Diet of Blue-Tailed Lizard

Diet of Blue-Tailed Lizard. There are several lizards with blue tails including the blue-tail skink and the western skink. The bright blue coloring found on the tail is present on the young. Adult skink tails fade to a gray with perhaps a hint of blue. The diet in the wild may vary from what is provided in captivity.

Wild Diet

Blue-tail skinks and western skinks are carnivores. While living in the wild, blue-tail skinks will eat anything they can fit into their mouth that walks or flies. They instinctively avoid anything that is poisonous. They typically come out of burrows to eat in the morning. Western skinks feed on a variety of insects including beetles, crickets, flies and grasshoppers. They also eat earthworms and spiders.

Captivity Diet

In captivity, feed them mealworms dusted with reptile multivitamins and calcium supplements every 2 days. They enjoy treats of canned monitor/tegu food. They also like to eat crickets. Provide a water bowl big enough for them to get into and soak. They need clean, fresh water. Water is also an important part of the dietary needs of lizards. In captivity the blue-tail skink should be fed every 2 days. Mist the lizard and its surroundings every day until it learns to drink water out of a bowl.

Handling

Feed blue-tail skinks in captivity with tongs or your hands once they become familiar with you, although they do not like being handled. Most lizards will learn to eat and drink out of bowls in time.

References

• Repticzone
• Idaho Museum of Natural History Western Skink