Help Identify a Snake

[Longhorn Al]

Last weekend I found a cool little snake while pulling up some weeds. I pulled the weed which was in an old ant pile, and the snake came flying out when the mound broke apart.

He was only about 5 inches long and thinner than a pencil. I couldn't tell his head from his tail until he stuck his tiny tongue out. I thought it was a worm of some kind at first. But it slithered and had a forked tongue. He had no real head or eyes it seemed. He was a beautiful color. A kind of glacier blue and shiny.

Anyone have any idea?

 

[arroyo]

It's a Texas Blind Snake.

 

[Uninformed]

How big do the blind snakes get? I saw a white/albino snake in the grass when I was a little kid. It didn't seem to have eyes and it was about 10 inches long and had average rattlesnake-like girth.

 

[Longhorn Al]

I think it has to be a blind snake. But the color is way off. This thing was literally blueish/white. No brown on him at all.

 

[arroyo]

They tend to kind of change color a little bit in different light conditions.

 

[Longhorn Al]

Well, it was direct sunlight. Are you saying it's like a chameleon? I've been reading up on them and it doesn't say anything about that. I know it has an iridescent color to it. But this snake changed from blue to white depending on the angle of the sun. Not blue to brown.

Maybe it was albino?

 

[Snoop_Dogg]

Al, it may have been a blind, or a juvenile coachwhip. The coloration you describe is closer to that of a coachwhip, but a VERY young one. They also are high strung and have small eyes, so unlike a ribon snake, a juveniles eyes would have been hard to see.

Have a look through Texas Snakes

 

[HornMafia]

corra

 

[Longhorn Al]

I don't believe it's a young coachwhip.

This thing had very small scales. Unnoticeable. It's head was more squared off. Not a rounded tip like a normal head. think of a snake that gets its head chopped off. It's like the body just ends abruptly. But it was still there...it was licking the air as I picked it up.

And it wasn't just blueish/gray. It was blue and white. Think of an iceberg. Weirdest thing I've seen.

 

[Snoop_Dogg]

It was a Texas Blind Snake then.

They can be reddish-brown, pink, silvery or tan, grey, dark grey/black.

There is also a flat head snake that sorta matches the coloration you mentioned, but I dont think that is it:

 

[Longhorn Al]

Gotta be the Blind Snake. Looks like an earthworm, which is what I thought I was seeing at first. But none of those colors describes it. Maybe silver? But it wasn't silver, so I don't know. Wish I had gotten a picture!

 

[Mrmyke709]

I get a lot of those in old fire ant mounds .
They eat lots of bugs. Cool little fellers.

 

[10nDomino]

It's gotta be the Texas Blind Snake. I know what snake you're talking about and they look just like the one in the first picture. Those are the coolest little snakes I've ever seen and they're certainly fascinating. But yeah, I noticed the same characteristics when I first saw one....about the size of an earthworm, can't really tell the head from the tail, etc.

I found one late one night at an apartment complex off of Riverside returning home from 6th Street and decided to keep it in a mayonnaise jar but the next morning he wasn't there. I thought for sure he would not be able to escape the slithery confines of the mayo jar. I was saddened...he was my best friend that night.

 

[balzac]

...don't want to know why

 

[Mrmyke709]

Other critters around my house...

Spiny lizard..

Green anoles....

Texas Spotted Whiptail..

And, with all these lizards running around, I get a lot of these guys...

 

[Jakes on Fifth]

I dig the Chapparal.

 

[Snoop_Dogg]

Mrmyke, can I come hang out at your place...those are some cool as **** critters you have around there...

 

[SmogHorn]

Yeah I wanna come hang out too.
I'll bring the tazer!

 

[El_Guapo]

Snoop -

My ball's going through one of her periodic "I won't eat" stages. Any suggestions? She usually pulls out of it by now but it's been almost two months and I'm starting to get a little concerned. She shed last week and that usually breaks the cycle but not this time.

And please don't tell me I have to start feeding live.