"Florida" strain iguanas

ZEROPILOT

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Several years ago we had a spell of a few weeks when the temps got into the 40s and didn't get above 50 something. During that time most of our "exotics" passed away. Peacock bass, lizards, any introduced species as well as THOUSANDS of iguanas. Recently, they've been making a slow comeback and although I haven't seen any more 6 footers, there are already some that are 4 or more feet. This one was sunning himself in our parking lot at work. At about 20", he few used to leave and whipped at me with his tail. Almost certainly a female because even our small males have an orange coloration with dominant males in bright orange and huge neck frills. These are the cold survivors and off spring of them. Maybe eventually a new strain?

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lismar79

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I fell in love with florida when I went to visit a few years ago and seen all the iguanas everywhere.
 

bouaboua

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I still need to figure out a way to enjoy iguanas. So far......Not my cup of tea.
 

stojanovski92113

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I love reptiles and arachnids. But tortoises are my thang. I love to see animals in their natural environment. When I go to FL I'm usually in Panama City Beach. But I never see anything except dragon flies which are enormous & hear frogs like crazy at night. Maybe because I'm always so close to the ocean?! But I LOVE FL! I would move in a heartbeat! But not the hubby, at least not now.
 

keepergale

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I like Florida too. The reptile wildlife is crazy. Every visit I see tortoises. If I didn't read about them being endangered there I never would have guessed it. I find snakes every visit without going out looking too.
 

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We have a ton of tortoises...The thing is that they are not just anywhere. When you see a den, there will be lots more. Mostly in sandy scrub areas out west. Lots of folks have been eating the larger iguanas. My Haitian friend calls it "TREE CHICKEN". I'll remind y'all about the housing situation because in three years, I'm outta here! Retired and getting back to Carolina.
 

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Another one today. Less then two feet. Orange male. If he were dominant he'd be much more brightly colored. This one has a missing right rear foot.

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Turtlepete

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Indeed a new strain. An interesting thing is that our invasive population seems to become sexually mature much faster then they would naturally. I have a male caught here that is already mating at barely even 10" SVL.

That freeze did a lot at maintaing their numbers back then. Even in the last few years they've been moving west down Griffin towards the glades. :-/. I-75 used to be a barrier, but not anymore. Kinda funny just how invasive iguana's are with no legislation introduced to ban them, yet a dozen burmese pythons in the everglades got national media coverage. Conspiracy? Yes.
 

Turtlepete

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I like Florida too. The reptile wildlife is crazy. Every visit I see tortoises. If I didn't read about them being endangered there I never would have guessed it. I find snakes every visit without going out looking too.

Gopher's have a pretty specific habitat as far as I've seen. If you find the right habitat, you'll find a hot-spot of them where you find a burrow every 100 yards. They are endangered because if the right protection hadn't put in place they would have been wiped out by now. Also because they are a keystone species, it is very important to protect them.
 

newCH

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We saw this guy in April last year when we went to the Keys.
He was near the beach in Islandmorada. Very cool to see !

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ZEROPILOT

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That actually looks like a little "Rhino" iguana. Most of them died during the last cold snap a couple years ago. Some of them were bluish in color. Almost certainly a male with the full mane.
 

newCH

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I remember the cold snap your talking about. It was a few years ago.
I remember seeing iguanas of all sizes laying on the ground under trees. Even when the tree hung over a walkway, they were laying on the walkway.
 

Killerrookie

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I saw some blue iguanas for sell Monday for $100 and I was reaching for my wallet and realized I didn't really need one right now because I'm about to get a Nile monitor.
 

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This is a brown Basilisk hiding on a Hibiscus.
Nice lizard. Makes a lousy pet.
I saw some blue iguanas for sell Monday for $100 and I was reaching for my wallet and realized I didn't really need one right now because I'm about to get a Nile monitor.
Iguanas can make nice pets. I've never kept a monitor.

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Tom

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I saw some blue iguanas for sell Monday for $100 and I was reaching for my wallet and realized I didn't really need one right now because I'm about to get a Nile monitor.

Are you some sort of masochist? Why would you get a nile when there are so many others that are less aggressive?
 

Tom

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I've only been to FL a couple of times, but I never saw any iguanas or tortoises. :(

I did love it there and would like to eventually move there.
 

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I've only been to FL a couple of times, but I never saw any iguanas or tortoises. :(

I did love it there and would like to eventually move there.
Scrub areas are where you'll find a LOT of tortoises. At Cape Canaveral last year I saw a ton of them.(By NASA)
The iguanas are so common in south Florida you'd be hard pressed to look at any canal bank without seeing one. Though the truly huge one's didn't make it t through that last cold snap.
 

Turtlepete

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Scrub areas are where you'll find a LOT of tortoises. At Cape Canaveral last year I saw a ton of them.(By NASA)
The iguanas are so common in south Florida you'd be hard pressed to look at any canal bank without seeing one. Though the truly huge one's didn't make it t through that last cold snap.

Yeah, gophers prefer a specific habitat. Find one and you find a large concentration of them, it seems.

I've been seeing some ctenosaura out west of i75 lately. And supposedly there are giant veiled chameleons and four or five species of monitors down in the Homestead area. Probably gonna go catch some this summer, if we can find them. The only invasive species I haven't seen are burmese pythons. Which is weird, because I would've expected to be eaten by one of those venomous-hybridized man-eaters by now! :rolleyes:
 
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