California Skinks snake, lizard, amphibian, what in the world is it, I describe it here, inquiring minds want to know.

  It's Saturday, the day before the Super Bowl, my son's birthday and the anniversary of the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, (in 1974, yep I'm that old, and they both happened the same day). The temperature is in the 70's, a false spring, it's common in California in February, people will say how weird it is, but it's not. One other part of our climate is the wind, it will start at the end of February, or as late as mid-March and blow well into September, people again say how weird it is, it isn't. We have a tendency as humans to forget the run of the mill stuff, like normal weather, every year people say in July they don't remember the wind blowing so hard for so long, I gave up saying "it's normal". That gets me into a "no it's not" "yes it is" conversation, mostly with my wife. So I don't care if people think things are normal or not, Mark Twain said: "Everyone complains about the weather but no one does anything about it."

"Oh blow you old blue norther, blow my love to me, he's coming in tonight from
California." from the guitar song "Someday soon" by Ian Tyson

  I like false springs, all sorts of things happen, the trees start to develop buds, sometimes they go as far as blossoming out. The animals come out after staying in their dens for most of the first half of winter, (ours are mild). The squirrels, turkeys, skunks, and raccoons all come out for a day in the sun. Less common are the reptiles, I do look for snakes, they too like to warm themselves on the roads and rocks. That's not so strange in fact it is kind of expected to see a few, I didn't see any snakes today or yesterday, however, I am looking. We did see one animal that is pretty evasive but always a pleasure to see they are still around.
  The California Skink, now this is a weird reptile, Plestiodon Gilberti cancellous, what a name, again I wonder how these names are conjured up. The Variegated Skink, a short-legged lizard, there are four variations of the reptile in California, they live where its wet, living in the rocks and wooded areas near water. Usually, they are nocturnal, but like the one my neighbor caught today it was in the bright sunlight, that is fairly strange.

I've seen only this variation of colors, they do get bigger than the
textbooks claim, if a person is afraid of them, they look really big.

Normally they like to stay hidden in wood piles, tall grass, or to my wife's dismay inside planter pots. they are fairly easy to recognize by the stripes on the body, although one of the four species does not, Gilbert's Skinks do not. The Skinks I have seen are a bronze copper color with very distinctive lighter colored stripes, A Gilbert's juvenile Skink may have a bright blue tail, I've never seen one, the Western Skink juvenile also has a blue tail, but they are accompanied with dark stripes on their bodies flanks. But alas, don't count on that either, it is not absolutely the rule, there are many variations. The adult's scale pattern on most of the species dominate the stripes, color is the determining factor, although each species in California reside in their own environmental area of the state. During the breeding season, the adults head, tail, throat and sometimes the sides turn red, disappearing at the cessation of their breeding season. (Link to more information on Skinks)
  I have a neighbor, a weekender, he's preparing his property to build a house, a solar house, I told him it's a long row to hoe. Anyway, he came to the door with a lizard in his hand, he said I just found the weirdest animal, I can't tell if it's a snake or what. I said "it's a skink", he said how do you know without looking at it? I told him because everyone that finds one says the same thing, "I found the weirdest thing, I don't know if it's a snake or a lizard." We have a lot of them here, although he's been coming here for about 5 years this is the first one he's seen, most likely because the Skinks mostly come out after dark. The one he had in his hand was small, about six inches long, my wife (yes my wife, I will never forget the blood-curdling scream emanating from her), came across a very large one at the bottom of a large flower pot. That Skink was about 18 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter, but its legs were about 1/2 inch long. Some have only rear legs, as I remember this large one had two legs in the rear.
I am of the opinion that when someone (in this case my lovely wife), demands something be done with this, this thing, I say OK and leave it alone. There is nothing to do, it will go home, I set the pot in the sun, they don't like the sun, and he slithered away. They lose their tails when a predator, mostly Kestrels, swoop in on them, grabbing the tail it snaps off. The missing tail, mostly a portion of the tip, does not bleed for long the blood flow stops almost immediately. They eat all of the creatures many people get the creeps over, spiders, bugs, termites, worms, and other invertebrates that happen to come close enough to grab with their powerful jaws. Pick one up and feel the strength that powers that jaw, they will bite you, possibly draw a little blood, but don't despair they are not poisonous. The only venomous lizard in the U.S. is the Gila monster of Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico fame, don't pick up a Gila Monster. Heck don't pick up a Skink either, I won't, and I dought if most people would, they are pretty but practically shout with body language, "Don't pick me up!" Their diet may also include cannibalism, if an unlucky baby comes slithering by, well it may not end up well for the little one. They will dine on other lizards as well, it's kind of hard to imagine how in the world a Skink could possibly move fast enough to catch say a fence lizard.

A juvenile Skink, the blue tail gives them away.

  Some Skinks bear their young alive, like a mammal, but it's not all females, only some of them. Not the Female Western Skinks, however, they are egg layers, the eggs look like tic-tacs, known as "Lizard eggs". Although they are reptiles they don't require direct sunlight to maintain their body temperature, they are always in the shade, or other cool places to avoid predators. They like our area because of the wood, and debris laying everywhere, not so much near the houses but in the fields, and next to outbuildings, they live under the stuff. Our ditches are moist all year round, filled with organic material, stuff like cardboard, and flat wood is all rotting in the water at the bottom. The Skinks love it, they can be attracted to your yard by laying wood flat on the ground and keeping it moist, like the man said: "they will come." But don't keep one as a pet, it's illegal, and not only that if you think like I do they are much better off in the wild, I'm happy to stumble across one, I don't know if one is able to be "owned", to be kept confined. They wouldn't suffer much if one were to be taken in a protected cardboard box for one day to a school for instance, but it must be released in the exact spot it was removed from. Pictures would many times suffice. When one is seen for the first time it is often thought to be a snake, they slither like a snake, their tiny legs have a hard time lifting and carrying them at a full run. When they are escaping they slither like a snake, that's creepy, like I said I leave them alone, besides not wanting to get bitten, he has a right to be left alone, by my way of thinking.

The American Kestrel, preditor of Skinks.

  Hey, Jacques look what I found, its the weirdest snake I've ever seen, oh my friend Mitts, it's a Skink, put him back. Weird weather, weird wind, weird water, weird snakes, lizards and then there are Skinks, not weird just different. They are on their way up or down the evolutionary ladder or are they in their permanent state, just happy being Skinks.
  Don't fear them, observe them and let them do their thing, they will go home, if you don't pick them up they won't bite you. Thank you for reading and sharing my blog, I'd like to hear from you, just say Hi. Or tell me more about skinks, or perhaps an odd animal in your neck of the woods, it doesn't matter what country you are in. Thanks again and have a good tomorrow.

jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com