Attempting to rescue our plants from the brutal summer weather, I was watering last evening when I spotted a small lizard as it dashed from a clump of azaleas and disappeared into a crevice beneath our brick walkway. With its distinct black lines and bright blue tail, I knew that it was a juvenile five-lined skink, one of the more widespread lizards in eastern North America, found from southern Ontario to the Gulf Coast; they are the only lizards to inhabit New England. Juveniles are commonly known as blue-tailed skinks while adult males, which acquire an orange facial mask during the breeding season, have received a variety of titles.
Five-lined skinks are diurnal hunters, generally seeking insects, spiders, earthworms, other invertebrates and even newborn mice on the ground; however, they are capable climbers and may be found in trees, especially those infested with insects. Favoring moist woodlands, these skinks emerge from hibernation in mid spring and soon mate; the female will deposit up to 18 eggs in a shallow depression beneath a rock or log and guards them until they hatch. As noted above, the young have bright blue tails which fade with aging, though adult females often retain some bluish-gray coloration on their tail. Like many lizards, five-lined skinks are able to discard their tail when pursued by a predator, distracting the hunter as they make their escape; the tail grows back but tends to be shorter than the original appendage.
Natural predators of five-lined skinks include snakes, shrews, opossums, raccoons, fox and a variety of raptors (especially barred owls, broad-winged hawks and red-shouldered hawks). Adults may grow to a length of 8 inches and have a natural life span of 5-6 years. Like garter snakes, these skinks often hibernate in colonies, choosing a sun-exposed rock pile, a hollowed log beneath the leaf litter or an abandoned den below the frost line.
