Uploaded May 2014 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
This skink biting my nose was supposed to be funny, but it ended up hurting more than I expected. Never get eye to eye with a reptile, even if it looks friendly, or this may happen. He may think your nose is food! It all started when I was getting a closer look at him to see if he was hurt after we saved him from the cat. No lizards were hurt during the filming of this video and the skink was released back under the barn, where he came from, after we helped him out of the water trough. He swims pretty fast. He never lost his tail even after we rescued him from our cat. I am not exactly sure if all species of skinks lose their tail, so leave comments below of you know the answer to that. I believe this was the common five lined skink or a broad headed skink. All my life I referred to these skinks as blue tailed skinks, even though I didn't know until now that there are a few species of skinks that are not called "blue tailed skinks" in Virginia that have blue tails. Did that make sense? This could be the common five lined skink that has lines, hence the name, that are usually more defined and the juveniles have a blue tails. The common five lined skink males turn a copper brown color during breeding season and in this case are very aggressive if this is a common five lined skink. He had his mouth open the second we picked him out of the cat's mouth. This skink looks more like the broad headed skink that matches the color better by the pictures and descriptions I have researched online. These skinks have also been described to have a relatively powerful bite and that defiantly was true in this case. This makes me lean towards thinking this was the broad headed skink. There is such a species of skinks that are called the blue tailed skink, but they are not native to Virginia so what I have been thinking was a blue tail skink, is actually a juvenile five lined skink. Skinks also have the ability to drop their tail when attacked, enticing the predator to pay closer attention to the tail while the lizard escapes being a meal. Another benefit of dropping the tail is if the predator had the only tail in it's grasps, the skink could release himself and escape as well. I am no skink expert so if anyone has any interesting facts or can correct anything I have written about skinks here, please comment below. Also, if you can identify the skink on my nose, please comment below. I regret not getting a better picture of the skink, as he stuck around a little bit before running home. I saw him the next day so I am sure I will see more of him. Thanks for watching and share this video if you think it's stupid. OK, looking again, I think it's a male adult common five lined skink.
This skink biting my nose was supposed to be funny, but it ended up hurting more than I expected. Never get eye to eye with a reptile, even if it looks friendly, or this may happen. He may think your nose is food! It all started when I was getting a closer look at him to see if he was hurt after we saved him from the cat. No lizards were hurt during the filming of this video and the skink was released back under the barn, where he came from, after we helped him out of the water trough. He swims pretty fast. He never lost his tail even after we rescued him from our cat. I am not exactly sure if all species of skinks lose their tail, so leave comments below of you know the answer to that. I believe this was the common five lined skink or a broad headed skink. All my life I referred to these skinks as blue tailed skinks, even though I didn't know until now that there are a few species of skinks that are not called "blue tailed skinks" in Virginia that have blue tails. Did that make sense? This could be the common five lined skink that has lines, hence the name, that are usually more defined and the juveniles have a blue tails. The common five lined skink males turn a copper brown color during breeding season and in this case are very aggressive if this is a common five lined skink. He had his mouth open the second we picked him out of the cat's mouth. This skink looks more like the broad headed skink that matches the color better by the pictures and descriptions I have researched online. These skinks have also been described to have a relatively powerful bite and that defiantly was true in this case. This makes me lean towards thinking this was the broad headed skink. There is such a species of skinks that are called the blue tailed skink, but they are not native to Virginia so what I have been thinking was a blue tail skink, is actually a juvenile five lined skink. Skinks also have the ability to drop their tail when attacked, enticing the predator to pay closer attention to the tail while the lizard escapes being a meal. Another benefit of dropping the tail is if the predator had the only tail in it's grasps, the skink could release himself and escape as well. I am no skink expert so if anyone has any interesting facts or can correct anything I have written about skinks here, please comment below. Also, if you can identify the skink on my nose, please comment below. I regret not getting a better picture of the skink, as he stuck around a little bit before running home. I saw him the next day so I am sure I will see more of him. Thanks for watching and share this video if you think it's stupid. OK, looking again, I think it's a male adult common five lined skink.
