new critter

[deere755]

I was working in the yard the other evening with my wife and all the sudden she lets out a scream. I turned around and thought what I was seeing was a snake but after a closer look it had legs. It was about 5 inches long and had a bright blue tail. She went to get the camera but by the time she got back it had crawled into a hole. We looked it up on the internet and it turns out it is a 5 striped skink. I have lived here all my life and never saw one before. My Father in law said they are pretty common in Kentucky where he was raised. Have any of you seen these before?

 

[Michael_E_Tx]

This one took up residence in our sunroom for awhile. It was about as large as we've seen, body about 3" long, tail longer than that. We think it was a pregnant female. They're real pretty. A young one lives on our front porch.

Mike

 

[Jimbrown]

Yep
http://www.toddshikingguide.com/FloraFauna/Fauna5.htm

 

[GaryM]

I've got them all around my place in East Central Missouri. Fast little critters.

 

[gotrocks]

We've had them for as long as I can remember (70+yrs)
Yep they are pretty when still blue,but when they really mature and get like the bronze/brown ones shown in the site listed they seem to get a little less attractive. http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/five-lined_skink.htm

 

[BubbaJr]

My wife and I were moving some firewood I had cut earlier so that I could split it. She picked up a log and it slipped out of her hand and landed on one of these little blue tailed skinks/lizards/whatever they are. Anyway the log cut off the tail of the critter and we watched the dismembered tail twitch and move around by itself for over 4 minutes until it fell down between the logs.

About 3-4 weeks later I was out loading up some more logs from the same pile to split when I saw the same critter running around without a tail. He didn't sit still long enough for me to determine if the tail was re-growing or not. But it had apparently healed up and he didn't seem to miss it too much.

 

[JimR]

Cute little fella. He looks similar to our salamanders just a different color.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Your FIL is correct. I'm in Kentucky, and there's multitudes of those things.

 

[homeinwestIL]

Yes, I've seen them in west central Illinois too. I had never seen or heard of them until moving to the country and one took up residence in our garage. Ours was a "ground skink"--looks like a stubby garter snake with legs. They have a funny way of running--half slither and half run. I think I read somewhere that they are more closely related to snakes than other lizards.

 

[woodlot]

Never seen a blue skink before, but I have the Northern Prarie Skink around my place. Neat creatures, however the wife was not too happy when one decided he liked haning out in our basemant: