Out cold: unseasonal temperatures litter south Florida with stunned iguanas

The weather forecast warned it would be raining reptiles and Floridians recorded encounters with lizards feeling the chill

Lauren Aratani in New York

Wed 22 Jan 2020 23.19 GMTLast modified on Thu 23 Jan 2020 02.22 GMT

It truly was the night (and day) of the iguana.

After the National Weather Service (NWS) sent an unusual alert to south Florida residents on Tuesday night warning them of possible “falling iguanas” in light of unseasonably low temperatures, residents were indeed treated to a show of rigid reptiles out of the sky (or, actually, the trees).

The not-so-small creatures were seen motionless in the middle of sidewalks and backyards. While they looked dead, they were actually just too cold to move. Iguanas start becoming sluggish when temperatures drop below 50F (10C) and are susceptible to freezing once temperatures drop to around 40F (4.5C). When frozen, they easily fall out of the trees they call home, appearing lifeless even though they aren’t dead.

Floridians shared videos of the phenomenon, giving Twitter an up-close look at the green-scaled reptiles that are probably dreaming of warmer climates, or at least spring.

Continued

Florida Moves to Control Booming Iguana Population - via Herp Digest

Miami,, Fl, December 16, 2017, Voice of America/AP 

With burrowing iguanas showing up in people's toilets and damaging expensive sewer lines, Florida wildlife managers are stepping up efforts to control the state's booming population of the wild, invasive reptiles.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has hired a trapper to try to control the iguana population on public land in the Florida Keys. It is also holding workshops to teach homeowners how to trap and ward off the reptiles, The Miami Herald reports .

A green iguana checks out the flowers on a Bougainvillea plant in Hollywood, Fla. The invasive reptiles eat mostly leaves, flowers and fruit, and they are prolific in South Florida.

While the iguanas have been in Florida since the 1960s, FWC exotic species coordinator Kristin Sommers said there has been a noted increase in "human conflicts.”

Iguanas have been damaging roads and showing up in shopping malls, and they are a common sight on golf courses. 

In the Keys, the animals damage natural areas and consume plants important to dwindling species like butterflies. They also threatened a new billion-dollar sewage line.

Iguanas also can spread salmonella by defecating in people's swimming pools.

Trapper Brian Wood uses a fishing pole with a wire attached to snare an iguana behind a condominium in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., 

Perched in trees and scampering down sidewalks, green iguanas are so common across area suburbs that many see them as reptilian squirrels instead of exotic invaders.

Training people to help catch the pesky lizards is an important part of the state's effort.

"FWC can't go out and remove everybody's iguanas. That's just not possible," Sommers told the newspaper.

The lizard boom has also created a new industry for people who trap them.

Tom Portuallo started such a business in Broward County after seeing a group of iguanas take over a friend's pool.

He now has customers throughout South Florida.

Trapper Brian Wood talks with Janet Sarno, board chairwoman at King’s Point Imperial Condo, in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., about her iguana problem, Sarno hired Wood because the number of iguanas, big adults and bright green babies, hanging around the building’s pool has been growing despite residents’ attempts to chase them away or block their entry.

Wildlife biologist Joe Wasilewski told the newspaper that Florida wants to nip the problem in the bud before it gets out of control as it is on many Caribbean islands.

He said he was hired to deal with an iguana problem at a high-end resort in the Bahamas.

"The numbers just exploded to where you drive a golf cart and there's waves of green iguanas going into the forest," he said. "They're literally a green plague."