I have a question! Please respond

[Druzy]

Hello,
I am a reptile enthusiast like most of you. I am currently taking courses in biology. The other day in class my professor mentioned an individual of Dr. Bryan Greg Fry. During the lecture my professor mentioned how this guy is changing the venomous chart of both lizards and snakes. I started to research and realized that this Dr. Fry is indicating that common house hold pets are venomous. All of which include Bearded Dragons, Iguanas, Monitors, and even constrictor snakes. I got to admit I am a bit taken back and shocked by this. My life goal is to one day open my own reptile shop to inform the general public of all the great creatures of the world, and hopefully impact individuals to become responsible reptile owners. Now my only drawback is do these species contain a strong enough venom (if they do) to threaten a life. The last thing I would ever want to do is harm somebody with lack of knowledge. I am dreadfully confused since people have had these species as pets for many of years without any issues. Do you think that these animals will eventually not be able to be pets? Also if the venom is indeed there and its weak can it cause any allergies?

PS if anyone knows someone that I can contact that knows venom terminology it would be greatly appreciated. I am not 100% grasping onto the terminology and hope that I can continue having these animals as pets without any harms. I love reptiles way to much

[jason_ladouceur]

I know that Dr. Fry has been doing a ton of this kind of reaserch with very interesting findings for years now. I am not familiar with the exact details of his work, but I do not believe that most if any of the common species he has identified as having venom pose any threat to humans or even other household pets. The best way to clarify his finding would probably be just to ask him directly.

eMail: venomdoc666@gmail.com

[reptileexperts]

The findings are simply that there are peptide compounds similiar to those found in more complex venom structures, but they are being found in places that we associate as common and harmless species. The thing is they are either 1) Very specialized, or 2) very weak that none of these new peptides found serve any immediate or even staggered risk to human life. Any kind of reaction could as well come from the bacteria found during a bite than any peptide that may get infected into the blood stream.

This started with the turn around concept that the Komodo Dragons were deadly due to bacteria growing in their mouths. This research was what got Dr. Fry going on the rest of the information if I am not mistaken. . . it was found that their saliva contained very complex, and very deadly peptides that were naturally occuring. This refuted previous understandings completely about an "infectious bite", and now is understood to be as venomous.

Consider, prior to this knowledge we only knew 2 lizard species to be venomous at all, both from the genus Heloderma - The Gila Monster, and Mexican Beaded Lizard.

As far as terminology goes are you talking about venom vs poison, or perhaps hemotoxic vs neurotoxic? or even more detailed like Contortrix peptide versus crotalid hemotoxins?

Good luck.

[jason_ladouceur]

Dr. Fry has a short explanation of his findings on his website. It doesn't go into extreme depth but it does a very good job of explaining what your asking about.
http://www.venomdoc.com/venomdoc/Reptiles.html

[Druzy]

Thank you to everyone who provided me with feedback. I was able to talk to a herpetologist who explained the information to me.