Sunday morning sitting on the steps into my garage putting on my size 14, which was on the 2nd step. I couldn’t get my shoe on, while talking to my wife, I reached in to remove what I thought was a sock – NOT. Within milliseconds after grabbing the Gila Monster just above the back legs, I felt a scratch that was his back claw. I’m extremely lucky he couldn’t turn to strike. I was born here in the desert and have seen multiple scorpions, black widows in shoes, stepped on rattlers you name it. This tops them all. The first Gila Monster I have seen in the wild happened to be in my shoe. I had taken my shoes off the night before, don’t know how long it was trapped in my garage. I released it in an appropriate area in the desert away from homes and roads. I live on the west side of Black Mountain. All in all, it was an awesome experience.
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