Ocellated Skink - Rigatoni

Ocellated skinks are a widespread lizard that can be found just about anywhere around the Mediterranean Sea, western Africa and the Arabian peninsula. Although highly adaptable, they generally prefer arid habitats with sandy to stony soil and sparse vegetation. They have cone-shaped heads tapering at the nose, a long flexible body like a tiny slinky, short limbs with long fourth toes on the hind legs, small dark eyes, and smooth scales. In the wild, they have an extremely diverse diet, including grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, ants, beetles, isopods, spiders, centipedes, and insect larvae. They have even been recorded occasionally eating fruit.

There are two species of skinks native to Michigan: the Five-lined skink and the Six-lined racerunner. They are similar in physical appearance to the Ocellated skink other than having slightly longer limbs, different coloration, and a much longer thinner tail. As their names imply, each species has a number of stripes running the length of their bodies. Five-lined skinks have yellowish stripes and a blue tail which, in males, will fade or completely disappear over time. They are unevenly distributed in the lower peninsula, meaning they are locally common in some areas but in other areas with similar habitat, populations are non-existent. They are a woodland species (found in both wet and dry habitats) who prefer to stick to forest edges and openings containing stumps or logs for cover or basking sites.

Six-lined racerunners have the most limited range of all MI reptiles. They are known from only one population in Tuscola County. This lizard is widespread in the southeastern and central US and ranges north into Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. It is unknown whether the MI racerunners were introduced by humans or represent a natural population. Several thousand years ago the climate was warmer and drier than it is today which could have allowed the lizards to spread from IN into MI.

Rigatoni is Sarett’s ambassador skink, named for his long noodley body. We purchased him from the Tinley Park Reptile Expo in Chicago in October of 2022 to use as an ambassador since he is quite similar in appearance to our MI native skinks. Naturalists will occasionally handle him, but only as a form of enrichment. He is very slick and can be difficult to hold because he is so slender (and quick), so when he participates in a program he is put into a special container that is completely see-through so learners can still get a good glimpse of him but naturalists do not have to fret about him scurrying away. Of course, we will also add some of his substrate to the travel mini tank to keep him comfortable; he loves to surf through the sand in his tank! Occasionally he will pop his head out when volunteers are feeding him and take a bug straight from the tweezers.