Garden Skink Lampropholis guichenoti

Lizards of Victoria series

Identification

The Garden Skink, Lampropholis guichenoti, is dark grey, with a darker stripe commencing in front of the nostril, continuing through the eye and above the ear onto the tail. A broad dark vertebral stripe commences about the level of the forelimbs and continues onto the tail. It has a snout vent length of up to 40 mm.

Garden Skink
Photographer: Peter Robertson / Source: Wildlife Profiles Pty. Ltd.

Distribution and habitat

The Garden Skink is the most common skink found in suburban gardens around Melbourne. It is found over most areas of the state except the semi arid northern and western regions. It lives in a variety of treed habitats.

Biology

Active by day, this is a sun loving species which feeds on small invertebrates. Females lay from 2-6 eggs in a communal nest which can contain up to 250 eggs. Females often produce more than one clutch per season.

Your comments

My children want to know the life expectancy of garden skinks. Does it vary with climate (we're in Hobart, Tasmania)? Thanks for your time. Sylvia Ranson

Hi there, Could you describe the eggs of this skink please. I have found a clutch of eggs in some soil under a garden statue that are about the size of peas, but oval.

Hi Sally - Unfortunately lizard eggs aren't distinguishable by species from just looking at them. About all you can tell is that they come from a larger or smaller species. You can usually tell gecko eggs, as they have a harder shell & geckoes only a two eggs at a time.

What can I do to get skinks in my back garden? I have only seen them a couple of times. What do skinks eat and how can I make an environment for them?

Hi Sylvia,

The rule of thumb with skinks seems to be: the bigger they are, the longer they live. Garden skinks have a short life span of only a few years, whereas somewhat larger varieties live six to 10 years, and the largest skinks can live 20 years or longer. The colder climate does slow their growth rate and results in a slightly longer life span.

Hi Evan, providing good habitat for your skinks is the best way to encourage them into your backyard. Giving them shelter to retreat to (such as rocks to hide under / between) and places to bask in the sun close to these retreats is ideal. They feed on invertebrates from around the garden so ensuring you don’t spray too many pesticides around the garden is also important. Another factor that may help encourage skinks into your garden is to consider if there are any pets such as cats and dogs who quite enjoy chasing skinks. Keeping these animals away from the habitat you create will be important to help the skinks establish into your garden.

All the best with making a comfortable home for the local residents.

Hey I have a little garden skink as my pet but I am unsure what it eats. I have put some cabbage, carrot, silverfish, ants and it's not eating. Is it because it is scared or it just eats when I am not there with her?

Could you describe the communial nest in more detail? What is it's typical location and appearance? Is it guarded or tended by the skinks?

Hi Rowena, there is some good information on the Monash University website on Communal nesting in reptiles and amphibians should provide further answers to your questions.

I have found a white puddle of nest under where rotting wood was lying , and i am wondering if it might be a skinks nest or something else it is aproximatley. 10cm diamenter

Hi Coral, If you send us a photo of the nest, we can certainly try to identify it for you.

How do you encourage skinks to come into my garden

Hi Blake, Thank you for your question. Evan posted a very similar question in March 2011. Please see our response to his question above.

i have found 2 skinks or lizards i cannot figure out if thry are boy or girl skink or lizard or what type they are i have looked every where please help me!!!

Hi Aly, it can be difficult to determine the gender of lizards as they don't have external genitals. In terms of identifying the species if you take some good quality images of the lizards and email them to discoverycentre@museum.vic.gov.au our Herpetologist may be able to name them.

Hi, I recently aquired 3 garden skinks and are wondering if the rule of "female= white belly and male=yellow is true and if there are any other ways to sex them. Also,can you email me some male female comparison pictures?

I have common garden skinks which lay eggs in the same spot every year and I have great fun watching them hatch. Now I have discovered a second species of skink in my garden. They are slightly fatter than the garden skink. The tail is shorter and fatter and copper coloured but has a grey really pointed tip. I have caught both species and they appear to be quiet different when placed side by side. What is the coppery one?

Hi Michelle - we can't really say without seeing it ourselves; one possibility is the Bougainville's Skink, but there are other possibil;ities depending on where you live, etc. If you have any images, you are welcome to make use of our free identification service; feel free to send us any photos via "Contact Us" at the bottom of this page.

Hi Georgie, Garden skinks are very hard to tell male or female and so photos that guide you are not available. Some experienced owners suggest the following: if the base of the skink enclosure is a smooth dark coloured mat you may find clear waxy bits on it during spring. This depends on your skink being an adult and the presence of these waxy bits would mean it was a male.

Hi, I have 3 garden sun skinks and I was wondering what substrate is best for them to breed in and make their nest? I currently have quarts sand 3 large aquarium plants and a bogwood arch, A reptile light and a bearded dragon water dish. Is there any way to coax them into breeding other than hibernation?

Hi, I have what looks like a cross between a barrington sun skink and a garden skink but without dark flecks and without the dark line down its back. I live in Newcastle NSW. What could it be?

Hi John - we would need to see a clear photo of the animal in order for us to make any suggestions; if you have clear images, you can send them to us via our Ask The Experts service and we'll do our best to have it identified.

Should I worry that a skink seems to be living in my worm farm?

Hi Jane, on the one hand, garden skinks definitely feed on earthworms and that's probably the reason the skink is living there - an almost limitless supply of food. Not to mention all the other small invertebrates that inhabit worm farms and would make equally good food. On the other hand, there's only so many earthworms a single skink of that size would be able to consume, so it may not have much impact on the overall worm numbers.

Hi Callie, three skinks should be housed in a large enclosure, between about 20L and 50L in size, with enclosure furniture for them to hide. A basking light at one end will give them a gradient of hotter to cooler areas, and the bogwood and water dish you mentioned are also important.

A substrate of sand or cocopeat or a mixture of the two should be at least 5cm deep with leaf litter at one end that will encourage them to lay eggs. Most southern Australian species need a period of cool temperatures without a basking light and without feeding for them to hibernate if they are to breed. We don't know any other method to encourage breeding without a hibernation period.

Hi there, My Mum is a gardener and found about 15 pea sized oval shaped white eggs under a large rock. A small skink ran away when she uncovered them. So she has brought them home to encourage them to hatch and release them in garden. She has filled a tupperware container half with soil from the area. She has placed the eggs in a shallow trough in the soil, put a couple of dead leaves over the eggs and gently balanced a large rock over the trough. Can you tell me if this is a suitable environment for the eggs to hatch? Also what sort of climate should we keep the container in? We currently have it sitting inside the house at a window that gets Northern sun. We are in Sydney. Also approximately how long until the eggs hatch and what do we feed them once hatched? Do we place a shallow container of water in the tupperware container? Or should we release them straight away? Thanks

Skinks generally require a specialised incubator and quite specific conditions for them to survive. Your set-up is reasonably good, but may not be exactly what they need. The best thing is to let them go in the garden as soon as they hatch.

You should keep in mind too that it’s illegal to take any protected wildlife from the wild, including your backyard and including eggs.

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