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NEWS-JOURNAL (Daytona Beach, Florida) 07 December 05 Lake's newest reptilian resident creates a stir (Dinah Voyles Pulver)
Deltona: When Fred and Diane Litsey saw the new Lake Lapanocea resident for the first time, they couldn't believe it.
"My wife thought it was an alligator. Then she freaked out," said Fred Litsey.
Walking along the lakefront in his back yard on Hartley Circle, Litsey said they used to have hundreds of ducks. Now, plastic decoys floating around a neighbor's dock "are the only ducks we got left."
But the exotic visitor that alarms the Litseys and other adults is a fascinating turn of events for the middle-school aged boys in the neighborhood.
"We were swimming and I grabbed its tail," said Justin Osborne, 14.
"He's dumb like that," explained his friend Brandon Koss, 13.
"It turned around and tried to bite me and I let it go. It was really smooth."
In a lake already flush with water moccasins and the occasional alligator, how could one more reptile create a ruckus? It's a 4-foot-long Nile monitor, olive green with bright yellow spots, that's probably someone's former pet.
The monitor is curious about its surroundings and will cock its head to check out a visitor before quickly escaping into bushes or the nearby lake.
Although this monitor has surprised its new neighbors, the lizards aren't all that uncommon anymore, and that's a big problem, said Kevin Enge, a reptile expert with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"There's escaped monitors all over the place," Enge said. "They can live anywhere in peninsular Florida and survive the winters."
The Hartley Circle monitor may be the third found in Deltona this year. City officials couldn't provide exact details this week, but they say one monitor was picked up on Opal Court in September, about five miles away. In that same neighborhood, residents on Partridge Street said the city picked up another monitor in March.
Many monitor lizard species are prized as pets by reptile lovers because they're curious, smart and animated. They start out small and cute. The lizards can be picked up at pet stores when they're less than a foot long for about $40.
But, state officials say, many novice pet owners aren't so thrilled with the lizards once they reach3, 4 or 5 feet long. And that's when the trouble starts. The pets either escape or are let go and find bountiful resources.
It's an example of a growing problem with the wildly popular exotic pet trade. State officials say it's creating an exotic invasion that's threatening native species.
It's an issue the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is struggling with, and one that Commissioner Herky Huffman, an Enterprise resident, is determined to regulate.
It's against the law, punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail, to release exotic pets or let them escape, but that hasn't stemmed the tide of exotic pets escaping into the wilds -- or suburban neighborhoods -- of Florida.
In its homeland of Africa, the Nile monitor has the widest range of any monitor species. In Florida, young, small monitors can be eaten by alligators, hawks and other birds of prey, but once they get beyond a certain size they're at the top of the food chain. They're known for their ability to thrive in all kinds of circumstances and for voracious appetites. They'll eat most anything, including birds, bugs and rodents. They climb trees, run fast and can hold their breath underwater for up to an hour. They reach lengths up to 7 feet.
The monitors are an example of the dozens of species of exotic frogs, snakes, lizards, birds and fish that have established breeding colonies in Florida. For example, 180 pythons have been removed from the Everglades since 1996. The state has twice as many exotic lizard species as native species, ranging from tiny geckos to monitors.
The commission has talked about restricting the more invasive species, so fewer people would be allowed to keep them as pets. But some enthusiasts have resisted such rules.
Even some of the herpetologists in the industry say the field needs more regulation.
"The laws have gotten more strict, but they're not that strict," said Frederick Bohler, a former reptile keeper at the Central Florida Zoo. Bohler also is a state licensed wildlife trapper who is working with folks on Lake Lapanocea to try to catch the monitor and find it a good home with a more responsible owner.
"These lizards really decimate our fauna in the areas they're in," Bohler said.
The commission doesn't require cities or trappers to report monitor captures, but that could change. The state may want to respond more quickly to certain escapee reports, Enge said, to try to prevent the more invasive species from setting up housekeeping.
They wish they could have done it in Cape Coral in Southwest Florida.
The state doesn't know how the monitors got there in 1990, but the lizards quickly made the most of their surroundings. By the time officials realized how bad the problem was, there were hundreds of monitors and they'd begun moving off the island to other locations.
"Once they start dispersing, it's probably too late to eradicate them," Enge said. "We hope to be able to keep them from spreading."
In May this year, he said, a Cape Coral homeowner found a monitor killing a juvenile burrowing owl, a dwindling native species of pint-sized owls.
There's one positive note. The exotic lizards are feasting on other invasive exotic species. One researcher, who has captured more than 100 monitors in Cape Coral, examines the contents of their stomachs to see what they eat. He found 14 Cuban tree frogs in one lizard and another major food source is the brown anole, a smaller exotic lizard.
Did You Know?
· There are 44 species of monitor lizards worldwide, with the majority native to Africa, Australia and Asia.
· The Nile monitor Varanus niloticus is the longest lizard in Africa, reaching up to 95 inches long, and can weigh as much as 22 pounds.
· The Nile monitor is the second-most commonly sold African monitor species in the U.S.
· Carnivores, they eat crabs, mussels, fish, lizards, snakes, bird, eggs and carrion, among other things.
· Large females lay between 53 and 60 eggs at time.
· They are not believed to be dangerous to humans, but can inflict nasty bites if cornered. An Australian scientist recently concluded monitors are venomous.
Source: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Lake's newest reptilian resident creates a stir

that is exactly how they will use the new "venom" findings to ban owning monitors. No where in there does it say that there venom is not harmful to humans. It just says that they are venomous, just like many predicted.

It does say they are "believed" to be dangerous to humans but i think putting the word venomous in there will lead many to believe they are a threat.

It put it totally out of context. No mention that its from the perspective of those cute little ducks not from a human. Source: Fish and Game.
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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

The missing ducks is totally taken out of context too. If you have gators, you know where the ducks went. A four foot nile cannot or won't handle a full grown duck(drake).

Also, I use to live in fla. and ducks were eaten by all kinda animals. I worked at a reptile park and we had a cypress swamp exhibit. It was always fun to see the baby ducks hatch, then line up for their first trip across the swamp. They would start out with a full clutch of 10 or so, maybe more. Then after one trip, there would be half, then half again, and within a day or two, no baby ducks at all. In this case, it had something to do with the various gar that loved duck.

Sir, I think you have more faith in people because most humans in Australia have some bush experience and some common sense about things in the bush. But I am afraid that is not so in the states and not even in Fla. I think most there now would believe anything told to them, as they are from New York city, or other such non bush places.

So the ball is rolling, how about calling the Fla. fish and game and explaining the truth to them. Thanks FR

It certainly isn't the man made structures or loss of habitat killing off the Florida wild life. Restricting and pushing them into a corner until they cannot fend for themselves.

Now with the added ammo of "venomous" taxed onto the label they can be more convincing.

I guess it follows along the lines of showing the pictures of pythons eating gators. Funny how they never show the pictures of the gators eating pythons. I have quite a few if they need some.

Are burmese pythons living and breeding, on the loose? because if you ask me, I would be far more concerned with that then nile monitors. After all, burmese get GIANT and consume LARGE things. hmmmmmmm odd. Thanks FR

They are on the loose and reproducing. There are a bunch of other reptiles, mammals, etc. down here as well. Seems all the talk is on niles for some reason though.

Pound for pound, I think that a single nile monitor will consume significantly more food than a single burmese python will. Due to the activity levels, and highly aquatic nature of V. niloticus, they are also more capable of a much quicker dispersal rate than burmese pythons.

Nile monitors are agile and skillfull swimmers and climbers, and have powerful limbs which aid in digging/unearthing. These predators(nile monitors) are more capable of directly affecting a greater number of animal species through predation, being that they are able to employ many different tactics of capturing/subdueing prey(digging, diving, breaking open rotten logs, etc.); many of which a burmese python is not capable of doing.

In regards to hunting strategies/prey capture, Burmese Pythons are much more limited in the diversity of species which they can directly affect through predation. Nile monitors on the other hand, I feel, have a greater potential for ecological disturbance and harmful effects on endemic wildlife, being that they will eat just about anything- whether it be insects, crustaceans, fish, turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodilians and their eggs, mammals, or birds...

Therefore I disagree with you, in that I feel that the feral population of Nile Monitors in south Florida is a serious risk(perhaps one of the most serious invasive risks to FL). While southern Florida certainly has its share of invasive 'pest' species-whether they be plants or animals, I do not think there is any other introduced predatory species(to date, at least), that poses as great a threat to Florida wildlife, as the Nile Monitor.
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Treemonitors.com

you seem to side with the other farel animals and say no to niles. I never said I was for any of them or against any. In reality if you read my post you should get that I am saying there should not be a discrimination between them.

You could argue back and forth with alot of them not just niles and burms. You could toss in the various introduced plants for that matter.

Because burms(pythons) are known to consume monitors with great vigor. So all in all, it ends up in the burm. hahahahahahahahha

Yea, I lived in Fla. 35 years ago and there were not nearly so many people and lots of natural habitat. Yet, there already were all sorts of feral animals, birds, bugs, and reptiles. If you think about it, in those days, imported animals had very little value. So if they were sick or damaged in anyway, out the door they went.

Hey, whatever happened to those walking catfish that were going to walk all over the states? FR

haha yes good point about the burms having a nice monitor feast.

I think the niles are controling the walking catfish population. haha I have seen a few of them but not to many. I see way more non native plants running havoc then any critters.

I think you are wrong. If the authorities in Florida really want to protect native species, they should eliminate the feral cat and dog population first.

this one article is on niles, 1 nile in fact, most of the problems they have are with other species.
Venom is barely mentioned in the article, it being a news article and all why not throw a new fact in.
this new info on venomous lizards is very interesting, why is everyone so butt-hert over articles about it, do you really think your bearded dragons and savannas are going to get banned. many rear fanged venomus snakes are still available.

Nile monitors are venomous! Now I have to worry about them too! I already have a fear of Ligers considering the magical powers & all.