Cape Coral man seeks public's help in finding missing pet Asian water monitor lizard

CAPE CORAL, Fla. —

Herbie is a 5-foot-long Asian water monitor lizard and calls Cape Coral home.

To Jessie Sansing, she is no different from any other pet. But now, he needs your help to find Herbie.

"Sunday night, I went out to feed her, and I noticed that she was not there. I've got a pretty decent-sized cage in my backyard. I noticed that the wire had looked like it'd been snipped," said Sansing.

Sansing says Herbie disappeared near Northeast 10th Avenue and Pine Island Lane. He turned to Facebook to spread the word. Instead of leads, he found backlash.

"The moderators started taking control of my post because there were a lot of negative comments. Like, 'If I find it, I'm going to kill it,' 'You're so irresponsible.' You know, stuff like that."

Sansing worries people will mistake Herbie for an invasive Nile monitor. They have recently been spotted in Cape Coral neighborhoods.

While Nile monitors and Asian water monitors look almost identical, Sansing says Asian water monitors are a lot nicer.

"They're considered puppy dog-tame when raised from a hatchling. She might huff and puff a little bit, maybe whip her tail or something because she doesn't recognize somebody or she's scared of you towering over her, but she's still tame," said Sansing.

While they are not native to Florida, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says they are not considered invasive. Asian water monitors are also legal to buy and keep as pets in our state.

For Sansing, he just hopes his scaly companion will not be gone for long.

"She's not a danger to anybody. I'm just afraid that somebody is going to kill her," said Sansing.

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