Rough-nosed Blind Snake
On our outside door mat
Ellura
Rough-nosed Blind Snake
Head, showing covered eye & scales
 
                      
Rough-nosed Blind Snake (Anilios bituberculatus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Reptiles (Reptilia)
Order: Scaled Reptiles (Squamata)
Family: Blind Snake (Typhlopidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Rough-nosed Blind Snake (Anilios bituberculatus)
This Photo:     Dark spot, from a healed injury
Synonym: Ramphotyphlops
Other name: Prong-snouted Blind Snake

Thank you Stephen Mahony, James Nankivell & Tony and Jenny Dominelli for confirming and Darren Schmitke for helping with the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Riverland and elsewhere
We've now found 3 at Ellura. Very hard to measure their length but we estimate the 1st here was ~300mm, while the 2nd two were ~200mm. These are all small, with a considered average length being ~450mm.
Went to go to the loo and was frightened by this little fellow.
At first we were concerned it was a baby brown.
It looked like a very large, very active worm. This was a strong hint it was a blind snake, but we weren't taking any chances.
These are non-venomous.
Darren says the brown spot on it's back is probably due to a previous injury.
Unlike their common name suggests they aren't quite blind. They burrow and live underground, so have a scale covering each eye for protection, but it is beleived they can still determine light levels and possibly general shapes.
We accidentally dug it up, in the garden, the specimen in the last photos. Worried we had killed it we kept it inside for the afternoon to monitor it's condition. It seemed fine, and they are nocturnal, so released it that evening.

Copyright © 2014-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 24-Oct-2014
This species is classed as LC (Least Concern) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)