Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I tried posting this one time a couple years ago, but never got too much of an answer, so I decided to try again. Several times in AL (Huntsville area) I came across tiny, solid blue lizards. They were a little lighter than the blue of the tail of a five-lined skink...almost a sky blue with a bright metallic tinge to them. They looked like a Ground Skink except the blue color. I've only seen them a few times, and they are FAST! I've come so close to catching one that I actually had one in my hands, but so far that I never got a good look at it. I've normally only seem them as a blue flash (but I do know that they were not just the tail of a five-lined skink), but a couple times I have gotten a overall view of the lizard at a distance before it disappeared into some leaf litter or rocks. Any idea on what these little guys are? They're so beautiful. I live in Jersey now, but next year I plan on making a week long trip back to AL to try to capture one of these little lizards and at least get a few pics.
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1.1 Albino Nelson's Milks
0.1 Dumeril's Boa
0.0.1 Albino Corn
0.1 Mex Mex
0.1 Northern Blue Tongue
0.0.1 Green Tree Frog
0.0.1 Cuban Tree Frog

Male six-lined racerunners (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus) are a possibility, though I think the only subspecies that gets brightly enough colored that I might call them `solid blue' rather than just `somewhat bluish' is C. s. viridis, which doesn't occur in Alabama. If that isn't it... it's probably a five-lined skink or some other Eumeces. Possibly some kind of introduced species, but I don't know of any that would fit your description any better than either Eumeces of C. sexlineatus would.

Patrick Alexander

Mind you, this is going on year or two old memories. The largest one I saw was about 3-3 1/2 inches long. The body shape was exactly like a ground skink...short legs, moderate tail, completely streamlined body. To use as an example, it's almost as though it were a blue color morph of the ground skink. The entire thing was blue, and it had two darker blue stripes down the back, like a ground skink. I'm not trying to say it's a ground skink or anything...that's just the best way I can describe it. Again, hopefully I'll get down there next year and I'll go to the place I last found one and hopefully catch one. It's really bugging me on what it could be...and they seem to love out of the way places. I've only found, if I remember right, 5 specimens in 5 years, but I suppose that's better odds than most of the species down there. Oh well.
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1.1 Albino Nelson's Milks
0.1 Dumeril's Boa
0.0.1 Albino Corn
0.1 Mex Mex
0.1 Northern Blue Tongue
0.0.1 Green Tree Frog
0.0.1 Cuban Tree Frog