Five-lined Skink (Plestiodon fasciatus)

Skink Family (Scincidae)
Five-lined Skink is a small to medium sized brown skink, reaching about 8 in long. It has a slender, elongate body, with no distinct neck. When young, it has five cream to yellowish stripes running down its black to dark brown body and a bright blue tail. As it ages, the bright blue tail fades to light blue or gray and the stripes darken or fade (males) and the body color lightens. The side of the male’s head becomes orangish during the breeding season. It can live for 6 years and becomes sexually mature at 2-3 years of age. Eggs are laid from May to July in protected moist sites like rotting logs, abandoned rodent burrows, and beneath loose bark and boards. Females usually brood their eggs and defend the nest, leaving it after the hatchlings leave the nest, at which time the hatchlings are completely on their own. Communal nests are not uncommon. Found in most of the eastern US and Ontario. It is ground-dwelling, preferring moist, partially wooded to wooded areas and rocky areas in the northern edge of its range. It needs areas to bask. Actively forages mostly on spiders, millipedes, crickets, termites, grasshoppers, caterpillars, beetles, and beetle larvae. Adult males actively defend their territories from other adult males. In order to escape predation, it can detach all or part of its tail, which then twitches as the skink races to cover. The tail regrows over time. Also known as American five-lined skink, blue-tailed skink (for juveniles) and red-headed skink (for adults). Formally known as Eumeces fasciatus. Listed as endangered in VT; threatened in CT; and species of special concern in CAN, MN, & WI.


Copyright Brett Miley