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.
No. Not all lizards are venomous. If you are into reptiles, you should know that the gila is venomous and it’s not the kind of pet you should have at home.
I’m not an expert but I did work at a reptile shop/rescue many decades ago and a lot of it has stuck.
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.
That’s about par for most reptiles. I really want another iguana, way too much going on at the moment with work so that will have to wait a bit longer.
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzK8Lzl11tU
No. Iguanas are awesome and I have the property to give them a home outside when the weather is warm enough. When they are small they should be contained most of the time but when they get bigger they can just hang out wherever they feel like it.
Oh and I don’t do youtube so if you actually know anything about this, try using words instead of expecting others to watch a video you didn’t make.
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.