During the day it retreats to warm, moist places such as seabird burrows and deep boulder banks, and emerges on warm humid nights to forage.

There is also a mainland population in a small rocky area at the base of coastal hills at Pukerua Bay, near Wellington.

Fossil bones found in the Waikato region suggest that these skinks were once more widely distributed.

[6] The New Zealand Department of Conservation and the Friends of Mana Island are running a five-year project to catch and breed enough animals from the vulnerable Pukerua Bay colony to establish a sustainable population on nearby predator-free Mana Island.

As of August 2021 the Department of Conservation (DOC) classified Whitaker's skink as Nationally Endangered under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.