Three-foot-long iguanas run along a dock in Highland Beach.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Cheryl Blackerby
Green iguanas are not your unobtrusive 5-inch garden lizards that scurry across sidewalks and terraces.
An iguana, which can grow to 6 feet in length, will get your attention. With no enemies but humans, they leisurely bask in the sun on seawalls, poop on pool decks and can destroy a vegetable garden. With their huge dewlaps, vertebral crests and menacing thick tails, no one would describe them as cute and sweet.
They are a new and startling sight on the South Florida landscape. The first sighting in Palm Beach County was in 2003, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission research. They first appeared in Florida in Miami-Dade County in 1966.
In a short time they have become one of South Florida’s most unwelcome nonnative species.
“Here in Ocean Ridge, we first started discussing the iguana problem this past spring after receiving complaints from some town residents in the Sabal Island area about an uptick in the number and frequency of iguana sightings and associated damage to flowering landscape in the area, as well as reptile feces evidenced on seawalls and pool decks,” says Jamie Titcomb, Ocean Ridge town manager.
The town sought estimates from iguana trappers, who charge rates based on a “per cage, per day” baiting and retrieval system, which can be costly. And because most of the trapping would be on private property, Ocean Ridge and other towns are trying to figure out how to go about it.
No one knows precisely how much the iguana population has grown, says Carol Lyn Parrish, public information coordinator for Fish and Wildlife. “It’s not a species we are monitoring.”
Iguanas, which are vegetarians, are a nuisance but are not a threat to native wildlife and do not compete for food with native lizards.
The tail can cause a painful slap and sharp claws can scratch the skin, but iguanas usually avoid people and pets. And it is possible their feces could carry salmonella.
They can decimate a garden with their swinging tails and appetite for pretty plants.
“They can be detrimental to ornamental vegetation and fruit,” says Parrish.
In fact, their favorite foods are hibiscus blossoms, orchids and roses. They also like berries, mangoes, lychees, tomatoes and figs, but not citrus. They don’t like milkweed, pigeon plum, oleanders and coonties.
The frequent sightings lately may be due to cooler temperatures, which bring iguanas to the warmth of concrete seawalls and sidewalks.
“When it’s cool, they will be out basking — so you will see them more and you may feel like there are larger populations,” says Parrish.
Iguanas have multiplied since 2010, when a freeze killed off huge numbers. Dead iguanas fell from trees, taking residents by surprise. It’s unknown how their numbers compare to pre-freeze populations.
Iguanas are fully established now, says Parrish. Experts say there’s only one reliable way to get rid of a lot of them: when winter temperatures drop into the 30s. Then, watch out for falling iguanas.
“That five- to six-day cold spell in 2010 really knocked them back. The best way to control them is prolonged cold, below freezing,” says Art Roybal, senior Fish and Wildlife biologist. “In Florida, it’s not illegal to kill nonnative species, but the kicker is the method. The majority of the time the state would recommend a critter control company that has a license to kill these animals.”
Meanwhile, residents can trap them but can’t release them elsewhere because it is illegal to release nonnatives. Decapitation and drowning are considered inhumane, and in most towns residents can’t fire guns.
But iguanas have long memories; if residents scare them with a garden hose and chase them away, they probably won’t return.
Neon green young iguanas are popular exotic pets, and reptile experts think the iguanas we see today came from those that escaped cages or were released into the wild when they grew too big for home aquariums.
“It’s a good guesstimate that iguanas came from the pet trade, but we also get a lot of vegetation shipped in from other countries, which may carry iguanas and eggs,” says Parrish.
Iguanas are arboreal, living in dense tree canopies, usually close to water. They are excellent swimmers.
Meanwhile, coastal towns are trying to figure out what to do about them.
“We are still seeking input from other sources for their best practices, outcomes and advice,” says Ocean Ridge’s Titcomb. “We are looking at the idea of initiating a pilot trapping program, but awaiting some science and scale to determine what we might effectively do with limited resources.”
Realistically, homeowners just may need to make peace with iguanas and hope for cold temperatures.
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