Reptile & Amphibian Forums

To answer Roberts question. My good friend Kevin Early is one of the most sucessful Gila breeders in the country and he resides in Florida. I will have some of my animals on display at the Daytona Venomous expo, Kevin will be there also come by and see us.
Take Care,
HorridumAngeli

Thanks

that my name was being mentioned in vain. LOL. I have been away from this forum for quite a while but I heard someone had a question about breeding Gila Monsters in the Sunshine State.

First let me correct a typo in Steve's reply. I think Steve meant to say I am one of the "luckiest" Gila Breeders in the country. Lucky in the fact that I started working with Gila Monsters after trail blazers had already done most of the work. And lucky to have a good group of animals. And even more lucky that more and more information is being shared about these wonderful animals every year.

There are amazing things being done with Heloderma all across the nation, into Canada, and around the world both in the private sector and in zoological facilities. In Colorado you have Mark Seward and Robyn from Pro Exotics that are really doing some amazing things. In California you have Randy Wright, Bob Applegate, Steve Angeli, and Steve Osbourne just to name a few. Chirs from the Gila Ranch in Texas as well as a group of people in New York. And the list goes on. This is just the people that openly advertise that they work with Heloderma and I apologize if I missed anyone.

And finally there are a handful of Gila Breeders in Florida also as well as numerous people that just keep them.

I was told originally when I got into Gila Monsters that I would be unsuccessful at breeding them in Florida due to the humidity reason you mention. I was also told by many respected herpers that if I was able to get them to breed that my results would drop off each year. In other words I might be able to do it for a year or two but that would be it. All breeding will stop. This is totally not true. I think I and the other Gila Breeders in Florida would agree that the contrary has happened to me. My luck and success has improved with each year.

The humidity isn't the issue as many have proved before. I believe Mark Seward stated in his book that Gila Monsters though being desert dwellers are not your "typical" desert dweller. They don't like it real hot and they don't like it real dry either. A prime example of this is if you give a gila a large enough water bowl to soak in they will.

There are other key ingredients to getting gila monsters to successfully breed and the important thing is finding what works best for your animals and in your area. If you look at husbandry thoroughout all the different breeders you will see a vast array of setups everything from the naturalist clay that Robyn uses to allow them to set up their own burrows to the more sterile looking habitats. The great thing about all of these people trying different things and sharing information is we all learn so much more about the animals. It is easy for someone to say the only successful way to breed gilas is to do x, y and z but the fact of the matter is there is more that goes into it than that.

Can gilas be bred in Florida. Sure there is a group of us doing it now.

Just my humble opinion.