Types of blindsnakes

Antillotyphlops is a genus of blind snakes in the family Typhlopidae. Like all typhlopids, these are small fossorial snakes built for a life spent tunneling through soil, leaf litter, and rotting wood. The genus was split out of the older catch-all genus Typhlops to group together the species native to the Caribbean islands, and the name itself points to that home, combining the Antilles with the typhlopid lineage. Our database holds 10 species, including the Puerto Rican White-tailed Blindsnake, the Puerto Rican Coastal Blindsnake, the Dominican Worm Snake, and the Leeward Blindsnake.

These snakes are easy to mistake for earthworms at a glance. They are slender and cylindrical with smooth, tightly overlapping scales that give the body a glossy, polished look, a blunt head that is barely distinct from the neck, and a short tail that often ends in a tiny spine. Their most defining feature is in the name. The eyes are reduced to dark spots beneath translucent head scales and can detect light and dark but not form real images, which is all a permanently underground animal needs. Most species are small, commonly only a few inches to roughly a foot long, and they tend to be pink, brown, gray, or blackish, sometimes with a paler tail tip.

The range of Antillotyphlops is the West Indies, centered on Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Virgin Islands, and the islands of the Lesser Antilles. Many species are island endemics, found on a single island or small island group and nowhere else, which is typical for fossorial animals isolated by water. They favor habitats with loose, workable substrate where they can burrow and where their prey is abundant, including forest floor, coastal scrub, gardens, and disturbed ground. Because they live below the surface, they are far more common than they appear and are most often found when someone turns over a log, a rock, or a shovelful of damp soil.

These are harmless, non-venomous snakes. They have no venom and no fangs, their mouths are tiny, and they pose no danger to people or pets. Their only defense is to flee into the soil, and some may press the tail spine against a handler or release a musky fluid rather than attempt to bite. As a general safety note that applies to wild animals overall, it is still best to leave any wild snake alone and let it move on. If a genuine snake emergency ever occurs, in the United States contact Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or call local emergency services.

Ecologically, Antillotyphlops snakes are specialist predators of soft-bodied social insects, feeding mainly on ants and termites and especially on their eggs, larvae, and pupae. They follow chemical trails into nests and feed in bulk on the brood. Reproduction is by laying eggs, and clutches are typically small. Behaviorally they are secretive and largely nocturnal at the surface, doing nearly all of their activity underground, which is why these abundant little snakes are so rarely seen even on the islands where they are common.