Reptile & Amphibian Forums

sorry things were getting hostile on the ball board again. Needed a change of pace.

My question is with what they were saying about iguana's and venom, is there any likelyhood that they are going to actually come back in a few years and say something like "hey we have concluded that corn snakes are venomous, we just adopted a new test and found out that the bites were having an effect, we just hadn't noticed since the effect was different than the normal side effects."

I know it is a dumb poorly worded question but it came to mind as I was reading everything lately about the Igs.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

They already know most north american rat snakes are not venomous and have only a mucus secretion. Kingsnakes, milksnakes, bullsnakes...same thing.

Also, as Dr. Wuster mentioned...he does not believe they have actually tested and found venom in green iguanas and it is likely they have lost this since they have no need for it. If they have not lost it entirely..they are in the process of so.

I think people are reading way to much into these new findings and jumping to conclusions too quickly.

The iguanians are a funny group. Even herbivorous species like the green iguana still have protein secreting glands. We have no idea what they are being used for, you certainly wouldn't expect them to be playing a role in plant capture! Whethere they are just relicital or have anti-predator defense is what we are trying to tease out. What is very interesting though is that even the the transcription and secretion levels are very low in iguania such as the bearded dragon, the proteins themselves are quite diverse, showing the same active accelerated evolution as has been well documented in snake venoms. Very curious.

As for potential for human effects is negligable for the iguania.

Cheers
Bryan
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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
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Australian Venom Research Unit,
University of Melbourne
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Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,
Museum Victoria
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http://www.venomdoc.com

np
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

Have you considered that the protein secretions in iguana saliva is there to nutralize plant toxins? Iguana's don't have prey that they need to subdue, but they do have plants with a variety of chemical defenses that they may to be immune to. One thing that comes to mind is I once had a group of baby iguanas at a petstore I worked at, that were thriving on a household plant that someone put in their cage for decoration. I forget what the plant was, but I remember at the time that I looked it up and it was high in calcium citrate crystals and listed as toxic. When you try to eat it stings like needles and makes you feel like you are going to die, I know because I tried it. Anyway the iguannas seemed immune and the plant was otherwise highly nutritous.

We are in the process of characterising quite a few different types so we should have a feel soon as far as potential uses.

Coool, I look forward to hearing your results!

.... well, you can imagine for yourself ...

VENOM Iguana Vehicle
4-Wheel All Terrain Vehicle becomes a Mobile Shredder with extendable saw blade and laser cannons! Maneuvered by Lester Sludge and his Mudslinger mask.

(The Tripod Hosting people won't let me link to the photo ... but it's at http://members.tripod.com/~Maskatron/iguana2.jpg )
Venom Iguana Vehicles

np
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids