Blue Tail Lizard Toxicity

If you live in the southeastern U.S., you’ve probably seen them around your home or in your backyard. Lizards darting around with sleek black bodies and electric blue tails. These lizards are largely harmless to humans, although they will bite if you try to catch them, but they're not harmless to pets.

  1. Blue Tail Lizards

    • ”Blue tail lizard” or “blue-tailed lizard” is actually a common byname for any of a number of species of skink, most commonly the five-lined skink, or the southeastern five-lined skink. When immature, these lizards sport a bright blue tail that draws the attention of predators away from the vital parts of their body. These lizards can survive losing a tail and will in fact slowly grow a new one.

    Pets and Skinks

    • Cats and some dogs will chase anything that moves. Their eyesight is geared toward recognizing and following movement, and when a skink flies past what cats and dogs actually see is sign flashing the word “dinner.” As a defense mechanism the skink lets them have the tail so that the skink itself can get away, but whether it’s another line of defense or just a strange side effect, their tails--when eaten--induce the symptoms of Peripheral Vestibular Disease (PVD).

    Peripheral Vestibular Disease

    • PVD has a strange relationship with cats and dogs. It occurs in both, although it affects older dogs or young to middle-aged cats most often. It occurs idiopathically, meaning that the cause is unknown, and it affects the animal’s sense of balance and coordination. While it’s thought that this involves the peripheral vestibular system within an animal’s inner ear, no one is entirely sure. However, especially in the southeastern U.S. some cases of “idiopathic” PVD have been linked to the ingestion of the bright blue tails of skinks.

    PVD Symptoms

    • Even if you haven’t caught your pet gnawing on a bright blue tail, the symptoms of PVD that it induces are easy enough to spot. Animals may begin to tilt their head in one direction or another, they may roll around on the ground, lose agility and coordination, or their eyes may even begin to twitch from side to side. They may also sit in one place because they’re unsure of their movements and seem unsteady on their feet if they do get up. Their hearing is unaffected, and even with truly idiopathic PVD, these symptoms are not permanent.

    Recovery

    • The symptoms can be frightening to see, but animals with PVD will begin to see significant improvement in just two or three days, even without treatment, though it can take some weeks before they regain their normal mobility. While there are usually little to no lasting effects, there have been cases of episodic ataxia (bouts of clumsiness) when an animal tries to jump, and some animals may retain a mild, but persistent, head tilt. Be sure to take your animal to the vet if they begin to exhibit these signs.