Mole Skink

Snapshot

A secretive sand-swimming skink of southern and eastern Georgia — about 3.5–6 inches — light side stripes and a persistent red/orange tail. Native; leave alone.

Photos

(Photos pending — see photos/mole-skink/MANIFEST.md.)

Description and identification

SREL: 3.5–6 in. Small, slender, short-legged. Grayish to brown with two light stripes along each side and a red or orange tail that does not fade with age — the only lizard in our region with that persistent red tail cue vs ground skink.

Look-alikes

Ground skink — coppery brown; no lasting red/orange tail. Five-lined juveniles have blue tails, not red.

Range in Georgia

Southern and eastern Georgia; not yet recorded in South Carolina (SREL). Full range centers on Florida and the southern Atlantic Coastal Plain.

Full species range map

(Full native-range map pending — maps/mole-skink-full-range.png. Georgia occurrence in text; prefer GA DNR / SREL / georgiawildlife.com. Not Georgia-only art.)

Habitat preferences

Loose sandy soil; hotter, drier sites than ground skinks. Sandy scrub, coastal dunes, offshore islands; under litter, logs, boards.

Natural history

Virtually never climbs; wriggles through sand. Extremely secretive — much of its ecology remains poorly known. Tail autotomy. Females lay several eggs in moist soil or rotten logs in summer and attend until hatch.

Food preferences

Tiny insects, spiders, and other invertebrates; in coastal areas, often seaside arthropods (SREL).

Temperament and encounters

Flash disappearance in sand is normal. Leave dune and scrub cover in place.

Conservation and legal notes

Can be common locally but patchy and seldom seen; sandhill and dune habitat loss are concerns. Distribution still incompletely known.

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.