The last of our 2024 Gila monster egg is hatching as I write this. Looks to be another stunning banded Gila! The baby Gilas take a few days to come out of the egg, and it seems to take every ounce of newborn energy to do so. It’s also amazing to see as the size of the baby defies the space in the egg. All the trials and tribulations throughout the year just melt away when that little Gila pokes its nose through the egg.
All that in there? How?!I think we all wish we can get back in the egg sometimes..
Our 2024 Gilas are sold out, and 2025 is filling up fast. If you are interested in getting one of our Gilas please reach out now to get on the waiting list.
This never gets old. Say hi to the world’s youngest Gila monster!
As our Gilas hatch those on the waitlist will be contacted in the order joined. We only had four eggs this year, so availability is very limited but let us know if you want to get in the list for 2025. Or, just reach out to talk Gilas!
This is the third attempt to update everyone on what the haps be here at Goatsby’s Place and more importantly how the Gila monsters are doing. Every year of breeding Gila monsters brings new insights, challenges, and the understanding that my knowledge of these fascinating lizards is always less than I think. Emotions throughout the season range from hopeful and excited, to perplexed and frustrated. At the end of the day it’s a wholly humbling experience living with the world’s most intriguing reptile.
I love when we can start to see the coloring through the egg!
First thing, 2024’s Gila monster breeding season yielded four good eggs (out of 17 total laid) that are looking likely to hatch. With T-15 days to hatching I’m hopeful they’ll make it all the way. There are few things as exciting (to me, at least) as seeing baby Gilas emerge from the egg. I vividly remember reading Dr. Seward’s book and that iconic photo of a baby coming out of the egg dreaming one day this would be a reality. Six years into successfully breeding Gila monsters brings me no less joy!
The connected nest boxes, so the female can go in and out and dog around as she pleases.
This year we tried some new things to help increase viable eggs including connecting cages for paired males and females, nest boxes connected to the cage , and having monogamous pairs throughout the breeding season. We had a total of four pairs, two stalwart females and two first timers, and a male that just came to age and bred his first time. All were cooled last winter and testes and follicle growth was good.
Snuggle time, Gila style
But, all is not as it seemed under the ultrasound as three females produced, the first timer axanthic produced all slugs, and one female did not produce any eggs. It later turned out the the newbie male she was paired with had a shrunken testicle that was the start of a hemipenal impaction – didn’t see that coming. So, four eggs this year and I’m perfectly happy with that.
Female buried in the new nest box
There’s more to cover for the season, but wanted to share this update for now as we count down the day to 2024 captive born baby Gila monster hatchlings! Thanks for stopping by Goausby Place!
As of today, only one pair of Gilas have been observed copulating. Mating activity usually picks up about now and lasts for 2-3 weeks, so more Gila monster love is sure to be seen. Though this is the only pair (Winston and Winifred) it is certainly the most exciting – if everything goes well and we get viable eggs from Winnie, it will be the first time that our axanthic line will have been produced.
Winnie was picked up in 2021 but had some health issues and the as held back for the first two years and allowed to focus on getting healthy, was off sync with follicle growth last year, and seems to be lined up this year. This axanthic project has been years in the making and I am certainly excited to see some babies come from this line! I’ll keep everyone posted on how the progress goes, I’m performing ultrasounds throughout the weeks and monitoring the pairs closely – fingers crossed for an amazing year!
While all was quiet on the blog and social media posts, we have been working diligently behind the scenes with our monsters, and are kicking off our 2024 Gila monster breeding season!
Misty, a high-orange female Gila monster produced here in 2019, will be bred with an unrelated bloodlines this year.
While every year is certainly exciting, 2024 is off the charts for us here at Goatsby’s Place! Besides the fact that our Seward-line axanthic female will be breeding for the first time, we also have two of our own Gilas also breeding for the first time! We will have a total of four females breeding this year, and four males to mate them with (a 1:1 ratio, which is preferred).
Winifred is our Seward-line axanthic female Gila monster.
As the season starts anew, it’s a time to reflect on past year’s successes and failures. I re-read my notes and chat with other breeders and try to see how we can do things better. This year’s focus will again be nesting in hopes of having more viable eggs laid on time. I’ve come up with a new nesting strategies and will be sure to share that here once we have it worked out. We’d also like to get more proficient with the ultrasound and be able to time ovulation and oviposition with greater accuracy this year.
A sight we hope to see mid-April!We monitor growing follicles and testes on our Gila monster by ultrasound. This helps us to keep an eye on reproductive development and when the highest chance of successful pairings are. Male testes also change throughout the year and need to be monitored.
Besides having the fortune to live with Gila monsters, its both profound and humbling to enter each year with these amazing reptiles and learn more about them. Having produced Gilas each year just feeds my love for them, and I’m sure this year will be no exception!
Gilas just wanna have fun!
Stay tuned for some exciting things happening at Goatsby’s Place this year, new videos, lots of photos, and of course more Gila monsters! If you’re interested in getting on our rapidly growing waitlist please email us today. And if you have any questions or there is something you’d like to see on an upcoming video please let us know. Thanks for stoping by!
It’s been years since I’ve made any significant changes to my Gila room – some in part of there not being a real need and another part of good old fashioned laziness. But, after last year’s limited success and the driving need to do better and innovate (not to mention that my Neodesha NPI stackable cages were tilting ever forward like the Leaning Tower of Pisa) I got off my butt and went back to the drawing board.
Thinking of where my shortcomings have been (nesting, still), the fact that these stackable cages have shown those Achilles heel, and taking inspiration from my Gila Amigo John’s “Gila Hilton”, the design objective was to have cages stacked two high for stability, interconnected laterally for male-to-female interactions, and with a separate nest box attached to the female side to encourage nesting. The design went through a few drafts but ultimately it came out like this..
See the big difference? That’s ok, neither do my wife or kids..😜
I’ve been pretty neglectful on updates including our 2023 offspring photos but I’ll get those up here soon. I’m very grateful and thankful of our followers and those that give our Gilas great new homes; the 2023 babies were sold out long before they hatched (pro tip: if you want dibs on a 2024-2025 baby NOW is the time to get on the waitlist)! With that being said, we are super excited for 2024! Our Gilas will be coming out of hibernation soon and the things get exciting quick. Stay tuned for updates and new videos, and of course great Gila monster content! Thanks for stopping by!
Misty wishing the giant eggs inside her would disappear. Note the sunken eyes and thin tail.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted or made a video, mostly because kids, work, and daily life keep me busy, but also because it’s been a tough year with the Gilas. It’s been hard to get excited with season that showed so much potential. Four females were being bred, including the axanthic Gila and one of my babies from 2019, new nest boxes were designed and created, and there was a record amount of coplulation observed. As of mid-May everything was going according to plan. There was a lot of observed copulation, the female Gila’s were utilizing their new nest boxes, and ultrasound showed growing follicles. So, where did it all go wrong?
Red-light district, Gila style.
Pre-egg laying shed (or PELS as I call it).Winston and axanthic Winifred getting to know each other.
The first fly in the ointment was the axanthic female’s follicles were not maturing. Not at all. The axanthic Gila was not brumated in 2021 but was cooled in 2022 so her timing may be off, but only time will tell. Fingers crossed for next year.
Heather guarding her nest box very aggressively.
Next up was my nesting situation. I still think this is my biggest issue. I have no problem getting fertile eggs, and good eggs make it to term so my incubation technique must be working, but its the in-between nesting period that is getting me. So, this year I designed new nest boxes based on many hours of research and then custom-made for me by James at All American Cages. The boxes were chambered to allow the female to dig a suitable nest in privacy and fill it back in, but still allow me to check with a removable top. I put the boxes in the cages after the pairs were split in May and the females didn’t;t waste much time exploring the boxes and ultimately retiring to them for oviposition. Unfortunately the the females still laid late which, to me, caused some of the eggs to be infertile. I think I have a good idea what is going on and next year will prove my theory out, but it is likely the females must have complete quiet and secrecy to feel comfortable enough to deposit the eggs. How many wild nests have Gila researchers ever been able to find, in recorded history? One. Only one. And that was only found because a construction crew accidentally dug one up! For next year I am going to reimagine my set up. Not sure how yet but have a few ideas, stay tuned folks:)
My new nest box with chambers. Nest box filled in, mom on guard on the right!
And last, but certainly not least, of this year’s woes was when my 2019 female Gila being bred for the first time got egg bound (or dystocia). My other females Gila lay early to mid-June like clockwork. Even when things aren’t going right the majority of the eggs are laid at this time (though a slug or two may come earlier or later), so when late June hit and Misty wasn’t laying I started getting worried. She started to lose even more weight than a normal female Gila does during the time of oviposition and still refused to eat, so early July I brought her to my vet to see what they thought. An X-ray showed five big beautiful eggs stuck in my little Gila and recommended removal by surgery at the University of Florida. While I had given the idea of waiting longer to see if she would lay some thought, anecdotal accounts universally gave bad prognosis for waiting too long – all cases I read either ended up with the female oviduct being removed altogether, or sadly in death of the Gila. Neither outcome seemed good tome so I did not want to wait any longer and scheduled the surgery the next day. I am very lucky to live in a college town with one of the country’s top veterinary schools (University of Florida, Go Gators!), but I also had the luck of getting one of the best reptile vets to perform the surgery (a big THANK YOU to Dr. Jim Wellehan and his team for the professional care and expertise on my dear Misty). Dr. Wellehan did his best to ensure Misty would be able to breed again, but only time will tell. At a minimum she will take next year off to recuperate but I will monitor follicle progress via ultrasound and see how things go. So far Misty is doing great, her incision wounds are healing well and she is eating like a champ!
X-ray showing five honking eggs in this female Gila monster. If you look closely at the egg nearest the head, you can see the heart and lungs pushed to the side! Eggs protruding from the belly, does not look comfortable!The day after surgery, looks painful but relief is on the way Misty!
To say that this year, which held so much promise, was a tough year is an understatement. As I always do after breeding season, my notes will be read and re-read, I will review ultrasound images and video, and think of how to improve next year. I have a few thoughts, mostly with nesting, but there may be some major changes coming up. Regardless, I still have good eggs in the incubator and any year that ends up with baby Gila monsters is a good one in my book!
Misty recovering well on paper towels. It was tough to lose the eggs but certainly worth it to save the girl!
It is absolutely the most exciting time of year here are Goatsby’s Place – baby hatching! After years of preparation and trying to get everything right, getting any Gila monsters to go full term is always an achievement. This year we had 15 eggs, and only four hatched so it was pretty rough but the four we hatched are exceptional! The Gila gods must have felt bad for me as they were nice enough to give me a dark-phase baby with no banding, a very rare morph indeed! Of course this little baby is staying with us to see how it turns out. We will be posting the photos of the babies soon, though we quickly sold out with the few we did produce so be sure to get on next year’s waiting list if you are interested in one of our monsters!
Goatsby's Place 