saved from certain death

i saved not 1, but 3 of these little guys from my hubby's super disgusting cigarrette butt bucket yesterday...

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...linedskink.jpg

they are southeastern 5 lined skinks.
the 2nd one wanted nothing to do with being touched and in it's thrashing tantrum chomped on a finger tip and in my shock and fright i dropped it but it hit the ground running and was gone in a flash without so much as a glance back.
they were just oozing with gratitude, lol. :rolleyes:
i think i'll be keeping an eye on that bucket to make sure no more of those little gems end up in there again.

How cute!! I just love their colors, just amazing! You're their hero :D

kinda sucks that they lose their colors as they mature. those are their baby colors. these are the adults...

male...

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...skinkadult.jpg

female with eggs

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...lewitheggs.jpg

thing is though, i wouldnt have known they were trapped in the bucket if i hadnt seen that blue/purple tail on one of them. it was amidst the struggle to free the 1st that the other 2 moved beneath their hiding spots giving themselves away.
the bucket has at least 2-3 inches of nasty, soggy cigarette butts as well as dead rotten leaf matter from the azelea bush concealing it. it's beyond disgusting in there and i was gagging as i was trying to free the little lizards. how they could bury themselves in that filth is beyond me. :zerb:
sure am glad they're running free. maybe they'll return the favor and eat the bugs in my garden ;).

They are cute even as adults! I've seen pictures of skinks, do the wild ones like those get as big as the pet ones people get? They seem to get rather large, and are such cool critters.

info from the net says they can get 5-9" long, including their tail im assuming.

I would have been tempted to keep them :D