Eastern Water Skink (Eulamprus quoyii)
Native to Australia these lizards are a fairly common sight along the east coast of Australia particularly in moist areas like gardens and near creeks and ponds.
It’s also known as the Golden Water Skink.
They are recognisable by their size and pale yellow-cream colored stripes that progress to speckling.
These lizards are opportunistic feeders and will feed on a diet that consists primarily of insects such as water beetles and aquatic insects, snails, spiders, tadpoles and smaller fish but they will also include occasional vegetation in their diet.
They average about 28cm in length with an average body length (minus the tail length) of around 11.5cm.
The mating season for this species occurs in spring with the females giving live birth to anywhere from 2 to 9 offspring during the summer. They are an example of one of the few reptile species that gives live birth as opposed to laying eggs.
The main threats to this species is habitat destruction, environmental pollution and predation by animals such as birds, larger lizards, snakes and domestic cats.
Like many other skink species they can drop their tails when threatened to provide a distraction and enable them to flee and this tail will regrow in time. The tail however is one of the main fat stores for these lizards and so dropping the tail does unfortunately put them at nutritional disadvantage through the loss of that fat store particularly if the tail is dropped close to the colder months of the year or during periods of food scarcity where the lizard would otherwise rely on that stored fat.
It’s not always easy to get a good photo or footage of this species as they tend to be one of the more cautious and skittish skink species.
