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Cryptoblepharus egeriae
Blue-tailed skinks are usually about 4 to 8 centimeters long. When they become frightened they have the ability to pop their tail off and it will continue to wiggle and distract their predator while they run away. When young they have a dark black body with bright yellow stripes leading from the back of the neck down to the meeting of the bright blue tail. As the juvenile males age, they lose their yellowish stripes and their back starts to become a brownish black color, and they begin to grow a reddish color underneath the neck during the mating seasons. Females usually keep their blue tail for their whole life, though. It is thought that the bright coloring on the tail is intended to direct the predator's attention to it, instead of the vulnerable body
Blue-tailed Skinks often burrow and build tunnels so they have access to a hole at anytime. They can usually climb very well. They are commonly observed on low vegetation and low on tree trunks
Guy was too quick for me to get more than one shot and there was another that was similar in pattern but had pink to a section was even faster.
The blue-tailed skink is native to Australia. In tennessee we have the five lined and southeastern five lined. The best way to tell them apart is by looking at the scales under the tail. These species are very commonly mixed up! Here is a link to the lizards of tn. What you have is most likely a sub-adult, almost breeding age.
http://www.tnwatchablewildlife.org/displ... - Lizards
We live in Murfreesboro, TN and found one of these guys in our yard. Our's didn't have the blue tail, but according to Wikipedia, the blue tail indicates it is a juvenile.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Lined_Ski...
You can check out a picture of ours by looking at our spottings.
I can only assume the one in Kenya was a different specie..... it was living outside our room and hid everytime we went outside. My mom finally got a picture
We saw one in Kenya Africa, shortly after seeing one in Oregon. I love the blue tailed skink
These little guys are fast! I saw one the other day. I haven't posted the picture yet. His head was facing me but the tail was blurred in the back ground. Nice shot!