Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This Great Gila Monster was found last weekend on a Herpetological field trip to the arizona dersert. I just thought it was something awesome to share with all my reptile friends. I was very impressed with the size and how grumpy it was acting!Anyways i just wanted to share, Herpetology is an amazing field and i would recommend anyone take any class that they can find offered, you learn so much not only about phylogeny but also about conservation and venom delivery and feeding and ancestoral characteristics, one of the best classes ive ever takin...!

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com

Awesome!! Did you guys bring it back then release it? I thought Gilas were protected? I have been thinking about getting a Beaded Lizard. Awesome creatures!!!

In my opinion they are hands down the neatest herp out there. Every one has it's own distinct personality. Some are completely mellow, some are just evil, and all of them have an attitude.

As far the herp classes, I agree 100% though I've taken none myself (no availability mainly). There's still a lot of reading needing to be done out there. I'ts really tough to beat a good collection of books. And nothing beats field herping.

He's one of 2 evil ones here. He's normally not that bad though. He was hibernating in this pic & was only 53 deg. They all seem to get a bit grumpy then. Check out the venom bubble on the lower jaw.

Sweet photos! How much do they eat? Do you have any that you handle without worry of getting bitten?

I feed the adults a large mouse a week or so. You have to keep a close eye on them or they will get fat.

Trust them not to bite? Never. Though some of them seem quite tame, you never know when they might be in one of their little moods. There are certain tricks I use to tell if they are in a bitey mood. It's difficult to explain, but I can generally tell when one is thinking about biting. It's generally slow & deliberate. All the hissing & puffing while in their cages is generally a bluff. I was doing some experimenting with vinager water last year & had a tough time getting any of them to bite my gloved hand. No bites for me yet.

I thought they ate a little more than that. Alot closer to snakes metabolism than I thought. Have you had any luck breeding them?

their metabolism is quite slow. Very easy to make them fat.

Did you find it inside....or outside and brought it in???? You know, Arizona is pretty pissy about their Gila's!!!!
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Chris & Alliey
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Just to straighten the record, this was a school sanctioned field trip and SDSU has all the proper collection paperwork and we are only allowed to bring back a limited amount of stuff, but most of the animals are caught and pictured then released, unfortunetly the Gila Monster is going to be euthanized for a tissue study which is on going in the venom study at SDSU. It was all legal and very well monitered by 3 park rangers and all specimens were handled with the most care possible.. I just thought it was the coolest animal i had ever seen and wanted to share a picture with everyone.

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind

Just wanted to let everyone know it was all legitamate...
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www.srsnakes.com

That's pretty sad......Do they have to euthanize it?

WOW! I had not heard that AZ was allowing the capture and euthanizing of their locals? What tissue sample for venom studies must you kill a Gila for, is it physiology or something?
I am putting a project together with DR BF on Beaded Lizard venom and we are not going to be killing any for the study. I am TOTALLY AMAZED that SDSU can go to AZ to collect Gilas that are then going to be killed. They are very picky about things like that and it makes me wonder, especially since they dont have enough rangers to protect fauna in the first place and they stationed 3 of them with you?
Sorry if I question your post but it just seems very odd that AZ is allowing CA students to capture and kill Gilas for scientific study (especially when there are Gilas in CA that you can use)Im very surprised that this was not pointed out to whomever applied for the paperwork. Lastly, what will be achieved through the study, and how can it be achieved through the use of one animal? I see no value in the study without further enlightenment.

and what "study" is SDSU working on???

OKAY, here is the information. SDSU has a herpetological program that studies the venom production and delivery in Helodermatidae (Gila and Beaded) as well as the systematic naming of the Anguimorpha node. The phylogenetic study of the Helodermatidae family is performed by using tissue samples from the liver of these animals. This is not by SDSU’s choice but all the related studies of the Anguimorpha node have been performed with liver tissue. The prior samples have been based on museum, historical, and diverse live specimens collected (and euthanazed) through out California and Arizona. So in order to continue building on known research SDSU uses the established genetic markers and the established genetic make up from the livers of animals within the Anguimorpha node. The Anguimorpha node is being genetically analyzed to determine if it is placed in the right position on the phylogenic chart as it relates to the rest of the Scleroglossa “family”. This study has been going on for 4 years as far as I know and the graduate students and professors who are working on it have been collecting specimens from California and Arizona every year for the entirety of the study. They have not ever collected more than one specimen from each location than they are permitted to be at, since it most likely will not show any significant differences from the previously collected specimen. All animals which are collected are weighed, sexed, and recorded by a Wildlife park ranger and the certificate of collection is signed of with all the species collected, their weight, sex and location of collection. The animal was collected just outside of Buckskin Mountain State Park and a total of 3 rangers came by throughout the trip to check out what the class was doing and verify permits.

I am not working as a graduate student on this project. I am taking the course provided at SDSU and was really just showing the pictures because I thought it was a beautiful and amazing animal. The SDSU Herpetological lab is very esteemed and operates within the legal limitations of their permits. I was only sharing the picture to let some people see something I felt was extremely cool! I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings or lead anyone to believe that SDSU is operating outside of the limitations of the law. I hope this message clarifies some things. Am sorry if I was unclear before.

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com

Who actually benefits from murdering Gilas ?
To fill yet another"book" with information totally useless to a huge percentage of the population.......?
With all the T's dotted and the I's crossed,

Who benefits ?
Pathetic IMO !

M/

>>OKAY, here is the information. SDSU has a herpetological program that studies the venom production and delivery in Helodermatidae (Gila and Beaded) as well as the systematic naming of the Anguimorpha node. The phylogenetic study of the Helodermatidae family is performed by using tissue samples from the liver of these animals. This is not by SDSU’s choice but all the related studies of the Anguimorpha node have been performed with liver tissue. The prior samples have been based on museum, historical, and diverse live specimens collected (and euthanazed) through out California and Arizona. So in order to continue building on known research SDSU uses the established genetic markers and the established genetic make up from the livers of animals within the Anguimorpha node. The Anguimorpha node is being genetically analyzed to determine if it is placed in the right position on the phylogenic chart as it relates to the rest of the Scleroglossa “family”. This study has been going on for 4 years as far as I know and the graduate students and professors who are working on it have been collecting specimens from California and Arizona every year for the entirety of the study. They have not ever collected more than one specimen from each location than they are permitted to be at, since it most likely will not show any significant differences from the previously collected specimen. All animals which are collected are weighed, sexed, and recorded by a Wildlife park ranger and the certificate of collection is signed of with all the species collected, their weight, sex and location of collection. The animal was collected just outside of Buckskin Mountain State Park and a total of 3 rangers came by throughout the trip to check out what the class was doing and verify permits.
>>
>>I am not working as a graduate student on this project. I am taking the course provided at SDSU and was really just showing the pictures because I thought it was a beautiful and amazing animal. The SDSU Herpetological lab is very esteemed and operates within the legal limitations of their permits. I was only sharing the picture to let some people see something I felt was extremely cool! I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings or lead anyone to believe that SDSU is operating outside of the limitations of the law. I hope this message clarifies some things. Am sorry if I was unclear before.
>>
>>Sincerely,
>>Rose Hipskind
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>>www.srsnakes.com