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Gilbert's skink

Plestiodon gilberti · Lizards · Reptiles

Gilbert's skink (Plestiodon gilberti): Smooth, shiny scales; olive to brown above, sometimes with dark patterning; up to about 4.5 inches. Young have a brilliant blue or pink tail contrasting with the body. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Plestiodon gilberti
Family
Scincidae
In North America
Native
Range
Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges of California south to northern Baja California, with isolated populations in southeastern California, southern Nevada and west-central Arizona; sea level to about 2,200 m.
Biology

How to identify it

Smooth, shiny scales; olive to brown above, sometimes with dark patterning; up to about 4.5 inches. [1][2][3]

Young have a brilliant blue or pink tail contrasting with the body. [1][2][3]

Compared with the western skink: Western skink has a conspicuous white or beige stripe down each side; confirm against a field guide. [1][2][3]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a gilbert's skink before you act. Compared with the western skink: Western skink has a conspicuous white or beige stripe down each side; confirm against a field guide.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Varied: grassland, salt flats, high desert, open chaparral, pinyon-juniper and open pine forest, often rocky areas near streams and springs. [1][2][3]

In California foothills up to about 1,980 m, favouring chaparral, black oak woodland and riparian deciduous habitat. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Eats insects and spiders, searching under leaves and surface objects. [1][2][3]

Lays 3-9 eggs in summer, in chambers in loose soil (peak activity around 1 July in one California account); not territorial. [1][2][3]

Inactive in cold temperatures and extreme heat. [1][2][3]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges of California south to northern Baja California, with isolated populations in southeastern California, southern Nevada and west-central Arizona; sea level to about 2,200 m.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. USDA Forest Service · reviewed 2026-09-30

    USDA Forest Service

  3. USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station · reviewed 2026-09-30

    USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station