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!
The pairs have been paired and soon we get to see how things went. I’ve been doing this long enough not to expect miracles, but I must admit to being a little more than excited about having six females, including our axanthic, potentially laying eggs this year. It is always a bit like Christmas morning when you’re a kid waiting for Gila monster eggs, you’re not quite sure what you’re going to get, but you hope it will be everything you’ve dreamed of all year. All the planning, cooling, feeding, and pairing comes to fruition or failure now.
The Gilas get very close throughout the season.
Setting up the pairs in hopes of achieving specific traits such as high pink or orange, reduced or abnormal patterns, or axanthic, is meticulously planned based on babies that have been produced here. I am in touch with many of the folks that have purchased Gilas from us here at Goatsby’s Place and track how they grow to try and replicate these traits. The axanthic line, originally from Seward’s project, is very exciting and we hope to have some 100% hets this year from that pairing.
Smile you’re on Candid Camera! Pairs are watched and recorded throughout the day and night for mating activity.
After oviposition the long wait begins. It’s been common for eggs that will not make it to term to expire within the first 30 days after being laid, though they can go bad at any time really. Never count your Gilas before they hatch is a good analogy! There’s a lot of hurry up wait at this point but it’s all part of the process in breeding Gila monsters.
Winnie the axanthic Gila laying out of her shelter.
Every year starts out with hope and we are thankful that it has ended with baby Gila monsters for the past six years. Some eggs are not fertile or make it to full term, but as long a a baby Gila pips its head out of the egg in the fall it is all worth it!
Loading screen from The Bard’s Tale (one of the first computer RPG’s from 1985)
The Gila monsters at Goatsby’s Place are waking up after the long winter’s nap, officially kicking off the 2025 Gila monster breeding season!
One of our newer additions is waking up after being brumated since December. It takes them a week or so to really get moving again.
Every year starts off with a lot of hope, but this year is even more hopeful as we have a lot of exciting things going on this season. We have a pair of beautiful banded Gilas that are new to the mix, and two females that bred for the first time last year (one is Winnie the Seward axanthic Gila, the other is the stunning pink banded Gila Lucy), and our stalwart females Heather and Belle will be in the mix again this year as well. As the Gilas wakey wakey I will start ultrasounds this weekend and feeding begins next week. First will be small meals of single adult mice, and once they defecate regular feedings will begin.
Lucy was not bred last year to build her weight and strength to successfully breed this year.
Stay tuned for more updates and photos, and if you wish to get on our list for 2025 please do so earlier than later. We have a healthy list already (many are repeat customers which is amazing!) and as a smaller-scale breeder, babies will be limited!
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!
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