Flowerpot snakes

Guest post by Malcolm Tattersall
Edited, updated, proofread – Admin
Feature Image: A tiny Flowerpot Snake. Rushen, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tiny Garden Surprises

We were moving lots of pot-plants last October, planting out many of them and re-potting others. One day, while doing so, I disturbed what I thought were a few strange worms. All of them were typical worm size, perhaps 8 – 12 cm long and shoelace-thick. Most were black, but one was a delicate lilac colour; and they were all very active, wriggling for their lives until they could vanish into the soil. When I handled them, I found them very dry and slippery, which puzzled me. It didn’t intrigue me enough to stop work, however, or I might have trapped them for closer observation and discovered that they weren’t worms at all but snakes.

This non-native species, hailing from Southeast Asia, likely arrived in Australia via boat cargo. First spotted in Darwin and the Torres Strait, it reached Townsville by 1998 and now thrives from the Pilbara to Brisbane. Its secret weapon? All are female, reproducing parthenogenetically, so one stowaway can spark a population.

A reptile chart at the Bush Garden Nursery alerted me to the fact that I had been playing with Flowerpot Snakes, Indotyphlops braminus.

The species isn’t native to Australia but is a fairly recent arrival from SE Asia, probably arriving in boat cargo. Like the Mourning Gecko, its invasiveness is enhanced by the fact that it is parthenogenetic; that is, all individuals are females, and a new population can be started by a single stowaway. It was first noticed in Darwin and the Torres Strait and was first reported in Townsville in 1998. It is now found in scattered populations from at least the Pilbara to Brisbane.

I was ready for the next one we found and was able to get a photo (link below to original article and photos). I have to say she wasn’t the easiest portrait subject, being very dark, quite small, and quite uncooperative).

She (all of them are female, remember) was about 12 cm long, which means she was close to fully grown. Her head was just slightly rounder (blunter) than her tail, although I wasn’t really sure which was which until I saw her tongue flicking out since the eyes are almost invisible, and I couldn’t see the mouth at all. The scales are tiny, shiny, and close-fitting, obviously designed to help her slip through the dirt but making her difficult to hold on to without injuring her.

Key facts about Flowerpot Snakes:

• Size: 5–15 cm, the world’s smallest snake.
• Appearance: Charcoal gray, silver-gray, or purplish; pale underside; head and tail look similar.
• Behavior: Energetic, light-shy, burrowing into soil or leaf litter.
• Eyes: Tiny, near-blind, sensing only light intensity.
• Diet: Ant and termite larvae, eggs, and pupae.

Wikipedia: Indotyphlops braminus

Adults measure 2–4 inches (5.1–10.2 cm) long, uncommonly to 6 inches (15 cm). It is the smallest known snake species. The head and tail are superficially similar as the head and neck are indistinct. Unlike other snakes, the head scales resemble the body scales. The eyes are barely discernible as small dots under the head scales. … Coloration ranges from charcoal gray, silver-gray, light yellow-beige, purplish, or infrequently albino, the ventral surface more pale. … Behavior ranges from lethargic to energetic, quickly seeking the cover of soil or leaf litter to avoid light. … The tiny eyes are covered with translucent scales, rendering these snakes almost entirely blind. The eyes cannot form images, but are still capable of registering light intensity. … Their diet consists of the larvae, eggs, and pupae of ants and termites.

The Wikipedia page also has the best collection of names for the species. The only one which might cause some confusion is Ramphotyphlops braminus, which is the name given to them by Steve Wilson in his Field Guide to Reptiles of Queensland and JCU on their wildlife pages. Australia does have its own blind snakes, all in the genus Ramphotyphlops, and Queensland is home to 18 species. They are all bigger than the Flowerpot Snake (up to 400 mm) but are otherwise very similar: non-venomous, subterranean predators of ants and termites.

This article first appeared on Green Path, Malcolm’s wildlife and environment blog, in October 2019.

The Flowerpot Snake, while not native to our region, is another example of the diverse wildlife we sometimes encounter. Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare Inc. encourages responsible gardening practices to protect our local ecosystems.