Five Lined Skink on a stump
“Look at that guy!” It wasn’t the first five lined skink I’d ever seen, but finding one floating peacefully in Myska’s water bowl in the house was a surprise. There he was curled around inside the bowl with his brilliant blue tail shinning in the water.
Five lined skinks are reptiles that belong to the Scincedea family, which is the largest family of lizards. The scientific name has recently changed from Eumeces fasciatus to Plestioden fasciatus. They are common but their populations are often scattered through out their range and there is concern for populations in some areas due to habitat destruction.
The range of five lined skinks extends over much of the forested eastern United States. Their natural habitat is moist woody places. That’s where I had always seen skinks, outside slipping about the wood ferns and columbines in my flowerbed or skirting around rotting logs and disappearing into the crannies of the rock wall. They are terrestrial but are also excellent climbers and sometimes found in trees.
I saw a five lined skink while hiking with my kids and grandkids on the North Cove Trail beside the Tennessee River at the Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. We discovered him basking on top of a stump under the canopy of tall trees on a hot afternoon in August last year. He was easy to spot with his vibrant blue tail.
The five lined skink floating in Myska’s water bowl and the one in the Tennessee forest were both young. It’s the juveniles that have the distinct coloring. They have shiny dark brown or black longitudinal strips of light yellow and long blue tails. The striking tails have earned them the nickname of blue tailed skinks. Their coloration fades with age. Mature males become tan or bronze with very pale strips. The strips of mature females also lighten and their tails become gray. The sides of the head and jaws of the mature males turn orange-red and are brightest during the breeding season.
Five lined skinks have sleek, smooth, streamlined bodies with no necks and short legs. Unlike salamanders, which are amphibians, they have claws and external ear openings. Their bodies are covered with flat, overlapping scales. Five lined skinks are sometimes confused with the broadhead skink, which is similar but has a different scale pattern and is usually larger and displays a broad head.
Five lined skinks range from five to eight and a half inches in length. They live up to six years, reaching sexual maturity at two to three years. They breed once a year in late spring or early summer. Females lay from four to fourteen eggs in shallow nest cavities under cover in the ground or rotting wood. They guard their eggs until they hatch in one or two months. Sometimes females nest in communal groups and share the duties of guarding and caring for the eggs. The young are about two inches long then they hatch. They are left on their own one or two days after they hatch.
Five lined skinks are considered beneficial to gardeners. They eat snails, termites, flies, crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, ants, caterpillars and even newborn mice. The five lined skink is preyed upon by birds such as hawks, crows, and kestrels. They are also eaten by foxes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, snakes and domestic cats.
To avoid being captured, the five lined skink, like many other lizards, can practice tail autotomy, meaning they can break off their tails. The predator is left with only the tail while the skink escapes. The tail will regenerate but the new tail will be shorter in length and have no pattern.
The five lined skink may try to bite if threatened or provoked, but contrary to folklore, they are not poisonous and their bite is not likely to break human skin. They are territorial and male skinks will fight aggressively over females.
Being diurnal, five lined skinks are active during the daytime foraging through debris or basking in the sun. They hibernate in the winter but may occasionally be seen on warm days. They are wary and shy and scurry away quickly, but if you do chance upon one without startling it away, you too will probably exclaim, “look at that guy!”
Marilyn Blanton
