Category: Heloderma

2025.08.24 update: Gila monster eggs incubating and the preparations for next season

by goatsby, posted in Breeding, Gila monster, Heloderma, Husbandry, reptiles
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!

Winnie in the sun.

2025 Gila monster Season update: Eggs a-comin’ and the long wait ahead

by goatsby, posted in Breeding, Gila monster, Heloderma, reptiles
Pairs are separated after ovulation.

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!

2024 babies: which pattern do you prefer?

After a long winter slumber..

by goatsby, posted in Breeding, Gila monster, Heloderma, Uncategorized
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!

Our holdback 2025 banded Gila!

First 2024 baby Gila monster is out!

by goatsby, posted in Breeding, Gila monster, Heloderma, reptiles

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!

2024: What a year

by goatsby, posted in Breeding, Gila monster, Heloderma, Uncategorized

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!

Any day now…

Off to a good start!

by goatsby, posted in Breeding, Gila monster, Heloderma

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!

2024 Gila season, here we come!

by goatsby, posted in Gila monster, Heloderma

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!

New video! Gila monsters hatching!

by goatsby, posted in Gila monster, Heloderma, Husbandry

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!

2022 Gila monster breeding season update

by goatsby, posted in Gila monster, Heloderma

Hey Monster Squad! It’s been way too long since I last sent an update out which is disappointing as so much has happened since the last post. As with all Gila monster breeding seasons, this one was full of surprises and a lot of lessons to be learned.

Caught in the act.
Well, we know what this is..
Locked up at night.

First, during pairing and copulating we attempted a 1.1 ratio for breeding pairs which we hoped would increase success. Two of our previously bred females were seen copulating at least five times, but the new girl we got last year was only seen once. Eggs seem to be maturing well as monitored on ultrasound, except for the new female which only had two eggs (the other two females had greater than five eggs from what we could see). By the time egg laying came about in June this is where things change and deficiencies in our program were found. our two long-term females produce 13 eggs between the two of them, and the new girl produced two.

Egg forming from follicle as seen by ultrasound.
Egg at a later stage, the shell now visible on ultrasound.
Momma monster made a nest for her tightly buried eggs and guarded the nest for over two weeks!

Unfortunately only four of the 15 eggs survived of the whole group to date. One was actually eaten by it mother! This was a severe disappointment but valuable lessons were learned. First, the new female was under condition and not ready to be bred but she had enough weight and we thought she would be ready, she was not. Second our egg-laying protocol needs to be revised as it appears our girls are not comfortable laying eggs in their current egg boxes, which at this time are the entire cage turned into an egg laying nest with dark tint over the glass to provide privacy. Unfortunately this is not enough and we are going to try something entirely new next year fingers crossed!

Inside the nest above, six Gila monster eggs!
Bad eggs and good eggs, wish I had Willy Wonka’s machine to save some time.

As we approach the end of October we have four eggs still in the running. Four out of 15 is not a good ratio but some success is certainly better than none at all! It’s interesting that most eggs go bad within the first 30 days of laying, which says to me that our incubation protocol technique is working. Of course mid and late term and losses have happened but generally most eggs even fertile they are doomed will go bad within the first 30 days. These days I’m checking the incubator daily opening to egg boxes for fresh air as the humidity and temperature continue to remain stable throughout the week incubation period. We are super excited for the birth of our baby Gila monsters – each time I truly feel like a kid during Christmas opening the big gift center left under the tree! As soon as the babies are out we will post pictures and contact those on the waitlist in the order that they joined (Allen you’re up first!).

Late-season candling of a viable egg showing nicely growing veins.

So as we wrap up our 2022 Gila monster breeding season and get our monsters ready for the Big Chill (hibernation, not the movie), we look forward to an amazing 2023 breeding season. One of our 2019 females produced here is growing follicles as shown by ultrasound and will be attempted to be bred next year. We are also very excited to have our axanthic Gila monster Winnie up to condition and ready to breed next year. This is a very, very exciting project for us as few of these morph are being bred throughout the world. We are also excited to put into motion the lessons we learned in this and past seasons to improve our success and to see more amazing baby Gila monsters born into this world, because what world isn’t better with more Gila monsters in it?

Winnie, our axthanic Gila, looking to be in good condition