Blue Tailed Skink Male vs Female

A blue tailed skink male vs female comparison only makes sense once the lizard is grown. Hatchlings of every sex share the same black body, pale stripes and bright blue tail. Color alone tells you nothing about sex in a young skink.

Adult males grow a wider head and a reddish head color that peaks each spring. Adult females keep the striped pattern longer and often hold onto tail color longer too. The sections below break down each sign in detail.

What “Blue Tailed Skink” Actually Means

“Blue tailed skink” is not one species. It is the nickname for the juvenile stage of several native Plestiodon skinks.

The main ones are the five lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus), the broadhead skink (Plestiodon laticeps) and the southeastern five lined skink (Plestiodon inexpectatus).

All three hatch with the same bright blue tail and black body with light stripes. A person asking about male blue tailed skink versus female blue tailed skink traits is really asking two things. Which species is this, and has it matured enough to show sex differences.

The blue tailed skink overview covers general identification. This guide focuses only on sexing.

Can the Blue Tail Itself Tell You the Sex?

No. The blue tail is a juvenile trait, not a sex trait. Both male and female hatchlings carry it, and it fades with age in both sexes.

What differs is how long the color lingers and what replaces it. In five lined skinks, adult males typically end up with plain gray tails.

Females often keep some of the original blue, or a muted version. That coloring can last well after males have lost theirs.

That timing gap is the closest thing to a rule of thumb for a blue tailed skink male vs female check. It only becomes useful once the animal is past its first year or two.

How Male Blue Tailed Skinks Change With Age

A young male five lined or broadhead skink approaches sexual maturity around 2 to 3 years old, well inside the species’ typical lifespan. Its head begins to widen noticeably compared to females of the same length. This broadening supports the male combat and territory displays common in Plestiodon skinks.

The most visible change is color. Adult male heads shift toward orange or red.

In the broadhead skink this coloration grows larger and more vivid during the spring breeding season. It fades once breeding activity slows.

The tail loses its blue tone at the same time. It settles into gray or brown and stays that way for the rest of the animal’s life.

• Widened head and jaw relative to body length, most obvious at adult size.
• Orange to red color across the snout, jaws and sides of the head, strongest in spring.
• Tail shifts from blue to gray or brown and stays that way as an adult.
• Larger overall body size, with male broadhead skinks approaching 324 millimeters in total length.

How Female Blue Tailed Skinks Differ

Adult females keep more of the juvenile look than males do. The head stays narrower, and any orange head color is absent or very faint.

The pale body stripes also tend to stay visible into adulthood in females, instead of washing out the way they do in males.

Tail color is the other useful marker. Female five lined skinks often keep a trace of blue, or a duller version of the tail color, for longer than males. It does fade with age in females too, and is eventually lost in most adults.

Females are also generally the smaller sex. The Missouri Department of Conservation describes adult males as slightly larger than adult females, and its field guide describes the typical adult female as brown with five tan stripes and a blue or blue gray tail, while the adult male is a plainer olive or tan with only a faint dark stripe. That contrast is the whole comparison in one sentence.

Breeding season behavior adds another clue. A female that stays curled around a clutch of eggs under a log or board, turning them and guarding the site, is confirmed female by that behavior alone. The breeding guide covers nesting and brooding in more detail.

Male vs Female at a Glance

How to Sex a Blue Tailed Skink

Sexing a juvenile is not realistic. Every hatchling looks the same regardless of sex. Wait until the skink shows adult coloring before trying to call it male or female.

1. Check head shape and width first. A visibly wider, more triangular head next to a same sized skink usually signals a male.
2. Look for reddish orange color on the head. Its presence, especially in spring, is a strong male indicator. Its absence points to female.
3. Note the tail. A gray or brown adult tail with no blue left is typical of males. Lingering faded blue is more common in females.
4. Compare size within the same species and age class. Males of most Plestiodon species run larger than females.
5. Watch spring behavior. Territorial displays and active searching point to males. A skink guarding eggs is female.

None of these signs works alone with total certainty. A skink that has not fully matured can still be ambiguous. Combining head shape, color and size gives a reliable blue tailed skink male vs female read on a healthy adult, and a reptile veterinarian can confirm a genuinely unclear case.

Look Alike Species and Telling Them Apart

Three native skinks share the blue tailed juvenile look, and adults can still be confused. The five lined skink and the southeastern five lined skink are close in size. Both reach roughly 12.7 to 21.6 centimeters as adults, while the broadhead skink runs larger.

The clearest technical difference sits under the tail. The southeastern five lined skink lacks the enlarged row of scales beneath the tail that the five lined skink and broadhead skink both have. That scale row is the identification feature herpetologists rely on when coloring alone is not conclusive.

Adult size separates the broadhead skink from the other two. Missouri’s field guide gives five lined skinks a total length of 5 to 8.75 inches, while broadhead skinks reach nearly 13 inches and also differ in the scale pattern along the upper lip.

Habitat also helps narrow it down. The southeastern species favors drier pine woods. The five lined skink prefers moister ground near logs and leaf litter, closer to the conditions described in the habitat guide.

Law and Welfare: Should You Keep a Wild Blue Tailed Skink?

Blue tailed skinks are wild native animals, not a captive bred pet species. Rules for collecting or keeping one vary a great deal by state.

Some states allow limited private possession of a legally caught native reptile. Others require a specific collector permit, and some restrict native wildlife possession almost entirely.

Virginia generally allows a private individual to hold up to one specimen of a nonlisted native reptile species for personal use, not for sale or breeding. A wild caught reptile that is released must go back within 30 days at the exact capture site. Missouri requires a Wildlife Collector Permit to take reptiles from the wild at all, and Georgia prohibits holding most native wildlife without a permit that is not even issued for pet keeping.

Rules differ this much between neighboring states, so check with the wildlife agency in your own state before collecting or keeping one. Never assume a rule from one state applies elsewhere. This guide describes the law as a starting point, not a substitute for checking current state rules directly.

When collection is not clearly legal, or an animal is not thriving in captivity, the responsible choice is to leave it where it was found. A wild caught skink carries wild stress responses and may carry parasites that are hard to manage outside its native range.

The general lizard care guide explains what a captive setup actually requires.

The species specific care guide covers housing, diet and health in more depth if you do end up keeping one legally.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I tell a blue tailed skink’s sex from the tail color alone?

No. Hatchlings of both sexes have the same blue tail, and the color fades with age in males and females alike. Adult tail color is only a loose hint, useful mainly alongside head shape and color.

At what age do male and female blue tailed skinks start looking different?

Differences show up around sexual maturity, roughly 2 to 3 years old in five lined skinks. Before that age, a juvenile of either sex looks essentially the same as any other.

Why do male blue tailed skinks get orange or red heads?

The coloration is a breeding season signal. In the broadhead skink it grows larger and more vivid each spring, and females tend to choose the males with the brightest orange heads as mates.

How do I tell a five lined skink from a broadhead skink?

Size is the first clue, since broadhead skinks run larger, with males reaching close to 324 millimeters. The definitive check is the row of scales under the tail, which the southeastern species lacks but the other two have.

Is it legal to catch a blue tailed skink and keep it as a pet?

It depends entirely on your state. Some states permit limited personal possession of a legally caught native reptile, others require a permit, and some effectively prohibit keeping native wildlife as pets.

Do female blue tailed skinks lay eggs every year?

Female five lined skinks typically lay one clutch a year between May and July. Reported clutch sizes differ by source, from 4 to 14 eggs in Missouri’s field guide up to 15 to 18 in the Animal Diversity Web account. The female then stays with the clutch, turning the eggs and guarding the nest site until they hatch.