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| John Meek with iguana 1977 Key West, Florida State Archives |
Iguanas, once rarely seen and occasionally sold as pets, are now a ubiquitous nuisance in South Florida and elsewhere in the state. A look back at our relationship with them may evoke a few laughs.
Before appearing in South Florida, the native range of green iguanas or species I.iguana, spanned from southern Mexico to central Brazil and Bolivia as well as parts of the Caribbean including Cozumel.
According to a 2007 study, iguanas were seen in the 1960s in Hialeah, Coral Gables, and Key Biscayne. One of these reptiles was collected in Coral Gables in 1965 for species identification and study (Krysko, Kenneth L., et al. "Distribution, natural history, and impacts of the introduced green iguana (Iguana iguana) in Florida." Iguana 14.3, 2007),
Iguanas maintained an exotic aura from the late 1960s until the early 1990s. Mangurian’s furniture store in Fort Lauderdale sold metal sculptures of them as an objet d’ art for home décor. One family member bought a sculpture then and jokingly drags it out of a closet on occasion (see photo).
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| Photo courtesy of Pam Feehan McDonald |
According to the Fort Lauderdale News, pet shops started importing iguanas during the 1970s. During that decade some attention seekers would walk around with them on leashes or on their shoulders.
A few iguanas touted names.
Lion Country Safari in Palm Beach County displayed Fred, a Mexican spiny-tailed iguana (not the green species) until it escaped. Fred was found seven years later in 1983 happily living in a cave on the attraction’s property. He was captured and once again placed in a display cage.
It gets funnier, given today’s disdain for these creatures.
One young customer paid $350 for his pet in Palm Beach County in 1992. After four or five months of human companionship, Iggy escaped outdoors and up a tree. His owner called the fire department for the rescue. They actually came to the house and pulled out fire ladders but decided to decline the mission. Today, they would probably ask the caller to seek another kind of help
In 1999, one owner wrote to a newspaper pet care column to get advice how to stop their iguana from biting and using the sofa as a bathroom. The advice? Feed it and get it away from the sofa.
Some say there were over 3,000 iguana species in the late 1980s; Florida had 10 at the time. Location and numbers of a particular species change over time. They usually escape or set loose, but iguanas also float here from The Bahamas on debris. Others come via ships
Hurricane Andrew literally cleared the way for the iguana population to explode during the 1990s. Downed trees in the Florida Keys were mulched, providing an ideal habitat for the reptiles to burrow. Females are said to return year after year to the same burrows to lay eggs (as many as 70 eggs a year). Native plants were replaced with invasive species that the reptiles thrived upon. In addition to vegetation, iguanas eat tree snails, bird eggs, grasshoppers and occasionally carrion. Other than humans, their predators include alligators, crocodiles and dogs.
By 2003 news articles indicated they were a growing nuisance. Drivers had to brake for them through the Keys. The Florida Keys Invasive Species Task Force sought advice from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Museum of Natural History on how to eradicate iguanas. They’re also on golf courses, under foundations, seawalls and roadways across the state. At times aircraft encounter burrows on runways.
Methods to get rid of them include electric fences around vegetation and swimming pools. Some hunt them using a variety of means that they may or may not reveal.
When not burrowing for egg laying, most green iguanas live in trees. Cold temps of about 50 degrees cause some to get sluggish, fall off trees and die, but a recent study claims they may be adapting by 2 degrees. A temperature of 44 degrees is ideal for iguanas to freeze up and die.
Green iguanas turn orange in mating season, which is October and November. Their lifespan averages 10 years. Take heed; more are on the way...to stay.
Sources:
Krysko, Kenneth L., et al. "Distribution, natural history, and impacts of the introduced green iguana (Iguana iguana) in Florida." Iguana 14.3 (2007): 142 (2007).
Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 11, 1983
Palm Beach Post, Sept. 9, 1987
Palm Beach Post, May 20, 1992
Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 3, 1997
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 18, 1999
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 29, 2005
Miami Herald, Aug. 20, 2019
Lion Country Safari in Palm Beach County displayed Fred, a Mexican spiny-tailed iguana (not the green species) until it escaped. Fred was found seven years later in 1983 happily living in a cave on the attraction’s property. He was captured and once again placed in a display cage.
It gets funnier, given today’s disdain for these creatures.
One young customer paid $350 for his pet in Palm Beach County in 1992. After four or five months of human companionship, Iggy escaped outdoors and up a tree. His owner called the fire department for the rescue. They actually came to the house and pulled out fire ladders but decided to decline the mission. Today, they would probably ask the caller to seek another kind of help
In 1999, one owner wrote to a newspaper pet care column to get advice how to stop their iguana from biting and using the sofa as a bathroom. The advice? Feed it and get it away from the sofa.
Some say there were over 3,000 iguana species in the late 1980s; Florida had 10 at the time. Location and numbers of a particular species change over time. They usually escape or set loose, but iguanas also float here from The Bahamas on debris. Others come via ships
Hurricane Andrew literally cleared the way for the iguana population to explode during the 1990s. Downed trees in the Florida Keys were mulched, providing an ideal habitat for the reptiles to burrow. Females are said to return year after year to the same burrows to lay eggs (as many as 70 eggs a year). Native plants were replaced with invasive species that the reptiles thrived upon. In addition to vegetation, iguanas eat tree snails, bird eggs, grasshoppers and occasionally carrion. Other than humans, their predators include alligators, crocodiles and dogs.
By 2003 news articles indicated they were a growing nuisance. Drivers had to brake for them through the Keys. The Florida Keys Invasive Species Task Force sought advice from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Museum of Natural History on how to eradicate iguanas. They’re also on golf courses, under foundations, seawalls and roadways across the state. At times aircraft encounter burrows on runways.
Methods to get rid of them include electric fences around vegetation and swimming pools. Some hunt them using a variety of means that they may or may not reveal.
When not burrowing for egg laying, most green iguanas live in trees. Cold temps of about 50 degrees cause some to get sluggish, fall off trees and die, but a recent study claims they may be adapting by 2 degrees. A temperature of 44 degrees is ideal for iguanas to freeze up and die.
Green iguanas turn orange in mating season, which is October and November. Their lifespan averages 10 years. Take heed; more are on the way...to stay.
Sources:
Krysko, Kenneth L., et al. "Distribution, natural history, and impacts of the introduced green iguana (Iguana iguana) in Florida." Iguana 14.3 (2007): 142 (2007).
Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 11, 1983
Palm Beach Post, Sept. 9, 1987
Palm Beach Post, May 20, 1992
Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 3, 1997
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 18, 1999
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 29, 2005
Miami Herald, Aug. 20, 2019
