Hi everyone! This post is not a contender for any challenges, I just decided to upload and share my old photos here from time to time~
I took these photos on January 2012 during my trip to Malaysia, Borneo Island.
Meet the Malayan Water Monitor Lizard (Varanus Salvator), these beautiful, majestic creatures were roaming the territory of Nexus resort, where we with my mom stayed for a week. Such big lizards are well-known to have nasty bites which not only cause bleeding but have a high chance of infecting the wound with all kinds of nasties as well. As wikipedia states: "Water monitors should be handled with care since they have many sharp teeth and can give gashing bites that can sever tendons and veins, causing extensive bleeding. The bite of a large pet water monitor was described by its American owner as being worse than that of a rattlesnake." - source
Nexus hotel administration appropriately planted these warnings for tourists:
A little close up:
Notice phrases like: "highly mobile", "propelling themselves", "they eat anything they can swallow... even other monitor lizards" - these are enough to keep me at a safe distance from these beasts. Other tourists practiced a cautionary approach toward them as well:
*notice the spring in the legs of this tourist - ready to leap away from danger at a moment's notice! :D
All that however doesn't apply to my mom, who strongly believes that any living breathing soul is in a constant state of deep starvation and therefore must be provided with food (preferably immediately). So after wooing my mom with its devil tongue 😈 :
mother, without any hesitation and to a great shock and dismay of local staff (and me) - gently placed her hand right into lizard's mouth-hole~
Lizard seemed to be amused with such state of affairs 😆 ~
Now, it didn't bite my mom... That time 😔 But because no warnings and pleading work on her, neither from the resort management, nor from me - she did get bitten eventually. Sneaking food remains after lunch mother secretly went to feed them once again and this time they did get to her. Not a serious bite, but painful enough to reduce mobility of her right hand for a week or so.
... Little did everyone know that my mom would continue to feed them with her healthy **left ** hand. At least she kept her distance from there on, throwing food from "afar" (read: 2ft 😓)~
That being said - they are cute little devils and aren't evil at all, as long as you do not shove your grabby hands right into their face, I guess. I would surely hug one if those were pets, and not wild roaming animals~ Although, on second thought, I'm not sure just how huggable are they... Doesn't cold-bloodedness (bloodiness? bloodidedness? xD me no good English) makes them cold to the touch, which leads to cold hugs, followed by cold kisses? 😖
.. I guess I should stop now, before this article slowly drifts into uncharted NSFW territories. 😁
Thanks for stopping by and have a nice day, try not to obsess too much over cold lizard kisses now 🐊 😗
Need more of this! Less glory hunting, more sharing of our own old content.
Made me dig into my old archives and find some gems
Thank you! I really liked your "Portrait before boarding train to Budapest" from your introductory post. Couldn't wrap my mind around it for a while :D
Lizard patrol in the comments! He's watching you O_O
hahaha
very nice photos, you really took me there with you and your mom!
Thank you! :D
I also hope you will follow up your Miku presentation with a showcase of Lulú :D
Love monitor lizards - thanks for sharing!
Though I'm with you - I'd keep my distance, since I know a fair amount about them. Not exactly warm and cuddly, as you've noted.
Thank you!
It might be the case though, that it's because no one hugs them - they are so cold :O Nah, scratch that thought. I still wonder how anyone can keep them as a pet, those teeth, claws and a massive tail, they look more like crocodiles to me :D
I used to keep snakes for pets, both as a kid and as an adult, and I took care of my now-step-daughter's Australian iguana for several months. So I understand the attraction, but I wouldn't personally want a monitor lizard, or a large snake for that matter.
My rule with the snakes was that I didn't want anything that could get big enough to threaten my cats. I had a 5' corn snake, but she was pretty slender, so if they'd had a tussle, she would have lost. Ditto with my ball python, which was much thicker-bodied, but not quite four feet long.
The corn snake was an escape artist, though, so she got loose in the house several times, but the cats never messed with her, and vice versa. For some reason, she always chose to hide out in my ex-husband's leather boat shoe, which at least made it easy to find her. No accounting for taste. ;-)
And no, I never hugged my snakes, though I did enjoy holding them from time to time.
All except for my red-tailed green rat snake, because he was just too nervous to be trustworthy, and I'm not keen on being bitten. Gorgeous animal, but I wouldn't have another of that species.