Over the past few years successfully breeding Gila monsters I have seen an interesting behavior that is fascinating; nest box guarding! Each year after laying eggs my females back fill the nest boxes and then vigorously defend the nest. I cannot re-connect the cages with the males for at least a month after oviposition! The moms get extremely aggressive and if I put my hand in to grab or move something they run over to attack.
I am curious how this works in the wild as it’s obviously an innate behavior, but with wild Gila monsters breeding habits virtually unknown to us it may be some time before we know the answer.
Once the female Gila monster backfills the nest I know viable egg laying is over (I also check on ultrasound to be sure). Some slugs can still be laid after the nest is filled, but they are most certainly bad.
I how in the future we can piece the puzzle together between wild and captive behaviors and shed more light into the secret lives of Gila monsters!
Yesterday one of our females laid her first egg of the 2026 Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) breeding season, followed up by two more females laying today! There are still more to come but the excitement is growing! So far only three slugs out of 13 eggs, but I do expect a few others to turn over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more posts and updates!
The pre egg-laying shed (what I calls PELS) is a sure signthings are progressing reproductively inside the female. This shed is different from any other – the pieces come off in large bits whereas it is usually small chunks over a period of 10 days or so during a regular shed. I ultrasound every few days to keep an eye on the progression and keep detailed notes to try and anticipate egg laying. PELS occurs after ovulation and sends me a visual signal to get things ready for oviposition. Nest boxes ready? Check. Incubator set up? Check. The hopes and dreams of getting lucky enough to seeing a baby Gila hatch this year? Check, check, double check!!! Two of the five females we are breeding this year are deep in PELS (Belle and Heather pictured here), two more are starting (Misty and Paisley) and the last is just starting to ovulate (Lucy). Fingers crossed for another great year here at Goatsby’s Place and to all my friends breeding Gila monsters! Here’s to an amazing 2026!
This was a cool find from May 2025 Herpetological Review I picked up while doing my daily scour for new Gila info. Gilas are so secretive it’s a wonder we can get them to breed in captivity with all the activity and interaction they have with their keepers! There’s also a related video which may be NSFW (but in a scientific way) which I will link below. I think my life would feel pretty fulfilled if I got to trail Gilas in the wild for research.
There aren’t many anecdotes of Gila monster bites the century, and especially not fatalities. When this envenomation occurred, there was a lot of speculation and talk about the victim’s health and speculative reasons why he died and so many others haven’t. Now the official report has been released and laid to bed any speculation. Check it out and take care of my friends; never underestimate the bite of a venomous reptile!
It’s that time of year of year, time to wake up the monsters and kick off the 2026 Gila monster breeding season! The cages have been cleaned and are ready to go, welcoming back home the inhabitants that have been in quiet winter slumber since December. The rise in temperature takes place over several weeks and continues into March as the Gilas go from complete cold and darkness to daily life of regular light and temperature changes.
Wakey wakey, mice and eggy’s (or something like that..)
Last year was our best year not only in success of eggs hatched, but also producing some very uniquely patterned babies. Our hyper pink line produced one baby which is already showing its insanely pink coloration, the aberrant line is producing some amazingly interesting patterns.
So pink at only five months old! Photo by ST who is shaming me with these photos for selling this Gila:)
As with every season, hopes and dreams abound thinking of the pairings and who will produce what. Regardless it’s a win, just working with Gilas and producing babies is enough for me. I’ve already started reviewing my notes from previous years and re-reading my mentor Dr. Mark Seward’s “Gila Monster Propagation” and other books and articles to see if I can glean anything new (which I always do).
One of our 2025 aberrant baby Gilas.Our 2024 holdback is getting more orange everyday!
One thing is for certain, it will be another amazing season so stay tuned for updates max we embark on a new adventure in Gila monster! The 2026 waitlist is getting pretty beefy, if you want to reserve a Gila do so now! This is especially true if you are looking for a hyper pink or “Gators” orange, or the very limited aberrant line!
The end of our 2025 Gila monster breeding season came to an end this week when Gila 62 fully emerged from the egg! Ten eggs made it all the way and I could not be happier with the results! Two new moms (Misty and Lucy) produced their first viable hatchlings and stalwarts Belle and Heather did not disappoint. Above are the babies born this year and it is interesting to see what the pairings have produced over the years.
Can you see the hyper-pink one?
As with every season there were wins, losses, and lessons learned. I feel lucky and proud to have been successful another year breeding Gila monsters. We have a just a few babies are still available as of this post so drop us a line if you see something you like! And our 2026 waitlist has already started so jump on now especially if you are looking for a hyper-pink or aberrant (or both traits together as we had this year!). A few photos from the season for your viewing pleasure below!
Just after the last post an egg pipped and this little Gila monster came into the world! Another Gila is coming out as I write this, can’t wait to meet that one as well! I love this time of year!!
The anticipation is killing me. So close to hatch time for our 2025 Gila monster babies it’s hard not to check multiple times a day! with this years pairings it will be a very interesting year to see what pops out! Hopefully some high pink reduced pattern Gilas pop out, but no matter what they’ll be beautiful baby Gilas to enjoy! Stay tuned!
Our 2024 holdback is getting more beautiful with age!
Gila monster breeding is not a black and white endeavor.
As with every Gila monster captive breeding season, there are wins and loses, new things learned and insights gleaned to improve next year.
Is that a xenomorph in deep space laying its deadly eggs? No it’s just our banded Gila monster Lucy resting between laying much less dangerous eggs. No facehuggers here thankfully.
First the wins; I had an improved nesting experience (thanks to my mentor Dr. Mark Seward) with my stalwart females Belle and Heather who had their best year yet. The newbie females are still figuring it out and they laid partial clutches which are good, but held eggs that were ultimately unviable. Also, we had a disproportionate ratio of males to females so had to do some calculated male swapping so that likely factored into things. The females are also recovering nicely post breeding which bodes well for next year. I currently have ten good eggs in the trusty Grumbach S84 incubator which is great. There was a total of 22 eggs, 10 of which were infertile slugs or laid late, 2 fertile eggs went bad about a month after being laid, and 10 still a-cookin’. I always feel that if I have one egg hatch in a season it’s a win!
The losses are always rough, especially when you lose a Gila and this year we lost a female that became egg bound. It is tough and in retrospect I should have intervened sooner, but assumed that since she was eating and defecating the eggs would have eventually passed on their own. Sadly, this was not the case. It seems the time between oviposition and expiration is much shorter than anticipated and generally experienced with other reptiles. Now I know not to wait and to intervene sooner, but I am deeply saddened that this information came at the cost of a beautiful Gila monster.
Winnie, full of eggs and hope..
Another battle that is ongoing is with our axanthic Gila monster Winnie that has refused to eat after laying five infertile eggs. She has been to the vet and is on antibiotics, but she is still not eating voluntarily. Not a good sign but she is eating eggs with a little help from me and I am hoping she recovers. As it’s late in the season and she should be bulking up not fighting for her life, Winnie will be taking the next year to recover as long as she pulls through. She was sick when she arrived in 2021 and after treatment then she has had been doing well until now. There’s obviously an underlying issue that we will get to the bottom of over the next year to ensure she gets healthy and stays healthy for the rest of her days. Stayed tuned for updates on this front…
Last year’s holdback continues to blow me away as she grows with a deepening orange and dark black coloration.
So, it’s been another year of learning, living and loving our precious Gila monsters. Keeping detailed notes is helping to make changes in the future which will lead to greater success and hopefully no more losses. I can’t wait to see what pips out of the egg this year, it truly makes all the struggles and planning worth it when the babies come out!
PS – My 10-year-old daughter is creating videos for Goatsby’s Place, so they’ll be some fun shorts on YouTube coming up soon!
Goatsby's Place 