Tag: reptiles

2024 Gila monster Spring kick-off!

by goatsby, posted in Breeding, Gila monster, Husbandry

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!

Peace out Monster Squad!!

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

Gila monster YouTube video now up!

by goatsby, posted in Uncategorized

Kicking off the 2022 Gila monster breeding season seemed like a time to start our YouTube videos. We plan on documenting the entire breeding season, from warm up to hatching babies, to help expand the knowledge of breeding Gila monsters in captivity. Check it out here and let us know what you think!

2021 baby Gila monsters!

by goatsby, posted in Breeding, Gila monster, Heloderma, reptiles
The last three Gilas hatch!

The 2021 baby Gila monsters are all out and settling in here at Goatsby’s Place! We are very proud of our beautiful baby monsters, and feel blessed to have been successful again this year. While most are spoken for, we may have a few available for new homes. Please email us if interested, or to get on the list for 2022.

May 2021 Update: Nest boxes and hopefully eggs soon!

by goatsby, posted in Gila monster, Heloderma
Momma getting ready for the big day!

Though work and the other parts of my life have kept me from updating this blog on a regular basis, working with the Gilas has not slowed down. As of today my females are gravid and have gone through their pre egg-laying shed so oviposition is expected within the next week, according to my calculations.

Two of my females cages with privacy tint installed.

This year my nesting protocol has changed due to the failures (or, opportunities for learning) of last year. last year one of my females delayed egg laying by about 10 days which resulted in the death of six viable eggs. Not a very fun lesson but certainly an opportunity for improvement. I think last year the female did not have the proper secure nesting area and held her eggs until she could not hold them any longer. I also tried a new nesting material which did not work out very well as it did not hold moisture for very long. This year, things have changed.

To help increase privacy and to solve the humidity issue everything has been changed. To start, the entire cage has been converted to a nest box. This is to allow the females to continue to thermoregulate (though over lower temperatures) throughout this period. I have installed privacy tint on 1/2 of the cage as well as a large black hiding box to increase privacy. I also went back to good old sphagnum moss misted daily to help maintain moisture in the cage. The ultimate goal is to provide a secure area that matches conditions for positive egg growth. So far it appears to be working as the conditions in the cage mirror those in my incubator (see below screenshot from my SensorPush app).

Pretty close!

Will this ultimately work? We will know within two weeks. If all goes well my females will lay viable eggs this year. If not, I’m sure there will be a lesson learned and opportunity for improvement next year! Fingers crossed!

2020 Gila monster breeding season begins!

by goatsby, posted in Gila monster, Heloderma, reptiles

With the babies I’ve held back are growing like weeds and coloring up beautifully, I’ve taken the adults out of brumation and am warming them up and will be feeding them their first meal soon. I’m both excited and nervous as to how this season will turn out. Will all the eggs paid be fertile? Will all the fertile eggs go to term? An educated guess says no to both but if improvements are made I am moving in the right direction.

I’ll be doing some new things this year. First, I’ll be pairing straight reticulated with reticulated, and banded with banded. Also, instead of leaving switching males between cages I will keep one male with one female for the duration of the breeding season. The females do seem to have preferences, and hopefully they still lie each other this year. I am waiting until the last week of March to start pairing as last year the females were not receptive and often attacked and bit the unrelenting males so it would be nice to avoid this drama and potential injury. I’ll keep everyone posted on the progress and of any successes and failures on my second year of breeding these amazing Gila monsters!

Day 153: It happens! Gila monster hatching success!

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

L1195787

So, almost after all hope was lost on Day 153 the first Gila monster egg pipped from its leathery shell! Egg 02 at first cut a small slit and then a few more and over the next two days began to emerge from the egg. At first the baby Gila stuck its nose out, then it’s head, then half its body, and finally the entire body. It appears that hatching is a labor-intensive process as there are long pauses between progressive stages and also seems to be a good way of ensuring all the contents of the egg are consumed before leaving the egg. Over the ensuing days this process was (and currently is for two more lizards) repeated over and over, with Gilas emerging from their shell about two or so full days from pip to full emergence. Once the contents are completely devoured the neonate Gila monster leaves its shell and begins to wander the egg box. I witnessed one Gila that was out actually eating the egg yolk of another just coming out of its shell! Greedy bastard.

Once fully emerged and climbing around, the little monsters are pulled from the egg box, photographed, weighed, and set up solo in an 18 quart Sterelite box with paper towels as bedding and small water dish. The paper towel bedding serves as a clean substrate while the umbilical wound heals and the first few meals are eaten and passed through to make sure everything is going well. I will attempt the first feeding next week after the yolk has been fully digested and look forward to raising the babies from there!

I will be posting updates on the neonates growth, as well as some thoughts and insights on my first season captive breeding Gila monsters. Some reviews of the equipment I used is also likely in order as these items played an important role in my success. Whew, what an amazing season! The process has been fun, though frustrating and worrisome at times, and I look forward to greater success next year with these amazing reptiles!

Day 152: A watched egg never hatches

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

A Gila monster near hatch datePatience. Patience is what those in the know say. Sure, I am checking the incubator at least ten times a day for any action and patience is not my virtue, but I am old enough to know when to listen. A couple a the eggs dented in over two weeks ago, the two others are starting to dimple (not dent) and in all honesty I would be surprised if any of them hatch at this point. If they do not hatch my biggest concern is figuring out where my failure was. Is it the incubator? No, the Grumbach’s are renowned for their reliability. Is it the S.I.M. egg container? No, these have been used successfully with Gila monsters before. My temperature, though low, should not be the issue and my humidity is spot on, so it shouldn’t be that. We just started having cold fronts move through and temps have fallen so that may have a slight play into it (I have ordered a space heater to remedy this issue). At this point my guess is that since the fan in the Grumbach is unplugged that there may not be enough airflow which may be an issue, or the fact that the Pangea Hatch medium has started to grow mold adds to this theory. I do open the incubator to allow fresh air to enter but it may not be enough. Whatever the case, I will hold on hope until the last egg turns yellow and starts to sweat. If they all die I will carefully review my protocols and notes and seek the advise of successful breeders to plan for a better year next season!

On another note, I have stopped feeding my adults and am turning off the lights and under-cage heating in preparation of hibernation, which will begin after Thanksgiving. I have an old refrigerator that is hooked up to a Ranco thermostat for the cool down. Would be great if I could cool them in their cages but we do not see steady enough low temps here in northern Florida to ensure the Gila will reach and stay at 53°F for the three months of brumation.

Day 132: So close, but so far!

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

R0000020We are 132 days past oviposition and the remaining six eggs appear to be hanging in there. One of the eggs has dented in, which I am hoping means that it will hatch in the next few weeks and does not mean the embryo has died. The other eggs remain rigid and appear to be well, fingers crossed they come to term! The Grumbach has been great in maintaining the temperature and humidity stable throughout incubation, but I have noticed that the egg boxes have increased in temperature by 1°F higher than the incubator over the last few weeks. Condensation has also started to build up (mostly on the sides) so I’ve been keeping an eye on that to ensure none falls on the eggs potentially suffocating the embryo inside. Since the eggs were incubated at the lower end of the range it can be expected that the eggs will hatch (if they do) toward the later end of the spectrum, potentially 150+ days. Man, I can’t wait…

On the other side of the house my adult Gilas are getting ready for next year. Weekly feedings of 2-3 mice (2 for the males, 3 for the females) has brought all of the Gilas to a healthy state; good fat reserves in the tails and a constant, though not concerning, weight gain. As most of my group was purchased earlier in 2019 and after the hibernation cycle, I do not have data on what the pre-hibernation weights were last year but I think they are ahead as their weights are above pre-breeding numbers from this season. I hope to have more fertile eggs that make it to term in the upcoming season as they entire group will have been with me for the whole cycle.

Winter cooling is going to start in late November and this year a larger refrigerator / cooler is going to be purchased in order to facilitate all adults. I’ve noticed an increase in activity and feeding response in the adults over the past week, almost being as active as breeding season. I do not know if this has to do with growing follicles and testes, a reduced photoperiod, or slight drop in temperature (or maybe all) but it does seem that the Gilas are getting ready for a long winter’s nap!

That’s all for now, hopefully the next post is of the Gilas hatching!!