Flaviemys purvisi
Very Well-Known Member
JANUARY 1 2019
Daniel Pedersen
This blind snake was found at Flyer's Creek. The specimen was about 25 centimetres long and looked for all the world like a big earthworm. PHOTO Joanna Jorgensen.
YOU don’t see them that often, and it’s highly debatable whether they see you at all.
The blind snake pictured above was found and released at Flyers Creek, between Carcoar and Panuara.
Blind snakes are a threatened species. They are found wherever ants and termites (their main food supply) are plentiful. They also eat the eggs and larvae of ants and termites.
To find their food blind snakes flick their tongue to taste and smell the trail of ants and termites. They follow the ants' trails to the nest.
Owls, feral cats, foxes and particularly the bandy bandy snake, eat blind snakes. Blind snakes move in a side-to-side swimming motion above the ground. Below ground they use tunnels made by insects. These snakes are non-venomous and harmless. They cannot bite and have limited defensive capabilities.
If you encounter animals you can’t recognise during the summer, do your best to work out what they are, photograph them and report their release, capture, death or circumstances on www.bionet.nsw.gov.au/.
