prairie skink

Prairie skink is a medium-sized, terrestrial lizard with a long tail. It is the most common skink in Minnesota.

Adults are 5¼″ to 8¾″ in total length including the tail. Females may be larger than males. The body is shiny, tan or brown on the back, dark brown to almost black on the sides, with alternating dark and light stripes. There are three wide, pale stripes on the back that do not extend onto the head, and two very narrow white stripes on each side that do extend onto the head. The head is otherwise unmarked. The chin and throat are yellowish or pale yellow. The belly is gray to tan and unmarked. The legs are short, dark brown above, and pale below.

The lips, chin, and throat of breeding males is bright orange during the breeding season. Juveniles have a bright blue tail that fades as the skink matures.

5¼″ to 8¾″ long

Five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) dorsal stripe splits to form a Y shape on the top of the head. Juveniles and females have a blue or bluish-gray tail.

Six-lined racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineatus) has three stripes on each side.

Stream banks, openings in pine barrens, mixed grass prairies, oak savannas, rock outcroppings. Sandy soil.

5 to 7 years

When the temperature drops in September, skinks burrow into the ground to spend the winter. They are excellent diggers, burrowing up to 26″ deep to below the frost line. They spend the winter in a reduced metabolic state (brumation), similar to hibernation in mammals. They usually do not brumate in groups, each skink creating its own burrow. Adults emerge the following April. Juveniles emerge 3 to 4 weeks after adults. Breeding occurs in the spring. Sometime in June the female lays 4 to 18 eggs, usually 8 to 10, in a shallow nest under a surface cover.

Northern prairie skinks reach sexual maturity in their third year. They live 5 to 7 years, possibly more.

Grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, caterpillars, and other insects; also spiders, snails and and other small arthropods.

Sources

4, 6, 7, 14, 24, 29, 30, 74, 76, 78.

Common

Prairie skink was formerly classified as Eumeces fasciatus. Recently, two separate studies, Smith (2005) and Brandley et al. (2005), proposed separating all species in North America north of Mexico into the genus Plestiodon. This was accepted by Crother (2008) and by Collins and Taggart (2009). Most sources now use this new classification. ITIS still classifies North American skinks in the genus Eumeces.

We saw several of these between 2020 and 2022 but haven't seen any of them this summer.

Northern Prairie Skink

This little male was sunbathing on a 2.7 million old Conglomerate stone in my backyard. As you can see this is just a head shot of him in mating colors.

Here's a photo of a close up of a Northern Prairie Skink that I rescued from being mowed.

Observed … skink at Lake Rebecca Reserve in Rockford Mn. Seen by one other observer. Had orange cheek patches and a shorter tail, as if a predator had grabbed the tail and the tail came off

Prairie Skink...

I came across this little prairie skink out near Sandpiper Prairie SNA in Norman Co. Mn. It was probably 6-6.5 inches in length. Not very big I had previously seen a larger one some time back at a different location but that one was next to dense cover and scooted out of site. This one paused in the open briefly then scooted a distance, paused and scooted out of site. Then I seen it again a little later. It was really windy Sept. 6th, 2020 up in this particular area. So taking photos or shooting video of it was difficult to say the least. But did somehow manage somewhat. I filmed this one going down a hole with just maybe an inch of its tail still sticking out then it backed out of the hole, paused briefly then it scooted off. Interesting and cute little lizard.

slithers like a snake and freaked me out. Never seen or heard of this before

one of two seen today

Northern Prairie Skink in Minnesota Eumeces septentrionalis
eldavojohn

Iowa Northern Prairie Skink
digitaldubuque

DT
7/12/2024

Location: Hubbard County

Brice Mulholland
7/12/2024

Location: Merrifield, MN

First one I've ever spotted on my own in 41 years!

Location: Pennington Co., MN

This little male was sunbathing on a 2.7 million old Conglomerate stone in my backyard. As you can see this is just a head shot of him in mating colors.

Location: Pennington Co., MN

Here's a photo of a close up of a Northern Prairie Skink that I rescued from being mowed.

Location: Pequot Lakes, MN

Lindsey Mueller
7/22/2021

Location: Anoka, Mn

non blue tail but moved so fast we couldn’t catch it! I have never seen one here before or anywhere in Minnesota living here my entire life (29 years!) they are like short garter snakes with legs in how they move around. 

Robin LaFortune
5/23/2021

Location: Lake Rebecca Park Reserve

Observed … skink at Lake Rebecca Reserve in Rockford Mn.  Seen by one other observer. Had orange cheek patches and a shorter tail, as if a predator had grabbed the tail and the tail came off

Location: near Sandpiper Prairie SNA in Norman Co. Mn.

I came across this little prairie skink out near Sandpiper Prairie SNA in Norman Co. Mn. It was probably 6-6.5 inches in length. Not very big I had previously seen a larger one some time back at a different location but that one was next to dense cover and scooted out of site. This one paused in the open briefly then scooted a distance, paused and scooted out of site. Then I seen it again a little later. It was really windy Sept. 6th, 2020 up in this particular area. So taking photos or shooting video of it was difficult to say the least. But did somehow manage somewhat. I filmed this one going down a hole with just maybe an inch of its tail still sticking out then it backed out of the hole, paused briefly then it scooted off. Interesting and cute little lizard.

Location: Sherburne County

We saw several of these between 2020 and 2022 but haven't seen any of them this summer.

Location: Shoreview, MN

A juvenile … skink was found today in Shoreview, MN by my Wife.  Blue tail, approx. 3-4 inches long.  Climbed up on my wife's hands while pulling weeds from the block retaining wall.  Expect a hatch happened so we put it back were found.  Ramsey Co.

Location: Miltona, MN

Not knowing what it was we grab it and ended up with just the tail. The tail kept moving for a few minutes after.

DBox
6/4/2020

Location: Eagan, MN

Location: Brown County SE of Sleepy Eye MN

Saw 2 juveniles with blue tail. Found by James (12) Grant (9) and Aubrey (6). They let it go after about a day and it still has it's tail.

Location: Mound, MN: Dakota Trail

slithers like a snake and freaked me out. Never seen or heard of this before

Location: Island Lake, Hubbard County

one of two seen today

Location: Cottage Grove

Steve Mosloff
7/19/2019

Location: ~ 7 miles SW of Thief River Falls, MN

Justin Schroeder
4/30/2019

Location: North Branch

Otto
4/25/2019

Location: Princeton, MN

Location: Northern Minnesota just south of Bemidji.

Northern Prairie Skink (Plestiodon septentrionalis septentrionalis)

Fastest little lizard I’ve ever seen almost looked like a fast forwarded snake as it swam through the long grass I was mowing near our local dirt road..Very short legs almost like a salamander. A first time in the wild sighting for me.

Location: White Bear Lake

Location: The Preserve Golf Course at Grand View Lodge, Pequot Lakes, MN

We saw a juvenile with a bright blue tail at The Preserve just south of Pequot Lakes on Thursday July 28. Four of us saw it. We got a very close/good view of it.

Location: Russell, MN Lyon County

We live on an acreage that has quite a bit of loam soil but there is a gravel pit and wetland area nearby.

Mindy
7/4/2015

Location: Elkton, SD

Zeke
6/19/2015

Location: Lakeland, MN

Location: St. Cloud, MN

This evening I rolled over a large rock and saw it curled up.

Chris Savageau
7/18/2010

Location: Glyndon

Location: Pennington Co Minnesota

Found in uncut field