Falling Iguanas

Forget the falling snow, here in Florida the big story is falling iguanas. The green iguana is native to South and Central America but a very popular pet here in North America. People have been buying them as pets. Pets that can be expensive and difficult to care for. So, what do they do when they can no longer care for them? They let them loose.

Experts guess that they were introduced to South Florida in the 1990's and have been an extremely invasive species. I know my step mom has whole families of iguanas living in the big tree behind her house. We see them pretty much every time we are there.

Iguanas favorite nesting places are the very leafy branches of large trees. These trees provide both comfort and camouflage. These reptiles prefer temperatures of 80's and 90's.

Lately the temps in Florida have gotten as low as the 20's, bringing snow and sleet which is rarely seen here. An amazing thing happens to the iguanas when the temps dip below 40 ~ the iguanas go into a type of hibernation and become comatose with very little blood flowing through their bodies. When this happens they lose their grip on the branches and fall from the trees. Once they hit the ground they stay there ~ looking dead. There have been reports everywhere of this happening. Most of them warm up and fully recover ~ as long as the fall has not done any major damage.

Apparently some "not so bright" dude in Florida started collecting the fallen comatose animals and putting them in the back of his station wagon. Story has it that while driving down the street (probably with the heat on) these reptiles came back to life, crawling all over the car and him ~ almost causing an accident.

Only in Florida folks, only in Florida.