Tricheilostoma

Tricheilostoma is a genus in the family Leptotyphlopidae, the threadsnakes or slender blind snakes. Members are among the smallest snakes on Earth, with pencil-thin bodies, vestigial eyes hidden under head scales, and a blunt tail often tipped with a tiny spine. In our database the genus is represented by the Two-colored Blind Snake, a typical example of how these animals look and live. Like the rest of the family, they spend almost their whole lives underground or under cover, surfacing rarely.

These snakes are fossorial, meaning they live by burrowing through loose soil, leaf litter, and rotting wood. Leptotyphlopids as a group are found across warm regions of the Americas, Africa, and southwestern Asia, favoring tropical and subtropical habitats where the ground stays moist and full of insect life. To recognize one in general terms, look for a very small, glossy, cylindrical body of nearly uniform width from head to tail, smooth scales that give a shiny look, and eyes reduced to dark dots. They are slow above ground and quick to wriggle back into cover.

Threadsnakes are completely harmless to people. They are not venomous and are not rear-fanged, their mouths are tiny and built for feeding on soft-bodied insects rather than biting in defense. Their diet is dominated by ants and termites, along with the eggs and larvae of those insects, which they raid inside underground nests. They reproduce by laying eggs, and their secretive habits mean most people never see one even where they are common. There is no medical danger from this group, but as with any wild animal it is best to observe rather than handle them.