant brood.
Termites in a piece of rotting wood
Prey — termites.

05

Behavior & seasons

The Brahminy blind snake spends nearly all its time underground, burrowing through loose soil, and is most often found when people dig in gardens, move pots or lift boards and stones. It can also swim and sometimes turns up in swimming pools. It is nonvenomous and does not bite; when held, it simply wriggles and pushes its pointed tail tip against your skin.

Most are moved from place to place in the soil of large potted trees and shrubs sold in the landscape trade, which is how they are thought to spread.

06

Reproduction

Every Brahminy blind snake ever recorded in the wild has been female. It is the only snake known to reproduce entirely by parthenogenesis: females lay fertile eggs without mating, and the young are genetic copies of their mother. This lets one snake hidden in a flowerpot found a whole population, though the lack of genetic variety may leave colonies vulnerable to disease.

07

Conservation

The species is not protected in the United States, where it is an introduced, nonnative animal. Most biologists do not call it invasive, because no clear ecological or economic harm has been shown. The Florida Museum and UF/IFAS Extension ask people to report sightings, especially from the Panhandle, to help track its spread. Which reptiles are restricted?

Keep reading

Sources

Data updated October 2026 · How we build these pages