Crytoblepharus  
Skinks and Fence/Snake-eyed Skinks

Australia has 6 species which probably arrived by floating on vegetation from Indonesia or New Guinea.

To be honest I haven't paid much attention to these little skinks as they are so common around where I live, well it appears to be common but not all little skinks are a common Fence or Snake-eyed skinks.  Out walking all you need is a fallen tree of any sort and you will probably find a skink.  I have found them to be curious and persistent in returning to their original spot of sun bathing.

These are the hind legs and feet when you move your mouse over the picture you are seeing a foot magnified 60x

They have five digits on all feet this allows them to climb up trees and rocks instead of burrowing like some of the other skinks. Their eyes are large with no moving lower eyelid.  

Scales smooth and glossy.

Swift, sun loving skinks.

  They are egg laying with small clutches.

Photographed at Fern Pool at Karijini National Park in the Pilbara in December

Photographed at Hamersley gorge in the Pilbara in December

What do they eat?

They are arthropod feeders.

This Katydid was seen at the Savannah campground near Weano gorge at Karajini National Park in August.

Photographed at Hancock gorge at Karijini National Park in August.  In the photograph on the right is where this lucky skink lives at Fortescue Falls.

 
Go to here to our HOTSPOTS and see this beautiful area.

Fence/ Snake- eyed Skinks Cryptoblepharus unknown

This skink was soaking up the sun on a rock at Ellis Brook Reserve off Tonkin Hwy near Gosnals in Perth in April.

We walked across the top of Wungong Dam off Albany Hwy near Armadale.  We were surprised to see 15 skinks where its windy and there is no vegetation.

This little skink was seen at Phillip Jane park in the southern suburbs of Perth on Banksia trees in May.

This skink was seen in July at Dryandra woodlands on a fallen tree.  Fallen trees are one of the most common places that I find skinks.  Sometimes I use my binoculars to scan the fallen logs before I approach and scare them away. 

 What do they eat? 

All these skinks are arthropod feeders.

I stood for over an hour in full sun sweating and waiting for this skink to come out of a log in my yard.  What surprised me is what it came out with.  It appears to have caught a cricket.

This little skink was stuck in the hand basin of the public toilets at Bakers Hill on the Great Eastern Hwy west of Northam.  It couldn't climb out as the surface was slippery.  It kindly posed for a photograph when I put it down outside.

This skink was seen at Signal Hill in Belmont Perth in October.

This little guy has already had at least one narrow escape from being eaten as you can see the beginning regrowth of a new tail.  It was seen in Bullcreek Perth in September.

Here is another skink seen at Bullcreek on a fallen Banksia tree in September.

This skink was in the carpark at Walyunga National Park north of Perth in October.

This skink was seen in the Serpentine area south of Perth in May.

This skink was brought to me from Leeming in Perth where it had just lost its tail in a lucky escape.

This skink is from my yard in March.

Cryptoblepharus plagiocephalus

This skink was at Piney Lakes in Perth in December

This little guy was grabbing a sun bathe in between showers at Bibra Lake in May.

Here is another skink from Bibra Lake in May.

This skink was seen in February on Helena Rd Mundaring Perth which had not had any fire that past summer.

Mating is brief for skinks lasting only a few seconds.  Not much of a show or display is put on to attract a female.  Sometimes you see two skinks chasing each other around a tree trunk or grass tree this is either a hopeful male or a male defending its territory.  I have seen small skinks mating at Piney Lakes in Perth on the Paperbark trees during the day.

These skinks are egglaying reptiles.
In my yard in Perth I have seen young Fence skinks in late September.

Other places I have seen skinks;
I have also seen many skinks at Mt Dale where they prefer a fallen log over the warmth of a granite rock or maybe they don't get along with the neighbours (Ornate Crevice dragons).
Skinks are often found in Jarrah and Marri forests such as Jarradale on Stacey's track and at Lane Poole in Nanga near Collie. The Serpentine area and the Mundaring area.
But they also like to live in and amongst the Paperbark trees and Banksias such as Joondalup Lake where I have seen many skinks and Neerabup Reserve just north of Wanneroo in Perth.
At Kennedy Ranges and Mt Augustus we saw skinks on the rocks, one had a beautiful bright red tail probably from the Morethia family.
At Mt Observation in the Mundaring area I have seen skinks sunning themselves on Grass Trees.
Yangebup Lake in southern the suburbs of Perth in December.
Jandakot Regional Park on Nicholson Road in Perth in October.

Other websites where you can see these skinks.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~foconnor/reptiles/species/cryptoblepharus_plagiocephalus.htm

Text we used;
"Australian Reptiles A Photographic Reference to the Terrestrial Reptiles of Australia" by Stephen K Wilson, David G Knowles.
"Reptiles and Frogs of the Perth Region" by Brian Bush, Brad Maryan, Robert Browne-Cooper and David Robinson.

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