Angie Preciado absentmindedly swung open the door to her laundry room one day, as she often does in her Arizona home, only to be startled by a deafening hiss and the sight of a massive creature darting away. The incident caught her off guard and it took a moment for her to comprehend the situation. Once she caught a glimpse of the creature, she was utterly stunned.
“I was so scared. I backed off, nearly ending up on top of my dryer,” the woman told The Dodo. “Luckily it went opposite of my direction and behind the laundry room basket. Upon escaping my laundry room and closing the door with a broom to cover the cat entry back into my house, I called my husband and told him … ‘There’s a Gila monster in the laundry room.’”
Despite its intimidating name, the Gila monster is not typically a danger to humans. Although its bite can be extremely painful, these creatures are typically slow-moving and prefer to mind their own business. Nonetheless, discovering one in her laundry room was certainly a surprising experience for Preciado.
“We just couldn’t find an explanation of how it got into the house or how long it was there,” the woman told Majestic Animals. “We don’t know if he ‘traveled’ throughout my house before ending up there, neither.”
At first, when angie informed her husband about the uninvited guest in their laundry room, he was skeptical. However, upon returning home and lifting up the laundry basket, he too caught a glimpse of the bewildered lizard. Angie then contacted the non-emergency fire department to assist in returning the Gila monster to its natural habitat, but their response mirrored her husband’s initial disbelief.
“They [the rescuers] thought it would be something else, but they came anyways, and when the two gentlemen entered the laundry room and moved the basket, they were also surprised,” the woman said.
Here’s everything you need to know if you’ll ever find a Gila monster in your house!