Five-lined Skink

Snapshot

A shiny woodland skink about 5–8.5 inches — juveniles with bright blue tails and five light lines; older males often brown with orange-red heads in breeding season. Native; leave alone. Juveniles of the three “five-lined types” look nearly identical.

Description and identification

SREL: 5–8.5 inches; short legs; streamlined body. Gray, brown, or black ground color with five white or yellowish stripes (two on each side + one middorsal). Young have a bright blue tail; adult males often lose stripes and develop reddish/orange heads. Scale cues vs look-alikes (SREL): enlarged midventral caudal scale row and four upper labials (between nose and eye). Broadhead skinks are usually larger; southeastern five-lined skinks favor drier sandy sites.

Look-alikes

Broadhead skink — larger (to ~13 in); breeding males with very wide orange-red heads; more strongly arboreal. Southeastern five-lined skink — similar; drier sandy habitats; confirm with scale/labial characters when needed. Ground skink — tiny, two dark side stripes. Blue-tailed juveniles of the three five-lined types are nearly identical — use adult size, habitat, and careful scale cues, not a rushed grab.

Range in Georgia

Throughout Georgia and South Carolina, most abundant in the Piedmont, and notably scarce or absent from many coastal areas and barrier islands (SREL). Prefers moister sites than southeastern five-lined. Full eastern U.S. range.

Habitat preferences

Wooded areas with fallen trees and stumps; bottomland forests and wooded river margins; also suburban woodlots with rotting wood. Equally at home on the ground and in trees, but generally less arboreal than broadhead skinks. Prefers moister microsites than the southeastern five-lined skink’s dry sandy preference. Coastal scarcity means beach-town “blue-tailed skinks” may be a different five-lined type.

Natural history

Diurnal; often under logs or bark. When pursued, run for the nearest tree or log. Tail autotomy if restrained. Females lay clutches in moist soil or rotten logs in summer and attend eggs until hatch (~60 days). Folklore that blue-tailed “scorpions” have a venomous sting is false — educational myth-busting, not fear copy.

Food preferences

Insects, spiders, and other invertebrates.

Temperament and encounters

Flee into cover; do not grab tails. A breeding male’s orange head is not a threat display aimed at people. The “blue-tailed scorpion” myth — that juvenile skinks deliver a venomous sting — is false; say so calmly without turning the page into fear copy. Identify from a distance; leave under-bark animals in place.

Conservation and legal notes

Generally common with forest cover, especially in the Piedmont; cats are a major local threat.

In Georgia, native nongame lizards are wildlife. Possession and take rules differ from popular pet-trade assumptions — check current Georgia DNR guidance (native wildlife / legal pets) before any collection. Do not invent statutes. Habitat loss, roads, and free-ranging cats drive many local declines. Educational observation from a distance is the default.

If you meet one

Watch from a distance; do not grab lizards by the tail (many species drop tails as defense — costly to the animal). Keep pets from chasing wildlife. Local educators — including community resources around Cartersville such as Etowah Valley Exotics when appropriate — can help with distant photo ID. This profile is educational, not a husbandry or collecting guide.