Heloderma

Effects of the venom

Where as in poisonous snakes the fang and poisons sacs are in the upper jaw. By the Heloderma they are in the lower jaw. There fangs are over 5 mm long, serrated, and some what backward leaning. The poison sacs are located under the fangs. By useing muscle presser the poisons released and flows trough a channel up the fangs and into the wound. Oppose to a poisonous snake, which shoots one load of Poison per bite, the Heloderma will bite and hang on. During this time the lizard will be continually pumping poison into its pray. The probautilty that people, that catch, and or work with these lizards. Will be at one time or another be bitten. In the wild the lizards are slow moveing but when threatend, will hiss loudly and without more warning bite vary quickly. Force is then the only way to get the jaws to open again. It is important to get the lower jaw away from the wound, by useing a large screwdriwer, or other like instrument to pry it away. Even docile lizards can become aggresive, when for instance, other new lizards are introduced, or when placed in a new terrarium.

Often onthe place where the bite is,will appear a edema, Unlike a snakebite it will not Kompartment syndrom . I have been bitten and i know the kind of pain that accures. A Newborn lizard (acouple of days old) bite me right between the thumb and first finger as i was feeding it. It felt as tough i had been stuck by a white hot needle With thetwessers i was useing to feed it, stock it in the mouth, and it let go immediately. This painfull feeling went all the way to my elbow, and lasted until the next day. Of course i didn’t get any sleep that night eather, from that point on i was sure that this kind of poison is more of a defence mechanism rather than for lameing or killing. Because after it wore off i didn’t  have any futher medical problems. Over the years i have been bitten numerous time from poisonous snakes. After a snakebite there will be one or more of the following symtoms: shock, low bloodpressur, sweating , swelling around the eyes, cramps and vomiting there have also been Reports of unconsciousness. The disordees and sickness that follow poisonous Snakebites to include necrosis, don’t appear or are not symtoms of a Heloderma bite.  Blood coagulation remains normal and the usual laboratory tests show no charge. Sence the second world war there have been no known reports of deaths caused by Heloderma bites. The earlier reports of deaths caused by Heloderma bites are not well described and there fore improbable. There is no specific Antiserum, and the Heloderma poison does not show any cross reaction with poisonous snake servins. A Heloderma bite must be handled symptomatically. First the lizard has to be removed from the bite, this is done by opening the jaws with force if necessary. The next step is to get medical help. The wound should be checked for broken of teetn. If the Patient is under shock because of low blood Pressure, the use of Adrenalin (or a infusion of Noradrenalin) is a Possibility. They should be watched over for a few days. A analgesic could be used for the strong pain, not all analgesics will help, and sometimes none help at all. As by all lizard bites a Tetanus shot should be administradted.