A 2-foot (o.6-meter)-long, stout-bodied, poisonous lizard, Heloderma suspectum, which is found in deserts from extreme southwestern Utah and southern Nevada across Arizona into Sonora, Mexico. Its pebbled skin is black or brown, heavily blotched with pink, orange, or yellow. A larger species, also venomous, the Mexican beaded lizard, H. horridum, inhabits western Mexico. The venom, which affects the nervous system and indirectly the heart and respiration, is stated by some authorities to be extremely toxic, but no healthy person is known to have died from a Gila monster bite, possibly because the injecting mechanism is very inefficient. Venom glands in the lower jaw discharge into the mouth between the lips and teeth; if the lizard holds on long enough some venom may flow along the grooved teeth into the wound. Wild specimens live in holes penetrating damp soil, and forage at night for birds’ eggs and possibly lizards. Females lay 5 to 13 large eggs. Captives become docile and sluggish, enjoy soaking in water, and live for years on little more than hens’ eggs.