Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In light of many recent posts pertaining to the ideal "pet" monitor and other "taming" issues, I thought I would share a rather unpleasant experience I had with one of our black tree monitors a week ago. Recently, we received a very generous gift (thanks JC) of 1.3 young adult black tree monitors. They are fascinating and beautiful animals. Our wildlife center currently displays white throated, black throated, water and crocodile monitors, and these little arboreal monitors were rather unassuming in appearance (that is, in their ability to inflict harm on any of our keepers). Having only been on display for a couple of weeks, we were hosting a special program on "Monitors" and one of the people in attendance really wanted to see a black tree up close.

Against all of my good judgement, I took one of the black trees out (realizing that I haven't spent much time with them, realizing that they haven't been given adequate acclimation time, etc.). I thought I had the lizard properly restrained in my hand and seemed rather calm at first (and forgetting just how long and mobile those necks are) when I suddenly noticed the monitor twist his neck like a contortionist and latch on to the tip of my thumb, shook it like a dog, put an unbelievable amount of pressure and soon let go. My thumb was torn open like a can opener (sure provided the audience with a first hand few of the power of these animals' jaws!)...after the program, I quickly srubbed the wound and noticed a very deep laceration. On to the hospital where I received a few stitches and a course of antibiotics. I now have some nerve damage and loss of feeling at the tip of my thumb (hopefully temporary)...all from a small arboreal monitor! This made me realize that we cannot underestimate the strength of monitors, irregardless of size, and how often we become so complacent with our beloved "pets". I'll be wearing gloves from here on out with most of our monitors (except for our black throat who is as pleasant as an animal as I have ever worked with...hopefully, this won't be another hard learned lesson) and just thought that this would serve as a good warning for anyone else working with monitors....save the lectures, I already gave myself one! And for those experienced keepers who free handle your monitors, I have no problem with that either; but for any of the younger folks new to keeping monitors, I would highly recommend them.

Rob Carmichael, Director/Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center (IL)

I have only had had Savs and bigger(Blackthroats,Dumerils,Waters)so I don't know how the "smaller" ones feel .(other than small monitor and Tegu bites.)I've had stitches and a broken finger by a Tame 3' Sav.(my fault)My worst pain bite was a Sav,but Tegu's bite hard,have bigger teeth,but thank GOD,let go and don't hold on as long It's all in the process of learning their personalities.

Hi,
Worst bites I got were from a foot long V. pelewensis or V. scalaris in NYC, as did 3 other guys there that same evening - we all bled like stuffed pigs over a barbi...and another on the hand by a undescribed Varanus bit me for 3 minutes, gave me secondary infection and very nearly killed me, or as my Md said, I was hour from being compromised....NEVER take Vara-bites litely, no matter how small or large the animals are....especially with the V. salvator, V. griseus complex groups. With these groups, some people bitten are having very very nasty reactions, almost venom-like reactions!
cheers,
mbayless

Rob,
I'm sorry to hear about the bite. They have always been easy to handle with little to no problems. If you take a good look at there teeth, you see that they are just as bad as a croc. Just alot smaller.
The other day one of my storri clamped onto my nuckle and held on for 5 minutes. By the time she let go, I was really feeling it. I didn't think they bit so hard, but at least she didn't do what that black tree did.
Good luck and keep me in touch.
JC

The worst bites Ive had have been from 3 blackthroats. One was only about 3 feet long a female that held on for more than 5 minutes crunching harder and harder. 2 were 4.5 feet and about 8-10lbs, one tore the end of a finger and thumb open very deeply on one side plus 4 tooth holes through the thumb and finger nails, he released right away. The other BT almost removed my right ear so quickly it felt exactly like a finger flick, that was a drunk individual who walked backwards into myself and the sick BT smacking him in the face (I was going from my car to a reptile show where there was a wedding around the buildings other side). Theres no way I would ever want to have a hard crushing bite from an Albig the size of Sobek when they wont release immediately because they easily could take several fingers right off. My timor can make you bleed good, Ive been bit by a few niles that hurt, and a few bosc that hurt and bled good. I also had a painful profusely bleeding bite from a WT that was about 2 feet long that refused to release, I carefully (with someone elses help) pryed him loose after 10 minutes, well he was a healthy little WT, after all it happened at a very large petstore several years ago.

large male Kingorum, I can relate to the surprise one encounters when bit by the smaller ones! OK, sure, the lizard never broke the skin, but it did give a good pinch! Just so y'all don't think I'm a complete wus, I have been bitten by BRN's, peach throats, green trees, waters, sav's, argus, timors, ackies, pilbaras, and mangroves, not to mention tokays! But oh that kingorum hurt! j/k!

Guy

I have also been laid open by V. beccarii, not a pleasant experiance, timorensis have a nasty little bite also.
Bawaa Herps

They are all nasty as everybody has alluded to here. I wish I still had pictures of an eviscerated v. doreanus by its cagemate! I tossed my welding gloves after my argus male ripped into them like tissue. The kevlar buys me that fraction of second to get my hand out! The worst reaction I have experienced is still by my timorensis that scratch or bite leaves burning pain and irritation. Not to mention it doesn't let go willingly!

Ah monitors, got a love em.

see, when you don't touch them, they can't bite you, hahaha. I'm just messing around, but seriously, it is true and i have a tenth of these kind of stories to tell that you guys do. cheers, andrew
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Varanus Creations

You are missing out....

I believe occasional contact is beneficial to them. Not us, THEM.
The hard fact is, they live in OUR world now, they have no other option. They must adjust or die, their choice. The level of care they get, and their place in someone's home depends on it. What happens to completely aggressive monitors? Through no fault of its own, its sold from home to home, ever cheaper, a cheap monitor usually ends up with inexperienced/bad care, and eventually neglected, dead. IMO, the less fearful monitor has a better chance of being valued, and kept.

I'm NOT talking about going out of your way to hold them just for the sake of it, that is harassment to me. I'm talking brief gentle touching once in a while. Enough to give the monitor the level of comfort it needs to live in our world.
If you have a CB animal, by all means, interact with it and let it grow up without fear of humans. I do not see how this can do anything but HELP it, as its going to be captive the rest of its life. People give up on monitors easily enough, it seems they are bound to have several different homes in the course of their life.
If they get used to humans always being at a distance, I doubt they will ever get over their fear of one up close. This may add tons of stress to a sick or injured animal if you do have to pick it up for treatment.

You, Andrew, have a lot of monitors. Will you always have them? What if you have to move? There are a million reasons you may have to part with some of them. And they all have 20 year life spans. I think, if you care for them personally, and not just as breeding stock, you will take steps to insure they will be valued and treated well by their next owners. Which means, they can be picked up without freaking out, unfortunately.

And a bite can be a good learning experience. Its not the end of the world.
Well, this is how I feel now, maybe I'll feel different this time next year...
Cheers. D.

You know that is funny, I do agree. The main reason I do not handle my monitors as much as some is because I do not know of its benefits to reproduction. What I do know is, I do not go out of my way regularly to handle my monitors. When I say, I do not handle, that is kind of a lie. Just a moment ago as a matter of fact, I was changing the water dish in the cage I am raising up a goulds cross and an argus, I picked up the "male" and rubbed his head for a minute, I do that occasionally with my monitors.

and ps: I am sure a certain person will make sure the monitors get there share of handling (damn, maybe i will even learn a few things, teaching a stubborn dog tricks, difficult but not impossible, hahaha)

cheers
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Varanus Creations

The thing about Timor bites is their teeth are like razor blades. The pressure and pain of the bite isn't so bad, but it's like when you cut yourself shaving, there is blood EVERYWHERE and it just doesn't stop!!!

It is possible for lizard bites to be cute. How, you ask? One of my mali uromastyx is blind in one eye, and I was hand feeding her a cricket as a treat. She was trying to jump on my hand to grab it, and she missed and got the webbing on my hand between my thumb and finger. She would NOT let go!! "Quinn, honey, no, that's not a cricket!!" But she just sat there!! I lifted her entirely off the floor of her cage and she just wouldn't let go! Finally I had to wave another cricket in front of her good eye and she let go and pranced on over to snatch that one. I had a little imprint from her mouth there, no blood or anything. It was just so adorable!!

See, cute lizard bite!!