Reply #27: The only picture I found online,

[tblue37]

of a skink in Alabama, was of a species that is not found west of the Mississippi. It has the blue tail, but the darker body. Where are you located--east or west of the Mississippi? The ones I have seen in person have been brilliant blue all over their bodies. I imagine they would muddy up as they mature, too, but that seems such a loss. I have never seen a prettier lizard than a little five-lined skink.

Yours looks quite plump and well-fed. My Lunch got that thick, too, because I fed her so well. When she got old and her jaw began to soften from some disease so she quit eating, my herpetologist friend took her and fed her to his speckled king snake. I was very sad to lose her, but he assured me she couldn't survive the way she was, and he was never one to waste snake food.