HikeArizona.COM

please post where you've seen a gila monster this year
i want to see one this spring (and so does hansenaz)
consider it a public service posting
thanks, y'all

Saw one last Saturday on the AZT #20 a few miles uphill from the Roosevelt Dam Bridge.

I also saw one on AZT#20 a few miles up from the Roosevelt bridge back on Feb 11.

There's a great write-up in the current Arizona Highways edition on Gila monsters, including the story of an ASU scientist who's actually been bitten by one. (It hurt a lot. But the "they never let go" thing is kind of an urban legend.)

Have only seen 2 in my lifetime of living in Arizona. Been years now. Fingers crossed. You guys are so lucky.

Hmmmm, these critters are protected, but I've heard there is a black market for them. Maybe keep the exact locations in personal messages?

Aravaipa Canyon, Spur Cross, Papago Park to name a few places I have seen them ... also saw a mummified one at the bottom of a mine shaft off the Bluff Springs trail - good bet that it's still there.

Shawn is correct...I don't think it's such a great Idea to be "advertising" where they've been seen...If you want to know, PM the Person who sighted it....

Unless gila monsters have a home range of less than 50 feet, I really don't think it matters if people post locations of where they see them or not. There are gila monsters in abundance in Arizona. They spend most of their time underground which is why they are rarely seen.

I think if somebody sees one "right here" today, that the likelihood of seeing one in the same spot 3 hours later, one day later, one week later, or one month later is statistically zero. Unless it's dead, and then the odds are probably higher until something else eats it.

I wouldn't be too worried about exact locations... I've seen at least a dozen Gila Monsters over the last 3-4 years (7 last year alone) and have yet to see one anywhere close to where I'd observed one before. And yes, I have looked a number of times where I had seen one previously.

@chumley
I was thinking the same thing ... they have a home range of about one square mile.

General locations are probably fine. I have a favorite drainage where I've seen two different monsters. It's in the Superstitions and you can see Weaver's Needle from the ridge above it.

@azhiker96 That is exactly where I saw mine!!!

Tourists help identify 660 unique Gila Monsters in Saguaro National Park in cool study led by UArizona scientists.

Probably the most important result of nearly 15 years of citizen science research in Saguaro National Park is that although Gila monsters are seldom seen, they are not rare. The population is very healthy, which suggests that National Park and Arizona regulations to protect this spectacular animal have been successful.

https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/re ... an-decade/

https://www.nps.gov/sagu/getinvolved/gi ... esults.htm

chumley wrote:Tourists help identify 660 unique Gila Monsters in Saguaro National Park in cool study led by UArizona scientists.
Probably the most important result of nearly 15 years of citizen science research in Saguaro National Park is that although Gila monsters are seldom seen, they are not rare. The population is very healthy, which suggests that National Park and Arizona regulations to protect this spectacular animal have been successful.

Have some longtime family friends that own the closest Bread and Breakfast to Saguaro National Park, at best a quarter mile away from the east entrance. They get Gila monsters so thick on their back porch on occasion that they have to get a broom to chase them off.

@SpiderLegs

SpiderLegs wrote:They get Gila monsters so thick on their back porch on occasion that they have to get a broom to chase them off.

HansenAZ should stay there. I think he is still 0 for 0 on Gila sightings.

A 34-year-old man in Colorado, with a hobby of collecting venomous reptiles as pets, was killed by one of his Gila monsters, named Winston.
The Lakewood Police Department confirmed that they received a 911 call from the victim's girlfriend, Madeline Sutton, for "an animal bite" around 11:45 p.m. on Feb. 12.
When they arrived at Christopher Ward's home, they discovered that he had been bitten by the venomous Gila monster. Sutton said that she was in another room in the couple's shared home when she heard him say something that "didn't sound right," police said.When she entered the room, she found that Ward was on the ground and that the Gila monster lizard had escaped its cage and "latched" onto his hand. Police said that the frantic girlfriend called 911 after he began violently vomiting and "ceased" breathing. Authorities said that Ward was hospitalized for four days before he died from the bite.

Oh, wonderful. Another thing to fear.

This incapacitation/death occurs faster than a rattlesnake bite then?

Well a lot of people never see one, so as you die at least you can take joy in seeing such an amazing creature? Positive thoughts!

TooOld2HikeQ wrote:Another thing to fear.

Do you collect and handle reptiles in a home alongside your dozens of pet spiders? If so, you may have a reason to be fearful.

TooOld2HikeQ wrote: ↑Feb 21 2024 3:21 pm Oh, wonderful. Another thing to fear.

This incapacitation/death occurs faster than a rattlesnake bite then?

It's hard to get bit by a Gila Monster. They're pretty much the slowest creature on four legs and most of the time they'd do anything to avoid people. It took me years to find one in the wild, in part because they're not out and about much compared to rattlesnakes.