Indotyphlops braminus is a triploid, all-female species. Reproduction is obligately parthenogenetic: eggs develop without fertilisation, and offspring are genetically near-identical to the mother. Despite extensive collection across a very wide range, no male has been documented.
That reproductive mode explains the snake's distribution. Ordinarily a founding population needs at least two animals of opposite sex, but a single Brahminy blind snake is a complete population. The species spread worldwide inside the soil of ornamental plants, which is why one of its common names is the flowerpot snake, and it is now established in Florida, Hawaii, Mexico, the Canary Islands, Australia, much of Africa and many oceanic islands.
It is easy to mistake for an earthworm, being dark, glossy, blunt at both ends and typically well under twenty centimetres. Two features separate them: the blind snake has scales rather than segmented rings, and it flicks a forked tongue. Its unusual invasion history has left it, so far, without documented harm to native ecosystems.