A Colorado man who was placed on life support after he was bitten by his pet Gila monster died of complications from the desert lizard’s venom, an autopsy report obtained by The Associated Press on Friday confirmed.
The report also found that heart and liver problems were significant contributing factors in Christopher Ward’s death.
Ward, 34, was taken to a hospital shortly after being bitten by one of his two pet Gila monsters on Feb. 12. His death less than four days later is believed to be the first from a Gila monster in the U.S. in almost a century.
The autopsy, conducted by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office on Feb. 18, said Ward was bitten for four minutes and wavered in and out of consciousness for about two hours before seeking medical attention. He suffered multiple seizures and acute respiratory failure at the hospital.
“I have never been called to attend a case of Gila monster bite, and I don’t want to be. I think a man who is fool enough to get bitten by a Gila monster ought to die. The creature is so sluggish and slow of movement that the victim of its bite is compelled to help largely in order to get bitten.”
—Dr. Ward, Arizona Graphic, September 23, 1899
with each meal Gila grows more
biblical beast of ancient lore
So beware Coloradans fair
Lest ye be spied by dragon glare
A bite received from this monster fierce
Not only skin, with this strike pierce
Better thou not have a weak liver
If thou would contend with this monster
I bet Colorado closes the Reptile Show Loophole and four libertarians cry. Sadly there is not amendment about the right to bear lizards and other cold blooded friends.
When libertarians cry, an angel gets its wings.
Poor guy. Do all lizards have some sort of venom, or did this guy seek a venomous lizard on purpose without researching its venom and his risks? If it’s the latter, then what a dumb move.
I think there are only a couple of species of venomous lizards in the world, and the Gila Monster, native to Mexico and the US southwest, is well known as a staple of childhood “amazing creature” factoids. He knew exactly what he was doing by living with them. I don’t think they’re as aggressive or as virulent as some venomous snakes, but sad as it is, this falls squarely into “irresponsible verging on Darwin Award” territory.
This isn’t really fair, the guy was just unlucky, the vast majority of people could easily get a gila monster and keep it as a pet, and it would be a very good pet.
Their venom is not particularly dangerous, this man was just already unhealthy and so the little bit the venom did did him in.
If the average young healthy person had a pet gila monster, their venom would be absolutely no concern at all unless they’re allergic. There’s a reason this is the first death in nearly 100 years!
Only some lizards are venomous. He probably picked it without worrying about the bite since their bite hasn’t killed anyone since 1930. Also probably didn’t realize he had liver problems.
Their bites aren’t usually life threatening on their own. Looks like this death was a bad combination of liver problems ontop of the bite itself.
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I worked with Gilas (mostly cleaning their pens) as an undergrad so, I suspect, similar qualifications.
They aren’t even terribly interesting. They look cool and have distinct personalities, but they most just find a few favorite spots and stay there.
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One of our green iguana’s was an escape artist. He kept managing to find new ways out of his enclosure and we’d just hear him trying to scrabble up a smooth surface or he’d come over and crawl up one of our pant legs. Found him chilling with the blue tongued skinks once, so he managed to break out of his enclosure and into theirs.
It was amusing until I had to spend my next week monitoring them for illness due to possible cross contamination.
Please get any other reptile
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If you can house them outside, that makes them significantly more bearable, however, for most people, the green iguana is the worst reptile short of a highly venomous one you can possibly get as a pet.
They’re by far the most abandoned reptile, they’re filling up shelters for a reason, you can easily get one for free there because they regularly and randomly begin attacking people, due to their hormones changing as they age, they have weapons and like to use them.
They’re huge, have randomly shifting personalities, require an absolutely massive enclosure to properly house, and you have to be an expert-level keeper to keep an iguana properly.
Do watch the video and the channel, it’s worth your time, he’s a PHD herpetologist and makes excellent videos.
There are much better iguanas you can pick from as well, I’d personally much sooner get a rhino iguana. Much better than any iguana, a tegu, which is basically a lizard dog, which will even be affectionate!
If you do decide on an iguana as your final answer, please ensure that you’re rescuing one, there’s far far far too many available for rescue, because they are just horrible pets for the vast majority of people.
Almost none do, the gila monster is one of the few venomous species. It isn’t usually a fatal venom to my understanding, though as this proves it can be and it’s still said to be highly unpleasant in any case. It’s also not a terribly common lizard to see as a pet either, like you can probably find one if you go looking for it, but if you just want a pet lizard, there are a lot better suited species that will be most of what is sold, so I’d bet this guy intentionally wanted to get these ones and knew what they were, and was being reckless with them, rather than just didn’t know they were dangerous or something.
He was likely allergic or had other health complications, nobody has been killed by one of these in nearly 100 years, they really aren’t very dangerous
venom is extremely rare in non serpentes lizards
although some people are arguing that all lizards are TECHNICALLY venomous, which may be true depending on your definition of venom.
Just because it hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. It’s a slow ass lizard, what business do modern humans have getting bitten by it? You almost need to try to make this happen.
Bees kill a number of people every year, yet people keep them in large numbers. Dogs do to, but we keep millions of them. This guy got unlucky with underlying health problems. Gila venom hurts like a son of a bitch, but is otherwise about as medically significant as a black widow bite. People keep those as pets too.
It’s true that just because it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous, however, in this case, it is actually not dangerous, just painful, unless you’re allergic/have extreme health issues.
This is a neurotoxin, so, generally if it’s not paralyzing your cardiovascular system it doesn’t do much to you except hurt!
He should have gone to the hospital immediately, just for observation. He apparently wallowed in pain and symptomatic response for quite a while.
This is America, we don’t do that here.
“Maaaaybe die, or definitely be bankrupt forever. Ehh, let’s try and wait this out a bit longer.”
You can absolutely go sit in the waiting room, for free.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Venomous_lizards has 6 all in central and North America so it’s pretty rare, but at least in the US gila is widely known to be venomous and iirc reading about komodo dragons if they don’t kill you outright in an attack the bacteria in their mouth can cause infection and reactions similar to venom.
The komodo takes advantage of the venom by getting a bite in and waiting before finishing off its prey. Scientists used to think it was the bacteria before they confirmed the venom, but the approach is the same.
Far easier to eat a dying animal than a healthy one, and lizards have patience.
iirc there is only one other lizard in addition to the gila monster that has a venomous bite. It’s quite rare.
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