Western slender blind snake, Western threadsnake
The Western blind snake (Rena humilis) is a nonvenomous fossorial species of snake found in North America. It lives underground in burrows, and since it has no use for vision, its eyes are mostly vestigial.
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NocturnalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
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CarnivoreA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of a...
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MyrmecophagousMyrmecophagy is a feeding behavior defined by the consumption of termites or ants, particularly as pertaining to those animal species whose diets a...
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InsectivoresAn insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of e...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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OviparousOviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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BurrowingA burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct ...
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FossorialA fossorial animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, ...
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PredatorPredators are animals that kill and eat other organisms, their prey. Predators may actively search for or pursue prey or wait for it, often conceal...
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Non-venomousSo
SolitaryNo
Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withThe Western blind snake resembles a long earthworm. It is pink, purple, or silvery-brown in color, shiny, wormlike, cylindrical, blunt at both ends and has light-detecting black eyespots. The skull is thick to permit burrowing, and it has a spine at the end of its tail that it uses for leverage. It is as thin as an earthworm. This species and other blind snakes are fluorescent under low-frequency ultraviolet light (black light).
Western blind snakes are found in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In the US they range from southwestern and Trans-Pecos Texas west through southern and central Arizona, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, and southern California. In Mexico, these snakes occur in the Mexican states of Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and San Luis Potosí. The preferred habitat of Western blind snakes includes deserts, scrub, grassy areas, rocky hillsides, sandy areas above ocean beaches, and canyon bottoms near riparian areas where the soil is loose enough to work. They can also sometimes occur in cultivated areas.
Western blind snakes are secretive solitary creatures that live underground, sometimes as deep as 20 meters (66 ft). They can sometimes hide under wood, among the roots of bushes, or under stones. Western blind snakes hunt during the night and are known to invade ant and termite nests which they locate by following pheromone trails left by these insects.
Western blind snakes are carnivores (myrmecophages, insectivores). They mainly eat ants and termites and their larvae and eggs. They may also sometimes eat other soft-bodied insects.
The breeding season of Western blind snakes takes place in spring. In mid-summer, females lay 6-7 eggs in the underground nest and sometimes they can nest communally.
There are no major threats to this species at present.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Western blind snake total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers today are stable.
