This lizard has flat, smooth scales, five yellow stripes on back and sides, two yellow stripes on the head and the sixth scale back from the nose (upper lip) extending to the edge of the eye. As with the Five-lined Skink (E. fasciatus), this species exhibits different colors at various stages of adult life. Young adults are black with yellow stripes and have a bright blue tail. Older females are brownish, the yellow stripes may fade to brown or gray, and the blue tail becomes gray. Older males are uniform olive or tan, and lack stripes. Male Broadhead Skinks are larger than females and develop an orange-red head during breeding. Broadhead and Five-lined Skinks are extremely difficult to tell apart.
 Broadhead Skinks prefer mature oak woodlands having dead and decaying timber where it depends on tree cavities, especially in standing dead trees, for nesting. Large deciduous trees, downed logs, rock outcrops and brushpiles in or near woodlands are also used as protective cover.