Gila monster
Heloderma suspectum Cope, 1869
The gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) is a lizard in the family Helodermatidae, within the order Squamata of the class Reptilia. It is a small reptile, with an adult body mass of 554.5 g (from 553.4 to 555.5 g in our sources) and a body length of 29.5 cm.
Quick facts about the gila monster
Its egg incubation period is 240 days, with 5.3 young or eggs per clutch and 1 clutch per year, and it reaches sexual maturity at 3 years. The IUCN Red List lists the gila monster as Near Threatened, which is not an IUCN threatened category; its lifespan is 20 years, with up to 28.9 years reported.
- Weight
- 554.5 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- 30 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 20 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 48 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- desert, shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 240 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 5 – 13src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2.83 years – 3 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 0.5 – 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Reproduction
- Eggssrc for Reproduction
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the gila monster?
Photos of the gila monster
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the gila monster live?
Not recorded
What is the gila monster?
The Gila monster ( HEE-lə; Heloderma suspectum) is a species of venomous lizard native to the Southwestern United States and the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is a heavy, slow-moving reptile, up to 22 in (56 cm) long, and it is the only venomous lizard native to the United States. The Gila monster is sluggish in nature, so it is not generally dangerous and very rarely poses a real threat to humans, though the bite is painful. Nonetheless, it has a fearsome reputation and is sometimes killed despite the species being protected by state law in Arizona.
The lower teeth have venom grooves to transmit the venom to the prey. The venom contains multiple peptides; one of these, exendin-4, formed the basis for the development of the GLP-1 receptor agonists, used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.
From the Wikipedia article “Gila monster” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gila_monster&oldid=1384979165), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the gila monster endangered?
The gila monster is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.
How is the gila monster classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyHelodermatidae
- genusHeloderma
- SpeciesHeloderma suspectum Cope, 1869
Other names and names in other languages (35)
- Banded Gila monster [cinctum]English
- Reticulate Gila monster [suspectum]English
- هيليةArabic
- وحش جيلاArabic
- monstruu de xilaAsturian
- Korovec jedovatýCzech
- GilatierGerman
- Gila-KrustenechseGerman
- Lagarto de GilaSpanish
- Monstruo de GilaSpanish
- Monstruo del GilaSpanish
- GilaliskoFinnish
- Lézard perléFrench
- Monstre de gilaFrench
- מפלצת חילהHebrew
- הלודרמה מריריתHebrew
- gilaHungarian
- Mostro di GilaItalian
- アメリカドクトカゲJapanese
- Šiurpusis nuodadantisLithuanian
- Arizonas indeszobsLatvian
- Отровен брадавичарMacedonian
- TiníléíNavajo
- GilaøgleNorwegian Bokmål
- heloderma arizońskaPolish
- Monstro-de-gilaPortuguese
- ЖилатьеRussian
- Аризонский ядозубRussian
- Гила-монстрRussian
- paazaSeri
- strupeni bradavičarSlovenian
- GilaödlaSwedish
- กิล่ามอนสเตอร์Thai
- Gila boncuklu keleriTurkish
- 希拉毒蜥Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the gila monster
Other species in the same genus Heloderma.
Mexican beaded lizard
Heloderma horridum
Guatemala beaded lizard
Heloderma charlesbogerti
Rio Fuerte beaded lizard
Heloderma exasperatum
Black beaded lizard
Heloderma alvarezi
CompareGila monster vs Mexican beaded lizardGila monster vs Guatemala beaded lizardGila monster vs Rio Fuerte beaded lizardGila monster vs Black beaded lizard
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the gila monster?
The gila monster is a lizard, a reptile in the family Helodermatidae and the order Squamata.
How heavy is a gila monster?
An adult Gila monster weighs 554.5 g, with values from 553.4 to 555.5 g reported by our sources. Its body length is 29.5 cm.
Is the gila monster endangered?
No. The gila monster is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, which is not an IUCN threatened category.
How long does a gila monster live?
The gila monster has a lifespan of 20 years, with up to 28.9 years reported by our sources.
How long do Gila monster eggs take to hatch?
Gila monster eggs have an incubation period of 240 days. There are 5.3 young or eggs per clutch and 1 clutch per year.
What is the scientific name of the gila monster?
The scientific name of the gila monster is Heloderma suspectum, named by Cope, 1869.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/gila-monster
“Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/gila-monster.
@misc{gila_monster_2026,
title = {Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/gila-monster},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}