Original post by JonP — 2026-09-15 16:53:41 GMT
The story of the first reptile eggs I've ever produced.
By 1997 my passion for reptiles had exploded. Gila Monsters and Beaded lizards, the genus Heloderma, was specifically enthralling. I read everything I could (especially on kingsnake) and dreamed of keeping them.
The stories of "look at gila monster eggs wrong and they die" or that the 180 day incubation time of Heloderma means you have 6 months for stuff to go wrong. This had me concerned at the low probability of success breeding.
This may be why I never bred any egg laying reptiles. Only live bearing boas.
Still kind of knew in the back of my mind I would have to at least try if I ever got to work with Heloderma.
Fastforward.
2024, a pair of Gilas and a pair of Beadeds were finally big enough and old enough to pair.
I had pairs in divided 8ft x 3ft x 2ft enclosures. There was a marked increase in them attempted to get to one another. Then the females ovulated, swelling up fat. So it was time to pair them and see what would happen.
Gilas were first to ovulate.
Heloderma suspectum
Removed the divider to pair them. They locked, and seemed good.
Sadly, when the female later laid eggs, None of them had blood rings, and all were floppy. Meaning they were Bad.
First time getting gila eggs, I put them in the incubator anyway. All of them collapsed and molded, which 100% confirmed they were all bad.
BUT hey I got Gila eggs! Step 1
Beaded Lizards - Heloderma exasperatum
The female, swoll up a few weeks later. Removed the divider, she and the male locked.
A short time later, the female laid 8 eggs.
1 was floppy, no blood ring. Bad. Incubate anyway. Molded, bad.
1 was firm, seemed good, but couldn’t find a blood ring. Probably bad, but incubate anyway. The egg turned hard, never hatched.
6 had blood rings and looked good.
197 days after being laid, the first 1 started hatching. By 201 days, all 6 had left their eggs.
Now, backing up a little. A few weeks after pairing the exasperatum……
Surprise!
Beaded Lizards - Heloderma horridum
A Heloderma horridum I and a friend thought was male, swooll up like an ovulation. So, I tossed a known male in with her, knowing they'd either fight and s/he was a he, or they ignore each other and are too young, or they'd lock because and she was ovulating.
Lo and behold, s/he was actually a she. She went right after him, which had me slightly worried male/male and fight was about to begin…. But no, just a female who know what she wanted.
Later she laid 5 eggs.
3 were floppy, no blood rings and bad. 1 was probably bad, but maybe OK… ended up being bad.
1 of the eggs, seemed good, had a blood ring.
178 days later while the exasperatum were hatching, it started coming out of the egg. Couple hours later completely out.
All 6 exasperatum, and the 1 horridum all hatched.
My first attempted at breeding an egg laying reptile.
3 Heloderma species.
Got eggs from all 3
Successfully hatched 7 eggs from 2 species.
Over 6 months later and the babies are doing great, eating frozen thawed readily and growing quick.
Excited to see what the future holds.
Here's a few pictures
The one horridum
exasperatum
I'll grab some updated photos and post. It's been incredible to watch how their color has changed.
The exasperatum gaining more yellow, where the horridum is dropping yellow.
There you go, jumped in the deep end and first reptile eggs I produced and hatched are the Beadeds I dreamed of for decades.
This year has seen a big change in the Gila breeder landscape with old guard breeders retiring and some new guys taking up the mantle. What have we learned since Seward released his book in 2002? If you are new to Gila breeding what have you learned in the age of the internet? I hope some folks stop by here to answer! I’ll throw in my thoughts once we get the conversation started!
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