The Issue of Eradicating Iguanas from Florida

The Green Iguana is a reptile and one of the largest species of lizards, they can grow to a size of 6.5 feet and can weigh up to 11 pounds. The green iguana is not all green all over; they have green, brown, tan, and grey scales, with most males being a bright orange color. They normally stay around grass, trees, and are excellent swimmers so this color mix is great at allowing them to blend in with their surroundings. Iguanas are normally active during the day and are herbivores despite their razor sharp teeth and tails. They are fast agile creatures that can run fast on land and can jump from trees up to 40 feet tall and land on the ground with no injury.

The green iguana is naturally from the rainforests of northern Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and southern Brazil, where they will stay in the canopy until it is time to mate, lay eggs, or to move to another tree. The green iguana can lie anywhere from 14-76 eggs at one time. The green iguana thrives in the Florida climate; however, they do lose a lot of the canopy coverage rainforests provide. However where they lose trees they gain rivers and canals where they can swim to cool off, bake beside, and travel from place to place in. Iguanas are excellent swimmer, as they can hold their breath for up to 30 minutes, and they are able to use their tails as a rudder allowing them to move from place to place faster and more effectively.

The green iguana was introduced to Florida in the 1960s along the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Coast. These primarily coastal and suburban counties here home to many trees, canals, and sunny sidewalks that created the perfect breeding ground for the iguanas. Originally the green iguana was introduced to get rid of another pest, the raccoon. They were introduced without the knowledge that they are primarily herbivoric species, they reproduce faster than raccoons, and they disperse themselves quickly across the land you place them on through the use of waterways. We now not only have a raccoon problem but we have an iguana problem as well. There are no real predators for iguanas as they are very fast so any predators they have are unable to get them, and the only time we have seen a real decrease in their population size was in 2010 when South Florida had a cold snap and the iguanas were unable to survive the 30-degree weather.

Patrick Barry told David Fleshler of the Sun-Sentinel “The numbers are up due to the lack of predators and our warmer winters of late, with another winter like the last few, where the temperature never gets to the 30s or even the 40s, we will see a banner number of these guys next summer." The iguana has little to no impact on native species, as they are mainly herbivores so they only eat plants but when they do eat meat it is eggs of ducks, which are invasive as well, or bugs. The impact made on people who live in communities infested with iguanas have to deal with the cosmetic effects that the iguanas have, as the burrowing iguanas do make their communities look bad. This minimal impact makes them more of an inconvenience than anything, as the public sees nothing wrong with them so taking action to try to remove them is hard. Iguanas are hard to get rid of because they reproduce so quickly and can live up to 20 years. The green iguana has quickly become a pest so eliminating it from our environment would not have any negative effects on the environment.

The most effective way to eliminate large portions of iguanas is a cold snap in the weather. Unfortunately in Florida that isn’t common so the population continues to grow without any way of controlling them it quickly gets out of hand and you need to find a new way to keep their population under control. Many people have taken it upon themselves individually to decrease the population because under Florida law you are allowed to remove iguanas from your property “as long as it is don’t safely and humanely”. This means installing fences, playing loud music to scare them, or spraying water at them however shooting them with BB guns is not permitted. You are also able to relocate or get rid of eggs and if you find any on our property you are able to get rid of them by law. There are also professionals that will come out to your property and set traps or remove any currently on your property, but this is expensive and there is no guarantee that more will not come back. Florida Wildlife Control says that their biggest piece of advice when dealing with iguanas is to take preventative measure in an effort to prevent them from coming in the first place.

The green iguana has no impact on the environment or its ecosystem, so spending money to eradicate it would not be worth it. Taking immediate action to try to remove the iguanas would be a long, grueling, and unsatisfactory effort. This species is not a major threat to the environment as it is more of a pest. In an effort to remove the iguanas you would need to hire hundreds of workers to go out and essentially hunt them down to try to kill them and find their nests to get rid of the eggs. This would not only take a long time but it would also be a very hard task as they are fast agile reptiles that can survive not only on land but in water too. However you could always do what Florida has chosen to do with the Pythons and hold a competition where people can volunteer to go out and hunt down iguanas. There is also the thought that many people have had and is if an iguana is on my property am I able to shoot it. While Florida law requires the death of the iguana to be humane, many people believe that shooting an animal is humane because it is fast, but Florida law does not specify what humane is.

Although people think they have found the answer to eradicating iguanas from Florida this will be a long and ongoing pursuit if the Florida government decides they want to remove this invasive species, however, with all the work that will need to be put in to even make a dent in their massive population it seems like it is not worth the time and money it will take to do so.