Common five-lined skinks, also known as blue-tailed skinks, have always been abundant around our Columbia, Missouri, house, most often seen scurrying across the deck or brick walkways. While their numbers seemed to be normal this spring, I have not observed them at all this summer.
According. to the Missouri Department of Conservation, they tend to be most active from April into June but my past experience, over our 28 years in this neighborhood, has been that they are commonly observed during the summer and early autumn months as well. A brief internet search failed to turn up any history of significant die-offs for this species.
Perhaps the hot, dry weather has kept them in sheltered areas, though we did receive quite a bit of rain back in July. The mystery of their "disappearance" thus remains intact but I am hopeful that they may surface when early fall weather finally moves in. If they don't "return" next spring, I will have to assume that some form of disease decimated the local population; that would be tragic for a skink watcher like myself (not to mention for the skinks).
