little lizards

[Boyd]

There's a large population of these cute little guys living on and around my front porch. They especially like the firewood that I store there. Have also seen them in my woods, around rotting wood. I don't know how well it comes across in these iPhone pix, but the tail has a very striking turqouise (copper) colored stripe. The stripe may be seasonal though, it wasn't so noticeable earlier in the summer (or maybe I just see different lizards at different times).

This was a little guy, if you stretched him out straight he would be about 3" long. Some of them are much larger, at least 6". He wasn't too worried about me sitting on the porch step, I held the phone about a foot away while he posed. The bigger ones are more shy - have been meaning to bring my Nikon outside with a telephoto to catch some shots of them.

One of them got into the house for the first time last month. I chased him all over until I got him near the door and whisked him out with a broom. What are these, and are they common?

Looks like it is bulging in the middle. Is this from a bug that it ate?

 

[bushwacker]

that looks like five lined skink

 

[ecampbell]

Eggs?

 

[bushwacker]

but of course......copied from wikopedia

Reproduction
Fertilization in five-lined skinks is internal, with eggs laid by the female between the middle of May and July, at least one month after mating.
Females lay fifteen to eighteen eggs in a small cavity cleared beneath a rotting log, stump, board, loose bark, a rock, or an abandoned rodent burrow (Harding 1997). Females prefer secluded nest sites in large, moderately decayed logs. Soil moisture is also an important factor in nest selection. Females often place nests in regions where soil moisture is higher than in adjacent areas. Vertical position of the nest also varies with moisture, with nests located deeper in a soil cavity at dry sites. Even when nesting sites are not limited, a significant amount of aggregation occurs.
The parchment like eggs of five-lined skinks, similar to many other reptiles, are thin and easily punctured. Freshly laid eggs range from spherical to oval in shape averaging 1.3 cm in length. Absorption of water from the soil leads to increased egg size. Egg coloration also changes over time, from white to mottled tan, after contact with the nest burrow. The incubation period ranges from 24 to 55 days, and varies due to fluctuations in temperature. Females typically brood their eggs during this time, exhibiting defensive behavior against smaller predators. Parental care ends a day or two after hatching when hatchlings leave the nest. Young five-lined skinks, with a potential life span of up to six years, attain sexual maturity and begin reproducing within two to three years of hatching.[5]

 

[Boyd]

Eggs?

Aha, I wondered about that too! Well I guess the population must be healthy. But this is a really small lizard. Are the females just smaller or is there a large variation in size? I had assumed the little ones were just "babies"....

 

[dragoncjo]

Young five lined have the nice blue tail. As they get older they lose the blue and eventually turn bronze with an orange head. Boyd were you live you should also have fence lizards and ground skinks too, all harmless.

 

[manumuskin]

skinks are more secretive then fence lizards which are visible everywhere running up trees as you approach.Skinks are usually found under boards and such where it is moister.If scared they seem to run under things more so then up things like fence lizards.Ground skinks are similar to five lines but have a gold stripe up the back instead of five lines and blue sides.

 

[Boyd]

Thanks all. For some reason, this little one wasn't very afraid of me. I was sitting on the porch step and she came out right next to me, stood there and posed for a picture. Sitting on the porch in the afternoon, I enjoy watching them frolic but they don't usually get that close. If you sit there quietly for 10 minutes, you will see some. Will try to get some photos of the larger ones.

 

[Boyd]

Cut some firewood the other day out in the woods and hauled it back to the house today. Then I noticed this little cutie scampering around the wheelbarrow when I unloaded it, I guess he was inside of one of the logs. Pretty funny, the sides of the wheelbarrow were too slippery and he kept sliding down. Caught these shots of him with my phone before releasing him.

Is this a fence swift? Is it a baby? The head looks kind of large in proportion to the body. It was quite small, maybe only 2 inches long.

 

[manumuskin]

Boyd
This is a Northern fence Lizard sometimes referred to locally as a PIne Swift Sceloporus undulatus. One of only three native species.The other two are skinks and are more secretive then these very active lizards.The other lizard now naturalized is the Italian Wall Lizard that was posted about on the forum recently but they are only found in a few towns on the western edge of the barrens.
PS that is a female.the males are solid mahogany with iridescent blue sides. and smaller.

 

[ecampbell]

They are all over the pines this summer. My dogs love chasing them up trees.