I am writing this while on vacation in Fort Lauderdale, FL, visiting my son, Clay. He moved to Fort Lauderdale from Sarasota, FL, a little over a year ago when he accepted a job with the Professional Bull Riders organization. After moving into his new residence, he told me about the unique wildlife around his area, but I had no idea until I experienced it myself.

So much like Hawaii, I found south Florida with gorgeous foliage, beautiful beaches, and lots of sunshine…. then, I saw what I’d heard about: the large lizards called the Green Monsters—no, I mean The Green Iguanas…walking on top of the backyard fence, skittering in and out of the decorated flowerbed on the front lawn, and patrolling the area atop the Spanish style home of Clay and his friend, Abel.

Residents first introduced these unusual creatures to Ft. Lauderdale as exotic pets in the 60s and 70s, being shipped from Central and South America and some Caribbean islands. So, they thrive in the warm, tropical environment of Florida very well. Many escaped pet stores, breeding facilities, and even during transporting.

Looking pre-historic, they have rows of spikes running down the center of the neck and back, all the way down to their tails. And to make them scarier, mature males have heavy jowls and a dewlap or throat fan that can expand to frighten away predators or attract female iguanas during mating season. (Another strange feature: they have a third eye for better peripheral vision.)

What new owners of these pets didn’t know was that they can live between 10 to 20 years and become larger than they expected— up to 6 feet long. So, they began releasing them into the wild, letting them fend for themselves.

While entering this info on my computer, I look out through the patio glass door and see one going across my view, slowly moving atop the yard fence. He’s about 2 feet long with a tail half his length that is black and green striped.

This tropical paradise is being damaged, so much that iguanas are now on the prohibited species list. Becoming such an intrusion, iguana removal and trapping by professionals is now encouraged. How fast are they multiplying? In the riverbanks and beaches, females will dig chambers for eggs, spanning 80 feet, with a network of tunnels with multiple entrances. Each lays as many as 76 eggs a season. So, their population has grown out of control—with no known natural predator to keep them in check.

These tricky, invasive species live on the ground in urban and suburban developments. They burrow under sidewalks, seawalls, and foundations. When near power lines, they can cause outages. Not only the concerns of property damages, the droppings of the green iguana carry salmonella— which can get into water. Simply touching their droppings on boats, pool furniture, and such can lead a person or pets to become ill from the bacteria.

To deter them coming close to homes, if their holes are found, they should be filled with rocks. In addition, hanging wind chimes scare them away. Also effective is hanging old CDs or mirrors around homes. Who knows what method could be used to effectively eradicate them?

These creatures fascinated, but didn’t scare me. I hope to visit again soon—but not in the winter, in which if freezing weather hit, iguanas are in danger of freezing and falling from trees!

An interesting fact… due to their scary appearance, they became subjects of scary movies: In 1959 was THE GIANT GILA MONSTER, and in 1962, TALES OF TERROR was about a drunk who hallucinated about a green iguana on his shelf as a Gila monster. In 1998 was GODZILLA, about a giant monster which seems to be a mutated iguana which originated from a French nuclear test irradiating an iguana. I guess Hollywood was trying to make the best of the monsters nuisances by using ‘lemons’ to make lemonade. However, I’m sure Florida profited little from these movies… Next week I will share more about my trip and how I went from learning about iguanas to bucking bulls!