Animal Planet documentary

Of course you could die from a monitor bite. They now know that monitors (at least some species, it's not clear how many) are venomous. The venom destroys tissue, and monitors tend to have dirty mouths, so there's plenty of potential there for very serious infection.
ANY open wound can become infected, and an infected wound that goes untreated most certainly can kill you--whether it was a monitor bite, or a skinned knee. It doesn't matter--infections are dangerous.
There are definitely nimrods out there who will refuse to seek medical treatment.
I believe the problem here is that this guy DIDN'T die from a monitor bite. My understanding is that the cause of death was not determined.

Feral pigs are a huge problem in the U.S.. They destroy everything and do attack people, dogs, etc. In Ohio during deer season it is legal to kill feral pigs without a license. ODNR actually asks that hunters kill them if they see them in the field. They destroy both agricultural and natural environments, so it is a lose/lose situation and that is probably why it is not highly publicized. They are descended from pigs that escaped from farms and they can't ban farming, but they can ban keeping pets because it is not seen as something important.

I sat through fatal attractions. The stories are interesting to hear, but it was kind of odd they started with the reptile ones, I would like to watch the ones about tigers and stuff. I could only make it through half of Alien Invaders. I found myself laughing every time they would say a Burmese python, and then show.. a carpet, a ball python, a garter snake. I'm like oooh ferocious. What really made me laugh is.. They complained about having snakes in the everglades, having giant rats on one Florida key island, and losing another species of rat on another island. They were worried about the big rats coming to the main land... Uhhhm.. That won't be a problem, you have snakes, remember?

Originally Posted by WingedWolf

Of course you could die from a monitor bite. They now know that monitors (at least some species, it's not clear how many) are venomous. The venom destroys tissue, and monitors tend to have dirty mouths, so there's plenty of potential there for very serious infection.

Not venom. Sorry but it's not.

What it more then likely is was that one thing people do not think about is the amount of nerves running through the human arm and hand and how close to the skin's surface they run. When nerves are interrupted and temporarily damaged it messed with the signals in your brain which can cause a variety of symptoms from dizziness, headaches, muscle aches and twitching, numbness and even nausea and vomiting. Varanids have no venom or even remnants of venom glands.

An alllergy to the animals saliva is also possibility when talking of a violent reaction that has happened. Which is medically described and documented.
All reactions to a bite have been sited it as bacterial. If it's a true venom then why don't captive varanids have it????? Hhhhhmmm So strange that wasn't and isn't mentioned.

Also if it was true venom or venom at all wouldn't you think that other people who've been bitten by varanids would have experienced the same symptoms??

We can say it's not venom because if it was captive varanids would still have it like their wild cousins. But they do not. None of the wild caught animals have it either. Hhhhhmmm

It's the same thing with poison dart frogs. Captive dart frogs are not poisonous or have any sort of 'venom' like their wild cousins. If it was a true venom or venom of any form then captive animals would have it.

Also one more thing to think about is if it was true that varanids have venom they would either not be allowed in the country or if they were they would be very highly regulated just like every other venomous non native US species are. Trust me there are ZERO import regulations on almost all varanid species especially the African and Indo species.

Did you get this from that quack on Wild Recon??


And yes it takes about three weeks for a domestic pig to turn fully feral and even look like a wild board. Scary really.

Just a side note about your subject tailswithscales. First of all, it is true that poison dart frogs loose their poison in captivity, but scientist/herpetologist have not discovered why and suspect it to be related to there diet which they are unaware of what part of there diet gives them there poison. Second of all, monitors have been known to cary large amounts of bacteria in there mouth which can mimic poision, kinda like the komodo dragon which has a lethal bite due to bacteria. I have read that the monitors diet plays a big part in this "bacteria" build up in the mouth, and so a captive monitor would likely have considerably lower bacteria, &/or a less potent bacteria in the mouth. Am I right? I am not claiming to be a pro here but just some things I have picked up over the years.

Originally Posted by mxracer4life

Just a side note about your subject tailswithscales. First of all, it is true that poison dart frogs loose their poison in captivity, but scientist/herpetologist have not discovered why and suspect it to be related to there diet which they are unaware of what part of there diet gives them there poison. Second of all, monitors have been known to cary large amounts of bacteria in there mouth which can mimic poision, kinda like the komodo dragon which has a lethal bite due to bacteria. I have read that the monitors diet plays a big part in this "bacteria" build up in the mouth, and so a captive monitor would likely have considerably lower bacteria, &/or a less potent bacteria in the mouth. Am I right? I am not claiming to be a pro here but just some things I have picked up over the years.

Scientists do know why dart frogs in captivity are not poisonous. It's because in the wild they eat certain species of venomous ant. Their bodies in turn reuse that venom for their own protection.

With varanids, including komodoensis, it's all about bacteria. Hence why captive komodos don't have that deadly bite their wild cousins do. They eat so much carrion that their mouths are teaming with so much bacteria that they bite and follow the animal till it dies of sepsis and blood born infections. Hatchling and juvenile komodos have not shown to have this toxicity either. So no. Not venom. Bites have been boiled down to bacteria and allergies to saliva.

So, you explained it about the same as I did but different terminology. Either way, lol, the guy did not die from a darn monitor bite!

first of all komodos are venomous a guy from Africa dissected one and found venom glands and wild recon has found other venomous monitors as well and i herd it was a komodo dragon maybe that's why he didn't go to the hospital ???? i lived in Miami for 7 years i have found ball pythons boas monitors never a Burmese and i went to the everglades every chance i could

there was a story on the guy about the dragons in the reptiles magazine BRYAN GRIEG from Australia in the december 2008 issue

Venom has now been proven in Komodo Dragons, see link to article in reputable British science magazine New Scientist last year

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...ing-power.html