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NEWS-PRESS (Fort Myers, Florida) 12 February 06 Reptile invasion - Myth, misunderstanding surround monitor lizards (Charles Runnells)
Recent news has undoubtedly sent some Cape Coral people searching their canals and backyards for a glimpse of the city's elusive monitor lizards.
But Michael Orchin doesn't have to look far at all.
He just walks into his living room.
For about four months, Orchin has been feeding and caring for the tiny lizard in a glass aquarium. Eventually, the lizard could grow from its current 1-foot length — tail and all — to 6 feet or more.
"I'd have to build a big pen in the back yard," Orchin said and smiled.
While it's not unusual for someone to own a Nile monitor lizard — they're still legal in Florida, despite their bad reputation — this wild lizard came as part of a Cape trapping program to rid the city of the ravenous critters. Officials worry the lizards could destroy the city's population of native wildlife, including the threatened burrowing owl.
Orchin, president of the animal advocacy group Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife, plans to use the lizard as an educational tool at local festivals and meetings in the coming months.
"People are always asking me questions about them," he explained.
Some officials estimate Cape Coral has thousands of Nile monitor lizards, and those big creatures have been making bigger headlines lately.
Federal wildlife officials are coming to Cape Coral on Wednesday to learn more about the lizard situation. They'll also attend a 6:30 p.m. workshop to answer residents' questions. The meeting will take place at the council chambers in City Hall.
Orchin hopes public support opens purse strings in Washington, and that they'll send trappers, biologists and other experts later this year to help control the lizard population.
Or, perhaps, exterminate it.
"For every one of these you see," Orchin explains, "there are probably 10 you don't see."
Orchin is particularly concerned about the lizards' effect on burrowing owls. The first documented case of a lizard killing an owl occurred last year when a Cape resident saw the owl in a lizard's mouth.
The Friends of Wildlife has made it its mission to look after the city's owls. It even throws the annual Burrowing Owl Festival, which happens Saturday at Rotary Park.
The Cape Coral area has the largest concentration of Nile monitors in the state, wildlife experts say. That's largely due to its canals and undeveloped banks, where the lizards can burrow.
The lizards recently jumped to Sanibel Island, and federal officials and wildlife experts worry they could spread throughout Florida and the rest of the country.
Still, there are a lot of misconceptions about monitor lizards, and that's why Orchin got one for himself.
Many people, it turns out, don't even know the difference between a monitor lizard and the Cape's other prominent, non-native lizard, the iguana.
Iguanas are docile creatures that eat mostly plants and bugs. Aggressive Nile monitors will eat whatever eggs and small animals they can find.
"They're big enough that they could probably catch and kill a small pet," said Kraig Hankins, a city biologist overseeing Cape Coral's lizard-trapping program.
Iguanas have blocky heads and spiked backs, while monitor lizards are much more streamlined — all the better to zip through the water.
"They're kind of like snakes with legs," Hankins said. "And if you get close enough, you can see their forked tongue. But your probably won't get that close."
Despite popular belief, the lizards aren't poisonous, Hankins said. But their bacteria-filled mouths — largely due to their eat-anything-not-tied-down diet — could make someone sick if they got bit.
Many people think the lizards will come after their small children, but there's no real reason to worry about that, said Todd Campbell, a biologist with the University of Tampa who is studying the lizards and how to wipe them out. He isn't aware of a single case of an unprovoked monitor lizard attacking a human. Usually, they're just defending themselves when cornered.
He doesn't even know any confirmed cases of a lizard eating someone's pet — although there have been "tons" of anecdotal accounts of mauled rabbits and cats that suddenly went missing, he said.
However, Campbell said he still wouldn't leave an infant unattended in an unfenced yard — just in case. In science, you never say never.
"Why take the chance?" he said.
Nile monitor lizards have lived in Cape Coral for about 15 years. They're likely the product of people who bought them for pets, then dumped them outside when the creatures got too big and aggressive.
The lizards can travel long distances. One lizard Campbell tracked via radio transmitter ran and swam 1 kilometer in just one morning.
That quick movement, coupled with their aggressiveness, makes them a huge threat to other wildlife, he said.
There's nothing else like monitor lizards in Florida or the United States, Campbell said. They have no natural predators, and they have the potential of upsetting the ecosystem wherever they go.
"They're like the pythons," Campbell said, referring to the nonnative creatures vying with alligators for supremacy in the Everglades. "Only this is probably bigger, because they have the potential to spread farther."
Meanwhile, Orchin expects to cart his own lizard around to show people what they're up against.
When a reporter recently came to his house, Orchin walked up to his living room aquarium — one of them, anyway; he has turtles, snakes and other creatures at his house — and fished out the foot-long lizard. Its long tail quickly wrapped around his wrist.
The lizard hissed quietly in his hand and made a few weak attempts to bite him.
"Oh, give it a rest," Orchin said.
He keeps the lizard under a hot light and feeds it a diet of store-bought monitor lizard food and the occasional nightcrawler or grasshopper.
Despite himself, Orchin said he's gotten slightly attached to the creature. And he hates the thought of it eventually getting euthanized.
It's not lizards' fault that they were dumped into the wild and forced to survive, Orchin said.
"They're just being what they are," he said. "They're just doing that in the wrong place."
Myth, misunderstanding surround monitor lizards

"Despite popular belief, the lizards aren't poisonous, Hankins said. But their bacteria-filled mouths — largely due to their eat-anything-not-tied-down diet — could make someone sick if they got bit"

The belief that monitors are poisonous is so new, how did this already become a popular belief?

Shane

Shane;
About the ‘recent’ allegations of monitors being ‘poisonous’.
Before I start, I’m a newt guy, with no particular experience with your select species, though I am ‘monitor-friendly’.
Methinks perhaps all monitors may be sharing the public’s common (?) misperception of the Komodo Dragon and it’s alleged ‘poisonous’ nature. I seem to recall reading w-a-y back when (OK, I’m an old newt guy) in the late 70’s that Komodo’s were poisonous … but could not find anything on the net further back than 1996 in the press or 1980 in the sci literature. {Excerpts follow below}. The popular albeit misplaced belief that Komodo’s (and by implication all monitors) are poisonous is perhaps as much as 20-30 years old; or at least a decade old. And it’s a perception that might have gained public credibility by been quickly passed around the popular TV circuit when K-dragons first became big hits for various nature problems.
I’m not trying to draw too much from drawing parallels between K’ and other monitors; but it might go someways to answering your query as to just how long has the public thought that monitors were ‘poisonous’.
Respects;
Wes (your monitor-news paperboy)
= = = = =
CNN (Atlanta, Georgia) 21 March 1996 Breeding Komodo dragons no simple 'boy meets girl' (Ann Kellan) {Excerpts, emphasis mine)
San Diego, California: The endangered Komodo dragons are the largest lizards in the world, with the strength to eat a human and a bite that fells their victims like a poison dart.
Even though there's an international effort to protect the dragons, named after one of the islands in Indonesia where they're found, successful breeding in captivity is not a simple matter of boy meets girl.
Ora is one of the first Komodo dragons to hatch outside Indonesia and could grow to be 10 feet long and weigh as much as 300 pounds. His saliva is poisonous enough to kill a human; he eats small mammals for lunch.
…
http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9603/komodo_dragons/
= = = = =
KOMODO DRAGON
DIET & FEEDING
(Auffenberg, 1980)…
Many species of Varanus have been thought to have poisonous bites …
http://library.sandiegozoo.org/Fact%20Sheets/komodo_dragon/Komodo.htm

Thanks for the information. It is always nice reading your news!
I remember some information a few months back when scientists had proof to this idea showing a gland that produced toxic proteins and many species had cannals or grooves in the teeth to help work this into prey. Then everyone on this site was upset about this and how it can make laws change. But I do remember this article now going back to other times in history thinking this like you have said. Anyways, thanks again for all the great news!
Shane

I believe it was Dr. Bryan, and it was crototoxin(amoung others) that was contained in the glands. Many varanids and many colubrids have glands that contain this toxin. crototoxin is of course assoiated with rattlesnakes.

While these reptiles contained small amounts of these toxins, they do not contain enough to be dangerous to humans(normally)

What I did not agree with was calling them vemonous, in a general sense. Both the U.S. and Australia, has venonous snakes that are not considered dangerous. Some are very common like hognose, lyresnakes and night snakes. Or even ringnecks and tantilla and many more. All are know to contain vemon and have methods to deliver their venom. But again, are not generally considered venomous as they are not normally dangerous to humans. Both here and in oz, these types of snake are considered harmless. And this newly discribed traits should not change our general acceptance that they are harmless, as they are still as harmless as they were last year and the year before. Thanks

I feel the same and thank you for the information I could not find.

Nice,

I especially like the part about the canned monitor food. I'm not a big fan of niles, but I am of monitors in general. This is really an unfortunate case.
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hbailey

0.1 argus monitor

I was also unhappy with the canned monitor food. I took it upon myself to e-mail Mr. Orchin and nicely let him know that whole prey is the way to go. I hope he takes my e-mail in the spirit in which I wrote it. I was not critical, just gave him very basic info.

Pam
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2.3 varanus acanthurus brachyurus (Dorado, Oro, Dora, Freckles & Amarillo)
1.1 varanus acanthurus acanthurus (Tabasco & Sprite)
1.1 u. macfadyeni (Amani & Abeba) RIP Ayana
1.2 u. ornata (Husani, Zari, & Bintu)
1.1 u. ocellata (Zuhri & Ashai)
0.1.2 u. a. aegypticus (Zahra Urbi, Halima & Sagira)
0.1 u. geyri (Solar)
1.1 hyla chrysoscelis (Pudge & Squirt)
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