Yeah, well, why not? Here’s a gila monster. In fact, it’s an irritated gila monster who wants to bite the gavone with the camera. I got bitten by my monitor lizard once: about the size of an adult gila monster. It was like getting a car door closed on my hand. And she wasn’t half as mean about it as she could’ve been.
Point is, even if they weren’t venomous, a gila monster could still make you wish your father had never met your mother. So don’t mess around with them.
It may be dangerous, but it’s very beautiful.
I remember the first time I saw a gila monster while my family was driving through N. Mex. on our way from Washington to Missouri. It scared the daylights out of me.
The only one I ever saw was tame. Which was not a bad thing.
I can’t respect the judgment of the guy that took the video. For the most part, Gil’s Monsters are unlikely to give you any trouble, but their bite can become badly infected. I wouldn’t get that close to one.
I have only seen one Gil’s Monster in the wild, and it was a very bright orange. They are relatively rare, from what I can tell. The example I saw was a few miles from my home, as was the Arizona Coral Snake I saw a few years ago. Even the Western Diamondbacks which are ubiquitous to the region seem to be scarce in the last few years. I haven’t seen a rattlesnake in nine years or so. As best I recall, the last one was a baby that was in my front yard.
No matter how rare they are, there is a BIG difference between encountering one in the wild and deliberately seeing how close you can get to a venomous reptile. I make it a practice to keep my distance.