Interesting toxin effects

[william]

a few days ago i handled my mesotriton alpestris, and i must have stupidly rubbed my eyes without thinking and washing first. My eyes have been severely itchy ever since, no amount of washing will help that so i assume it must have something to do with a toxin.

be warned it's not a pleasurable sensation, especially when your trying to do exams!

 

[rené]

Hi William!

I had to make a similar experience. A few days ago I handled my Mesotriton alpestris alpestris, too. I didn't wash my hands. A little bit later I ate an apple... After ten minutes my lips begun to itch and they got a deep red colour.

Bye

René

 

[william]

just so you know, the itching stopped today.

 

[erik]

heh i was doing a a feeding when i picked up one of my c.orentalis with a cut on me hand, it swelled up and started to burn

 

[s1ren]

Wow.
I had that itchy/swollen/red lips thing last week one day, and wondered why (my husband thought it was the jalapenos I put on my pizza, lol) - it hadn't even occurred to me, but I had JUST fed my newts before I ate, and I must have forgotten to wash my hands. SCARY.

I learned years ago not to put my hands into tanks when they're injured - not because of the toxins, but because the one or two times I fed my Pleurodeles with a torn fingernail-cuticle, they wanted to eat <font color="0000ff">ME</font> instead of the beefheart I was trying to give them!

 

[joan]

I was giving an informal 'show and tell' of my Taricha the other day, and warned them of their toxic effects, and then proceeded to drink a bottle of water without washing. My lips were quite tingly/numb.

 

[mark]

I believe the Taricha genus has been shown to contain tetrodotoxin, the pufferfish toxin. Most salamanders and newts and frogs have some kind of chem defense system. The field is quite open and interesting.

 

[paris]

while herping in california in a river with T. rivularis at a density of 1/sq ft my fingers and lips got tingly after a few hours. i was handling the ones in the water trying to sex them (i saw 2 females in 2 hours!). i could smell the toxin on my hands. the in-road was through my finger nails/cuticles i think, since i bite them a lot.

years ago i had Phrynohyas venulosa, and the first time i handled one it released the sticky toxin on my hands. i washed them and rubbed my eye a while later and it burned for hours! if i have to scratch my eye now while handling amphibs i use a small swatch of my shirt.

i was told also that a sal researcher lost sight for 3 days in 1 eye after handling slimeys and rubbing it.