One of those "peak Florida" stories that goes around every winter is to
beware of Frozen Iguanas falling out of trees
when temperatures drop below 50. With morning lows from 38 to 43 almost
all of last week here in central Florida, various news sources in the state
have been posting stories about this and advising everyone to avoid the
iguanas and leave them alone. That link, if you haven't clicked it, is to a Channel 13
TV broadcaster in the Tampa area - Fox 13.
An unstated but obvious requirement is for there to be a population of iguanas in the area before you see them falling from trees or whatever. There is no self-sustaining population of iguanas in Tampa or really much of anywhere north of the southernmost part of the state. Which isn't to say that there can't be any iguanas here in the central part of the state, just that they're likely to not be a real population, just some lizards that ended up here after exploring and getting lost, or some that were taken as pets and then thrown out.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) puts it this way:
Green iguana populations now stretch along the Atlantic Coast in Broward, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach Counties and along the Gulf Coast in Collier and Lee Counties. There have also been reports as far north as Alachua, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River and St. Lucie Counties. However, individuals observed in more northern counties are likely escaped or released captive animals and are unlikely to establish populations, as iguanas are not cold hardy. In cleared habitats such as canal banks and vacant lots, green iguanas reside in burrows, culverts, drainage pipes and rock or debris piles. South Florida’s extensive man-made canals serve as ideal dispersal corridors to further allow iguanas to colonize new areas.
The first group of counties they mention are the southern tip of the state. The next group includes a handful of counties in the central part of the state: Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River and St. Lucie counties as well as a genuinely northern county, Alachua. Indian River county is the county south of the one I live in (Brevard). I've never heard of an iguana population around here. I've seen them in Palm Beach County, some in my brother's yard, but haven't been there when it was cool enough for falling iguanas.
A graphic from Fox13's article. Image credit: FOX Weather
While I said I've never heard of an iguana population here, there have been iguanas spotted from time to time in this county. I'm just not seeing mention of a regular population here.
Avoid fallen iguana? Heck, catch em, kill em, gut em, dehead them, and toss them in a freezer for BBQ time. Recipes are on-line and some say skin em, some say cook em in their skin.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, whole videos of Expert Iguana Eliminators using high-power air rifles to reduce the iguana population in South Florida.
They're invasive species. They need to go away as much as possible.
Same with many species of snakes.
As to the Tampa area, St. Pete has wild populations of small parrots. Again, invasive, take them out.
It's Florida, people. This isn't California, yet. Hopefully it never will be.
After all, when we had megafires in 1998, the famous Firestorms of 1998, we learned and changed all our fire management programs, did more controlled burns, cut more fire breaks and changed, for the better, building codes and especially roofing codes. Haven't had a firestorm season since, even though we've had droughts since then.
My brother lived in the Keys from 2005 to 2016. He hated the iquanas. His dachshunds killed them. He even eliminated a few with an air rifle. The worst incident was when he had to lay a motorcycle over because a German tourist on their way to Key West came to a sudden halt so as not to hit an iguana. My brother was able to remember some of the German curse words he learned when he was stationed there in the late 1970s. May the accursed reptilian rats disappear.
ReplyDelete