It's a GILA MONSTER!!When the girls and a friend pulled up the driveway yesterday after school, Rachel saw it walking across in front of her. She stopped quickly, jumped out and got this picture with her cell phone, as it was slowing making it's way under some dried up cactus. As she was calling me to come out and look, the friend was shouting... " they're poisonous...watch out!" By the time I got out there (camera in hand) it was well hidden and we didn't see it again. I can easily say I'm kind of glad I didn't see it. So, one cell phone picture to document this "excitement".
Here goes:
They can grow up to two feet long. This must have been a young one as they all held up there hands showing me it was about 10 inches.
They can exceed 5 pounds in weight.
They are the largest lizard native to the U.S.
They were first discovered in the Arizona Gila River Basin-hence the name.
They are one of only a handful of venomous lizards in the world.
Their venom is a fairly mild neurotoxin.
Their bite is extremely painful-none has resulted in a "reported" human death.
And now the fun part...they latch on to the victim & chew to allow the neurotoxins to move through grooves in their teeth and into the open wound.
Nice.
The Dad that came to pick up the friend said they have lived here since 1988 and have NEVER seen one. Chuck's Aunt has lived here for over 30 years and said she has NEVER seen one.
We have been here almost four months.
Go figure.
I think word is out. All the wild sightings are because they want to be blog-hogs.
ReplyDeleteFrom your earlier email, I was expecting that rattler we had just been talking about. A gila monster is much more interesting!
ReplyDelete