Beware of Monitor Lizard sleeping in the hood of your car.
Those who have lived in Thailand for a while will know monitor lizards are pretty common in the country. They can be seen in the park and in Universities or anywhere near a pond. Most of the times the monitor lizards are harmless and will walk away when a human comes by. Like any other lizards, the monitor lizard is cold-blooded, meaning that they cannot control their own body temperature and seek warmth from the sun.
Thailand is currently in the rainy season with some areas facing days of raining during the night and day. Usually, these monitor lizards will find a warm spot to hide in, but it is not uncommon for lizards and snakes to enter human spaces trying to find shelter from the cold. This case took place on the 6th of this month (July 2019) when a monitor lizard entered the home of Kittipong 50-year-old living in the city of Samut Songkhram Province.
The local rescue team was notified of a monitor lizard hiding in the hood of a while Isuzu car. When the team arrived they slowly lifted the hood of the car up and found the monitor lizard laying on the motor of the car. Although the lizard is not venomous, the saliva of the creature has millions of bacteria living that can lead to bacterial infection of the bite. The monitor lizard can also damage the electrical system of the car if it digs inside the hood.
One of the officers in the rescue team grabbed onto the head of the lizard, but it quickly got loose and went deeper into the hood. The team then went under the car to push the lizard back up. The lizard then suddenly jumped out of the car hood and was on its way into a nearby water drain. Luckily, an officer was quick enough and used a catcher to grab onto the body of the monitor lizard.
Kittipong later explained that the lizard came into his home probably looking for a hot spot to hide in, but then his dog started barking at the lizard, this scared the lizard and made it crawl into the car.
FB Caption: The dog barked at the lizard crawling in the house, the lizard got scared and ran into the hood Kittipong’s car.
Source: Sanook
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