Leptotyphlops incognitus
Joubert and I have just returned from a “Dads & Lads” weekend with good friends at the Kudu Private Nature Reserve outside Lydenburg in the Mpumalanga Province. While looking for crickets to use as fishing bait I came across this tiny Incognito Thread Snake underneath a rock.
The Incognito Thread Snake is a harmless and tiny reptile that lives almost exclusively underground, sometimes emerging on the surface during wet weather and then easily confused with an earthworm. They feed on invertebrates, especially termites.
Incognito Thread Snakes grow to about 15cm in length and are thinner than a matchstick. Females lay 3-4 rice-sized eggs that hatch in late summer.
In South Africa the Incognito Thread Snake occurs in Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province, and beyond our borders as far as Zambia, Malawi and southern Mozambique. The IUCN considers it to be of least concern.
DeWetsWild 
I found a thread snake in the campsite at Lower Sabie, Kruger NP. I recalled I saw a picture of it on a book otherwise I would confuse it with a centiped or a worm. So good to have an idea of creatures before we find one of them. Amazing snake!
Now that is a wonderful thing to find at your campsite, Annalisa! Just shows again that the world of small creatures is just as fascinating as the large ones we go looking for in Kruger Park.
I never knew a snake could be so tiny! Cool.😎
Amazing to think about the different sizes snakes come in, isn’t it Siobhan? From this one at the one end to the giant anacondas and pythons at the other!
Fascinating!
Isn’t it just, Tracy!?
The most fascinating thing I’ve seen on the internet in the last week, Dries. 🙂
You are too kind, Tracy!
“Dads & Lads” naweek – dis nou oorspronklik! Sjoe, dit lyk nogal na ‘n aktiewe slangetjie (ek het vir ‘n oomblik gedink dis ‘n erdwurm).
Voor Covid het ons gereeld sulke Pa-en-Seun naweke gedoen met ons uitgebreide vriendekring en dit was wonderlik om nou weer een te kon doen saam die vriende wat nog in Pretoria en omgewing bly. Ongelukkig het baie in die onlangse verlede uitgetrek Laeveld en Kaap toe.
What a fortunate find!
Certainly a lot nicer than the crickets I were looking for, Anne!
Nog nooit gesien nie, Dries!
Dan is ek nog blyer dat ons dit vir julle kon wys, Aletta. Baie dankie!
Wow, is dit wat dit is? Nie besef wat dit regtig was nie. Ek kan hul beslis ont
hou dat hul anders as erdwurms gelyk het. My swaer het nogal gereeld vis gevang en erdwurms gebruik.
Ongelooflik dat reptiele so klein kan wees, ne Ineke!?
Ja, en so fyn en amper delikaat ook.
Wow! I did not know such small snakes exist!
Nature has some incredible surprises in store, Hien! I think that’s why we find it so addictive being out in the veld.
Did you notice its tiny little tongue flicking?
I’m afraid years have passed since my eyes were that good! 😀
You are brave to hold a snake, no matter the size. I’d never seen one before.
One has to be careful to be certain what kind of snake it is before picking it up, Ruth. If I had any doubt as to this one’s identity, even as small as it is, I would certainly not pick it up. Thankfully I knew what it was and could introduce the boys to it.
Nature is amazing and how wonderful to introduce that interesting specimens to the boys. I’ve no real experience with actual live snakes so wouldn’t know which ones were safe. Guess I need to learn. I was at an outdoor wedding in Georgia and a Rattlesnake attended, uninvited. I would have thought it want to avoid a crowd. It was a dramatic, disturbing scene and although I wasn’t too close, it was a bad end for the poor creature. Ugh.
Sadly the end of the encounter you recalled is still the usual conclusion for interactions between humans and snakes here as well, Ruth. They have such an important role in the ecosystem. I know I’m commenting without knowing all the facts, but if the outdoor wedding venue in your example is a regular place for such festivities, chances are that there’s a larger than usual population there of critters the rattler might consider prey…
No , the venue was a private home set on a nearby swampy looking river and a lot of ground around the home. Lots of wildness all around the lawns.
That’s not the nicest of neighbours to have coming over for a visit when you have company then!
Especially city slickers from out of town who don’t realize there might be an unexpected guest.