In South Florida, green iguanas spread into a suburban scourge
SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. — Perched in trees and scampering down sidewalks, green iguanas have become so common across South Florida that many see them not as exotic invaders but as reptilian squirrels.
Native to Central and South America, green iguanas that escaped or were dumped as pets have been breeding in the Miami suburbs and the Keys for at least a decade without making headlines like other invasive reptiles such as Burmese pythons or blackand-white tegu lizards.
They’ve been considered mostly harmless because they eat plants instead of native animals. But their burrows undermine seawalls, sidewalks and levees, and they eat their way through valuable landscaping as well as native plants. Their droppings can be a significant cleanup problem, as well as a potential source of salmonella bacteria, which causes food poisoning.
Compared with elusive pythons in the Everglades, iguanas are easy to spot. They can grow to more than 5 feet long, and they like what draws people to Florida: nice landscaping, waterfront views and sunbathing.
One iguana even stopped a first-round tennis match at this year’s Miami Open by crawling over a scoreboard onto the court. German player Tommy Haas snapped a selfie with it, but his Czech opponent Jiri Vesely complained to the umpire that he couldn’t concentrate.
Trapper Brian Wood easily caught three iguanas one recent afternoon, each roughly 3 feet long, basking on a condominium’s seawall.
The iguanas burrow under the seawall and firstfloor patios, climb trees to reach second-floor balconies and eat the bright blooms off recently planted bougainvillea, residents complain.
Wood wants to breed the iguanas he catches to sell hatchlings as pets in northern states with cold winters. In the meantime, he euthanizes them and sells their meat as a delicacy. He’s also trying to generate interest in iguana skins as a sustainable leather source, alongside alligator and python skins available in his Hollywood store.
“They’re like rats — they’re always going to be here,” Wood said. “I think it’s going to be a growing business.”