blue tailed lizard

There was one pot I neglected to store in the greenhouse overwinter, in the upper corner of the garden against the basement wall. And I just found a young five-lined skink there.

It must have been out and about few days ago when temps were quite warm- fallen in and couldn't escape. Not long dead- the body was not yet stiff. I brought it inside thinking if it had just got chilled, warmth might revive it- but nope. However, took the sad opportunity for some closeup pictures of the beautiful colors and tidy arrangement of its scales.