A little depressed

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MadManMoore
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Joined: August 4th, 2013, 10:13 pm
Location: Stansbury Park, UT

A little depressed

Post by MadManMoore »

Camping this weekend I came upon a western skink. It was in its blue tail phase. I nearly went off a 40 foot cliff for it as it crossed the trail and went to the edge. I had it under my hand, but was trying to be gentle as to not hurt the little guy, but it was lost in the loose rocks and grasses. I will definitely have to put some effort in going again to get another chance and some pics to post. Curious to hear what luck people have had along the Wasatch front with these little guys. The first one I caught came from Idaho.
simpleyork
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Re: A little depressed

Post by simpleyork »

I've only ever seen them out west of the 5 mile pass, along the RR tracks under old railroad ties, been very common in the spring time out there while there is still moisture under the ties. Never seen them in the wasatch mountains near me.
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MadManMoore
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Re: A little depressed

Post by MadManMoore »

Me neither, that is why I was somewhat surprised to see them in the Spanish Fork area. I figured they could live in many places, but you just don't see very many posts with ?them. Anyone else out there have some encounters through the years?
Brian Eagar
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Re: A little depressed

Post by Brian Eagar »

Skinks are very common throughout most of Utah. They are absent from sections of the northern wasatch in salt lake and davis counties. But are in pretty much all the surrounding areas around there. You arent going to have much luck seeing them on the surface. When they are on the surface they stick to leaf litter. As simpleyork said its easiest to flip them. They are more common in sandy/ gravelly soils. No need to dive off a 40 foot cliff after them. They are usually hiding in burrows once temps are above 80. best to look for them when the soil is moist.

I don't recommend the method my brother and I discovered when we were kids to find them in the oquirrhs which consisted of walking the edges of oak leaf piles and listening for rustling under the leaves and blindly grabbing the leaves with our bare hands hoping to pull out a skink. It worked but that rustling could just have easily come from a rodent with hantavirus or a rattlesnake.
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: A little depressed

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

When conditions are right you can find a lot of them. Sometimes they are surface active but but like the others say, I usually flip them. The riparian upland ecotone seems to be the best habitat but they can occur in quite xeric areas too.

I never get tired of seeing them.

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MadManMoore
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Re: A little depressed

Post by MadManMoore »

Thanks for your feedback. Like you said, they can be in xeric zones as well. Growing, I found one in the City of Rocks area in Idaho that I would say fits that description.
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: A little depressed

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

MadManMoore wrote:Thanks for your feedback. Like you said, they can be in xeric zones as well. Growing, I found one in the City of Rocks area in Idaho that I would say fits that description.
No problem. Even though they are in xeric areas (usually with lots of rock cover), if I really wanted to see skink, I would focus on riparian habitat. These cloudy cool spring days are pretty good conditions for skinks.
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Rancorrye
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Re: A little depressed

Post by Rancorrye »

I've only ever seen one in Utah. It was in a riparian area under a log with lots of leaf litter surrounding the log. Something that I'd like to put a little more effort in finding more of too.

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Jeremy Westerman
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Re: A little depressed

Post by Jeremy Westerman »

Common in the Oquirrh Mtns out your way, Mad man. Look in Scrub oak or canyon maple leaf pile litter in riparian areas or at least drainages that see seasonal creeks in spring in the Pinyon Juniper habitat. I am sure they are out in the dry rock stuff too, like Bryan said, just much harder to find.
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