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Step 1
Observe the animal's location. Legless lizards are not found further north than Virginia in the eastern United States, and no further west than extreme southern Minnesota in the Midwest. If you are in these northern areas the creature is most likely to be a snake.
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Step 2
Notice how the animal moves. Legless lizards are far less flexible than snakes because of an abundance of bony armor plates called osteoderms. Some species have so many of these plates that they would not be able to breathe were it not for a flexible groove of scales along their sides.
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Step 3
Look closely at the animal's head. Snakes have far fewer, larger identifiable scales on their faces while legless lizards have many, smaller scales, just like a legged lizard. The most obvious difference is the presence of the superciliaries, which are large scales that encircle the eye reigion.
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Step 4
Observe the animal's eyes. Legless lizards have closeable eyelids while snakes do not.
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Step 5
Notice the ears. If you can see obvious external ear openings, then you've got a legless lizard.
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Step 6
Look closely at the tail. If you have come across the animal, surprising it by touching it, and its tail came off then you have not just broken a snake in two. Just like legged lizards, legless lizards can drop their tail as a defense mechanism. Even if the lizard hasn't dropped his tail, you may still be able to see irregularities in the scale pattern where he has dropped his tail in the past.
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Step 7
Determine the length of the animal. No known species of legless lizard will exceed 1 meter in length.
