Tiny black snake - ID required please

Tiny black snake - ID required please

Postby MetalFaerie » Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:02 pm

We found this tiny snake in our house. We have had a few. Our housekeeper is convinced it is a black mamba but I know it's too small.
He is about 10cm in length and about as thick as a toothpick. The size of a worm but he moves like a snake.
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Re: Tiny black snake - ID required please

Postby Bernice » Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:04 pm

Hi there! with out a pic it is very difficult to ID a snake / reptile of any sort for you...

It might be a 'flower pot snake' if it was very small and worm like, these are harmless and eat ant larvae, but how small is small?
maybe post a pic if available?

What happened to the little thing?
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Re: Tiny black snake - ID required please

Postby Westley Price » Thu Apr 03, 2014 7:31 pm

It's most likely one of the Thread Snakes, called Leptotyphlops. Here's a picture. Does it look like this?

Image

Random picture from http://www.backyardnature.net/
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin
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Re: Tiny black snake - ID required please

Postby MetalFaerie » Fri Apr 04, 2014 7:34 pm

I tried to post a pic but file was too large. Looks very similar to pic above but without yellow. I put him in the garden.
We have had a few in the house. Apparently this was the smallest. Maid was convinced it was a black mamba. Lol. So how big do they get?
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Re: Tiny black snake - ID required please

Postby Westley Price » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:38 am

They are quite common snakes, but live underground, so you mostly see them after rains when they're forced from underground to prevent drowning.

They are generally small snakes, with maximum length being about 200mm.
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin
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