Venomous Lizard Found in RB Not Gila Monster; Headed to Zoo

An exotic venomous lizard found in the yard of a Rancho Bernardo home will be getting a new home at the San Diego Zoo, County Animal Services officials said Tuesday.

On Tuesday, an expert from the zoo determined the animal is a Mexican beaded lizard, said Animal Services Spokesman Lt. Dan DeSousa. The desert-dwelling reptile is found primarily in Mexico and is a close relative of the Gila monster, a venomous lizard whose range includes Southern Arizona.

The zoo agreed Tuesday to take the animal from the County. The reptile had been at County Animal Services shelters since Friday.

The lizard is about 2-feet long from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, though DeSousa hasn’t verified that with a tape measure.

“I don’t have an exact length as I do not want to handle the critter,” DeSousa wrote in an email.

A County animal control officer captured the animal Friday after a resident spotted it in the yard of a home on Lunada Place, which is in central Rancho Bernardo east of Interstate 15.

The animal control officer used a towel and heavy gloves to grab the lizard and put it in a carrier, DeSousa said.

Mexican beaded lizards do not live in the wild here. The animal may have been someone’s pet, although it is illegal to keep venomous reptiles as pets in San Diego County, DeSousa said.

-County of San Diego news release