well if it was, it was only his tail! I was folding the dirt around in the planting hole like I was folding whip cream into some batter. I saw him on a few go rounds. lol

Thank you Carol for the picture, I have never seen one of those, they have a pretty blue color.

Thats really wierd. Maybe you accidently cut off his tail when you were digging? Or maybe he shed it like some lizards do when something grabs the tail..

I think you found a worm lizard, this is Amphisbaenia, I have found them in both sand to loamy leaf littered soil with some frequency ranging in color from light pink, to very blue

http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2013/12/florida-worm-lizard.html

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Iberian_worm_lizard.jpg

I believe the Iberian worm lizard is European, not found here in FL. FL version is pink, according to above link...

I saw one of those on my back patio about a year ago. The blue is absolutely gorgeous, looked almost iridescent. I wanted to take a closer look but as soon as I moved closer, it disappeared in the blink of an eye. They really move fast!

I am not the only Tampa person! ... Maybe it was the person who owned the house before we bought it!!! lol

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090816120038AAGhNqk

The worm was not as bright as that lizard tail, but it was blue, it seemed like a shocking color b/c normally anything you find in the ground is mostly the same color... browns, grays so when you see a different color it really stands out. what I saw was not big, it was thin and small.

I wish I had a picture because I have found blue ones here in southern St Petersburg as well as pink, maybe it is something different but they were blue perhaps it just was blue colored due to something it crawled through. Many times I had heard of a blonde cottonmouth, which is not a reported color of the snake. In the field I finally came upon once in Perdido River wildlife river management district where I was working. As I suspected the blonde cottonmouth water moccasin was actually just covered in slit it had gotten caught up in, still it looked blonde washed in mud and photos that I thought were photo shopped likely were legit.

SweetMonkeyCheese, I thought you were talking about me when you said you were not the only Tampa person. Then, I clicked on your link. LOL!