Plestiodon fasciatus

Called Blue-tailed skink, because the young have blue tail, or Red-headed skink, because the males when in heat have red throat, the Plestiodon fasciatus lives in south-eastern Canada and most part of eastern USA. Known also as Eumeces fasciatus, can exceed the 20 cm tail included. Its typical habitat is the humid woods of deciduous trees, from which gets out often in the morning, once left the den, to warm up at the sun, and for hunting insects and earthworms, but accepts, where it is cold, also rocky locations, cracks of trunks and inter-spaces of houses offering good protection from bad weather and a rapid access to the morning solarium. Usually couplings take place in spring, with violent fights among males, and the females, merging at times with other mothers, lay during the summer 5-18 eggs in nests dug in the soil or stolen to small rodents with the right ambient humidity. Initially the eggs measure 13 mm are white, oval and parchment-like but then grow swelling with water and get a darker dotted colouration. During the 24-55 days of incubation, depending on the temperature of the environment,, they are surveyed by the mother who abandons the children only 1-2 days after the birth when they get out from nest © Giuseppe Mazza