Coloration ranges from charcoal gray, silver-gray, light yellow-beige, purplish, or infrequently albino, the ventral surface more pale.

Behavior ranges from lethargic in appropriate habitat to energetic, quickly seeking the cover of soil or leaf litter to avoid light.

Most likely originally native to Africa and Asia, I. braminus is an introduced species in many parts of the world, including Australia, the Americas, and Oceania.

[2] In Africa, I. braminus has been reported in Uganda, DRC, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa (an isolated colony in Cape Town and Natal Midlands; about eight have been found in Lephalale, Limpopo Province at the Medupi Power Station during construction), Madagascar (Nossi Be),[3] the Comoro Islands, Mauritius, the Mascarene Islands and the Seychelles.

In Oceania, it occurs on Papua New Guinea, Palau, Guam, Fiji, Saipan, the Hawaiian Islands and Tahiti in French Polynesia.

In the Americas, it occurs in the United States (California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Arizona, Hawaii and Texas), western and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Colombia, Barbados and on the Cayman Islands, as well as the Turks and Caicos Islands.

It is also found under logs, moist leaves, stones and humus in wet forest, dry jungle, abandoned buildings, and even city gardens.

The distribution and survival of this group of blind snakes directly reflect soil humidity and temperature.