14 Types of Lizards Found in Louisiana! (ID Guide)

What kinds of lizards can you find in Louisiana?”

common lizards in Louisiana

I was amazed by the number of lizards in the United States – well over 150 species! Some species live only in a small area, and some are widespread over hundreds of miles.

Today, you’ll learn about 14 different kinds of lizards in Louisiana.


#1. Six-Lined Racerunner

  • Aspidoscelis sexlineata

types of lizards in Louisiana

Identifying Characteristics:

  • 2.25 to 3.75 inches long from snout to vent (length does not include the tail).
  • “Dark fields,” or broad stripes in between lighter stripes on whiptails, are brown to black.
  • 6-8 light stripes vary in color from white or yellow to gray-blue.
  • In males, coloring is much brighter, with greens on the back and light turquoise on the belly.

The Six-Lined Racerunner has the widest range of all lizards in Louisiana.

They thrive in varied habitats, including grassland, rocky terrain, wooded areas, and even floodplains. So, you have a good chance of seeing one as long as you’re within their range!

Six-Lined Racerunners are insectivores, and their primary food source is termites. However, they also eat beetles, ants, and spiders, so these small whiptails can be handy to have around if you have a pest problem.

The Six-Lined Racerunner lives up to its name, clocking speeds at up to 18 miles per hour! They have no problem outmaneuvering predators and curious humans!

YouTube video

#2. Prairie Lizard

  • Sceloporus consobrinus

species of lizards in Louisiana

Identifying Characteristics:

  • 3.5 to 7.5 inches long from snout to vent (length does not include the tail).
  • Coloring is light reddish-brown with a light brown stripe down the spine.
  • Orange or red coloring on the lips and chin is sometimes present.

Look for Prairie Lizards in Louisiana in habitats with lots of places to perch, including open forests, tall grass fields, or even dunes. Their diet is made up of insects and spiders they can easily subdue.

Prairie Lizard Range Map:

These spiny lizards are one of the best climbers in their family! In Louisiana, Prairie Lizards spend most of their time off the ground perched in trees, on fences, and even on sunflowers.

In addition to climbing, Prairie Lizards can run so fast that they’re hard to catch. If you see one, you’ll probably have more luck observing from a distance than trying to get up close!

YouTube video

#3. Coal Skink

  • Plestiodon anthracinus

common lizards in Louisiana

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Adults are up to 7 inches long.
  • Four light stripes run the length of the body and a portion of the tail.
  • Juveniles are sometimes all black with no markings.
  • During the breeding season, some males develop reddish blotches on the sides of the head.

Coal Skinks are one of the most secretive, shy skinks in Louisiana!

They are hard to find because they spend much of their time under rocks, leaf litter, or fallen logs. Coal Skinks prefer moist, humid areas and live on hillsides with nearby streams.

If you spot a Coal Skink, you can identify it by the lack of a middle stripe on its back.

Two subspecies, the Northern Coal Skink (P.a. anthracinus) and the Southern Coal Skink (P.a. pluvialis), are scattered throughout the US.


#4. Common Five-Lined Skink

  • Plestiodon fasciatus

types of lizards in Louisiana

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Adults are up to 8.75 inches long.
  • 5 stripes are most apparent in hatchlings and fade as the skinks grow.
  • Males have orange-red coloring on the jaw during the breeding season.
  • Hatchlings are black with light stripes. The black coloring often fades to gray, and the lighter stripes darken.

Look for Common Five-Lined Skinks in Louisiana in wooded areas near rotting stumps, outcrops of rock, and sometimes piles of boards or sawdust. Its diet consists of spiders, beetles, crickets, and other insects.

Credit: Virginia Herpetological Society

Females attend to their eggs throughout the incubation period.

They spend almost all of their time defending and caring for the eggs until they hatch!

If you happen to come across a nest, you may notice the mother curled up on top of or around the eggs. She also rolls the eggs to maintain their humidity, moves them back to the nest if they become disturbed, and even eats eggs that aren’t viable!


#5. Broad-Headed Skink

  • Plestiodon laticeps

species of lizards in Louisiana

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Adults are up to 12.75 inches long.
  • Coloring in males is uniform brown or olive. Females often keep some form of stripes that are more apparent in hatchlings.
  • The tail is gray in adults and blue in young.
  • Males develop orange-red coloring on the jawline during the breeding season. Sometimes the entire head turns bright orange.

Look for Broad-Headed Skinks in Louisiana in swamp forests, woodlands, or vacant lots with debris.

You can easily recognize this species by its triangular head!

Credit: Virginia Herpetological Society

Broad-Headed Skinks are one of the few skink species at home among trees! They will often climb trees for cover and protection from predators. They forage on the ground for their food, searching leaf litter and debris for insects and spiders.

YouTube video

#6. Southern Prairie Skink

  • Plestiodon obtusirostris

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Adults are up to 8 inches long.
  • Coloring is brown to tan with a dark stripe bordered in white along each side.
  • The stripes usually fade with age, and older, larger individuals may be almost uniformly brown.
  • Hatchlings and young have blue tails.

The Southern Prairie Skink prefers streambeds for its habitat, and you can generally find them near clumps of prickly pear cactus. They are quick to hide from predators and eat small insects. Because of their skittish nature, it can be hard to find this species in the wild.

Some scientists consider the Southern Prairie Skink and the Northern Prairie Skink subspecies. But their ranges don’t overlap, and they’re different enough in appearance that full species status is generally given to both.


#7. Little Brown Skink

  • Scincella lateralis

Identifying Characteristics:

  • Adults are up to 5.75 inches long.
  • Coloring is golden-brown to almost black with dark stripes that usually blend in with the main body color.
  • The belly is white, sometimes with a yellowish cast.

In Louisiana, they’re often called Ground Skinks because they live on the forest floor.

They can also be found in gardens and urban areas with lots of debris or litter to hide in.

Credit: Virginia Herpetological Society

Believe it or not, Little Brown Skinks have the interesting talent of seeing with their eyes closed! But honestly, it just looks like their eyes are closed. Technically, they have a window in their lower eyelids that allows them to see at all times.

That’s a very handy adaptation for one of the smallest reptiles in Louisiana. The Little Brown Skink has many predators, including snakes, larger lizards, and birds of prey. When they try to sneak up on a “sleeping” Little Brown Skink, often the skink can run away using the element of surprise!

YouTube video


#8. Texas Horned Lizard

  • Phrynosoma cornutum

types of horned lizards in the united states

Identifying Characteristics:

  • 2.5 to 5 inches long from snout to vent (length does not include the tail).
  • Coloring can vary from yellow to reddish or gray-brown, with a light stripe on the back.
  • In addition to the two long central horns, two rows of spiky scales, called fringe scales, line the sides of the body.

The Texas Horned Lizard is best known for shooting blood from its eyes to defend against predators!

These reptiles are even able to aim the foul-tasting blood directly into the predator’s mouth! Talk about biting off more than you can chew!

YouTube video

Texas Horned Lizards are found in northwestern Louisiana in open, sandy land without much plant life. Some cactus or mesquite may be present, but their habitat is mostly rocky with loose soil or sand to burrow in and lay eggs. They can lay clutches of up to 50 eggs at a time!

Texas Horned Lizard Range Map:

Almost the entire diet of the Texas Horned Lizard is made up of ants. However, they do occasionally eat beetles and grasshoppers.

These gorgeous lizards also make popular pets and unfortunately, many have been released outside of their normal range. Natural populations are threatened because of habitat loss, the introduction of fire ants, and pesticide use.


#9. Slender Glass Lizard

  • Ophisaurus attenuatus

Identifying Characteristics:

  • 22 to 47 inches long.
  • Coloring is generally brown to black, with whitish markings in the middle of the scales.
  • Younger individuals have dark stripes along the back and sides, and older individuals develop faint crossbands.

Slender Glass Lizards live in dry grasslands and open forests in Louisiana.

They eat insects, spiders, small rodents, and small lizards. However, unlike snakes, they do not have flexible jaws, which means they can only eat prey smaller than their head!

Credit: United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Glass lizards are named for their extremely fragile tails, which can break off even without being touched. Slender Glass Lizards are rarely found with their original tail intact because they break so often! If you notice that the end of its tail is tan with no stripes, you can be sure the lizard lost its original tail.

You’re likely to find a Slender Glass Lizard in animal burrows or piles of debris.

There are two subspecies:

  • Western Slender Glass Lizards (O. attenuatus attenuatus) have shorter tails.
  • Eastern Slender Glass Lizards (O. attenuatus longicaudus) have longer tails.

#10. Eastern Glass Lizard

  • Ophisaurus ventralis

Identifying Characteristics:

  • 18 to 43 inches long.
  • Coloring is greenish to black, with a light yellow or tan belly.
  • Light-colored dots or dashes form irregular rows on the back; no stripes are present.

The Eastern Glass Lizard lives in southeastern Louisiana, in habitats including grasslands and pine forests, tropical hardwood groves, and wet meadows.

They eat insects and other invertebrates and forage for food both above ground and below.

Virginia Herpetological Society

Although they can create their own burrows, they use the burrows of other animals more often. For example, it’s common to find Eastern Glass Lizards in the burrows of small rodents like mice and voles or snakes and other lizards.


#11. Green Anole

  • Anolis carolinensis

Identifying Characteristics:

  • 5 to 9 inches long.
  • This species has an elongated head, pointed snout, and round tail.
  • The coloring ranges from all green to mottled green and brown to all brown with a white belly and lips.
  • The dewlap, or extendable throat fan, is usually pink but ranges in color: white, light gray, magenta, blue, and purple are common.

Green Anoles are the ONLY species of anole native to Louisiana.

They primarily live in trees and are excellent climbers. Look for them high in trees and shrubs in forested areas or on buildings and fences in urban settings. The introduction of the Brown Anole has altered their behavior, making them almost exclusively arboreal.

An invasive species, the Cuban Green Anole (Anolis porcatus), is so similar to our native Green Anole that DNA testing is the only way to distinguish between them! The two species interbreed in areas where they both occur. Cuban Green Anoles in Louisiana have a limited range, so if you find a Green Anole, it’s most likely native!

Credit: United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Anoles are sometimes called American Chameleons because of their ability to change color. Although they aren’t in the same family as chameleons, they adjust their coloring in response to many factors, including emotion, activity level, temperature, and humidity.

Green Anoles and other species of anoles have dewlaps, which are colorful throat fans they can extend to communicate. This feature makes them look a bit like tiny dinosaurs! =)


#12. Brown Anole

  • Anolis sagrei

Identifying Characteristics:

  • 5 to 8.5 inches long.
  • Brown Anoles have a stocky build and a slightly flattened tail.
  • The coloring is brown, sometimes with yellow spots – this species is never green.
  • The dewlap is red-orange with white borders.

Brown Anoles are a non-native species that has been introduced in Louisiana.

Look for them on tree trunks and rocks close to the ground or in open grassy areas.

The Brown Anoles’ native range is Cuba, the Bahamas, and Little Cayman Island. Their population and range exploded when they were introduced in shipments of cultivated plants in the 1970s.

They established themselves so quickly that native Green Anoles had to change their behavior to survive. Because Brown Anoles eat Green Anoles and compete with them for food and territory, they’ve taken over ground habitats and pushed Green Anoles up into the trees.


#13. Sri Lankan House Gecko

  • Hemidactylus parvimaculatus

Identifying Characteristics:

  • 4 to 4.5 inches long.
  • Coloring is brown with rows of small, irregular, darker brown spots
  • Small bumps called tubercles are arranged in rows that run down the back.

The Sri Lankan House Gecko is an introduced species found ONLY in the Audubon Park area of New Orleans. It was most likely transported on a shipping container into the Port of New Orleans and established a permanent population.

Sri Lankan House Geckos have a unique voice! Their call is a throaty “chuk-chuk-chuk” sound. Their natural range is southern India, Sri Lanka, and islands in the Indian Ocean.


#14. Mediterranean House Gecko

  • Hemidactylus turcicus

Identifying Characteristics:

  • 1.5 to 2.5 inches long.
  • The pupils are vertical, and the eyes are large and round with immovable eyelids.
  • This species has two color phases for camouflage.
    • Pale phase: the coloring is light pink to pale yellow or white with brown or gray blotches.
    • Dark phase: the coloring darkens to gray or brown, obscuring the blotches on the back.

You might be surprised to find out that the most abundant and widespread gecko in Louisiana is NOT native! The Mediterranean House Gecko was introduced to Louisiana via imported plants carrying their egg clutches. They’re adaptable to so many environments that their population quickly outpaced any of our native geckos!

Mediterranean House Geckos are nocturnal, but this won’t stop you from being able to find them. They’re considered an “urbanized” species, which means they’re just as happy to live inside your house as they are in the wild!

Virginia Herpetological Society

They eat insects attracted to lights and are commonly found on walls, ceilings, and window screens in homes. Outside, look for them in rock crevices or cracked tree trunks.

In addition to being comfortable around humans, Mediterranean House Geckos in Louisiana are a vocal species. The mating call of males is a series of clicks, and they frequently make a squeaking noise if threatened.

Even though Mediterranean House Geckos aren’t native to Louisiana, they’re so well-recognized that they belong on any list of geckos in our area.


Do you need additional help identifying lizards?

Try this field guide!


Which of these lizards have you seen in Louisiana?

Leave a comment below!


Also, if you enjoy this article, make sure to check out these other guides!

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6 Comments

  1. I was going through some clothes I had on my bed and I found this blizzard which is silver on top and black on bottom what is it I’m terrified been in the hospital the majority of the last few years and I’m just getting over my fear of other bugs I have a terrible terrible problem with them I won’t sleep if I see a bug until I find it and kill it this one has done lost its head and tail mainly but I’m going to post a picture please help 911 please tell me what this is…..!!!!! Help