Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is a very common Lizard????i assume. i know nothing about reptiles but since we visited the zoo in the fall my daughter who is 6 is obsessed with them. she found this one outside that is small 4-5 inches and black with white stripes down the length of its body and a blue tail. i got on the internet to see how to care for it and quickly realized i need to know exactly what it is to find any info.. i searched this forum but couldnt' search any more and gave up and decided to post . any help would be greatly appreciated. especially whether this is a good one to keep as a pet or not. thanks

It sounds like your daughter found a young skink of the genus Eumeces such as the Western Skink or the Five-Lined Skink. Start with these for your internet search. Use geography to make a more precise identification. Keep us posted on your daughters new hobby.

Randy
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Firehouse Herps

Sounds like a five lined skink to me. They usually are pretty simple to care for in captivity. They like to move around alot but a juvenile should be able to be kept in a 10 gallon comfortably. When it gets to be an adult it will need a 20 gallon long tank. Ive kept these in a tank with bark bedding and a day glo bulb and they seemed to do well. A few plants with work but these lizards seem to stay burrowed a good amount of the day and only come out to hunt insects and bask.
Chris

thanks for the info!!!!
thats exactly what it is, and i found a website about care and other info. she's so excited and she loves her new pet she named Spring because its spring. i wish we knew if it was male or female!!! i have a feeling this isnt going to be the only reptile living in our home, i know she will want to make a home for all of them she finds.
thanks again

Welcome to a fascinating hobby then--a bit expensive in the equipment department, and don't forget to have any wild-caught animals wormed, but extremely rewarding. The educational opportunities in this hobby are very rich...learning about weather, animal behavior and biology, ecosystems...tons of information in several areas of the sciences.