Valkyre

May I Have My Finger Back? Thank You!

This is a picture of a Savannah Monitor. They have three where I work. I needed to clean some of the reptile "cages". One of them was one of the Savannah Monitors. He was a little smaller than the one in the picture, but not by much. I've worked with him before and have never had any problems with him. He is usually cranky and will his any time I come around him. But, usually, he will try to put as much distance between him and me. Today, there were warning signs that he was behaving differently. But, of course, I didn't see them until hindsight. I opened up his enclosure. Instead of moving away from me, or standing his ground and hissing. He moved towards me. He was halfway out of the enclosure. I grabbed the lid of a plastic container to kind of herd him back inside his enclosure. This was to protect me. I was using it as sort of a shield. Anyway, next thing I know, he launches at me and grabs the ring finger of my left hand. He clamped down hard. Now, I have been bitten by reptiles before. Usually, they bite and release. This guy didn't. I let out a scream and called him every conceivable name I could think of. He didn't let go. I pulled my finger out of his mouth. If I was unable to do that, my next option was to try to pry his jaws apart. Then, the little shit escaped. My finger was bleeding pretty bad. Fortunately, they have anti-bacterial soap at the kennel and I used that to watch my hands. Then, I used a paper towel to stem the bleeding. It still hurts like hell. However, later I found out I was lucky. These are one of the last reptiles that you want to get bitten by. If he had gotten my finger from the side, he would have taken out a chunk of skin. As it was, he clamped down on the fingertip just below the fingernail.

And, as of this posting, he is still out, but confined to the room that his enclosure was in.