Iguana heaven

Boca Grande’s just one place where iguanas thrive in Southwest Florida

 
Charlotte Sun
Aug. 16, 2008
 
By NEIL HUGHES
Staff Writer

BOCA GRANDE — It all likely started as someone’s exotic, unique pet.

Then, Parker Hall reckons, the reptile grew too big for its owner’s liking.

What do you do with a 3-foot Mexican spinytail iguana? A few Boca Grande iguana owners, Hall assumes, decided to let them out into the wild.

“They don’t know what to do with it, so they turn it loose,” said Hall, South Florida district supervisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That mistake years ago has brought Hall to the affluent Boca Grande community in an effort to eradicate the animals, which have multiplied and become rampant pests.

Since March, the USDA has trapped and killed more than 1,500 iguanas on Boca Grande. Residents on the Charlotte County portion of the island have paid, through their local taxing authority, $52,000 for the service.

It’s made a noticeable difference. Since the trapping began, the iguanas — which used to proudly sit in the road and stop traffic — now scamper away at the sight of humans.

They don’t live as long, either: most sighted on the island now are younger and smaller.

“We caught them pretty quick and pretty easily,” Hall said of the larger iguanas. “We’re on to the small ones now.”

It’s a marked improvement not only from months ago, but also compared to the southern portion of the island. Lee County has not contracted with USDA to remove the iguanas, and as a result, the reptiles are larger and more prevalent in south Boca Grande.

And contracting with USDA has provided Charlotte County with valuable scientific information on the iguanas, said Missy Christie, environmental specialist.

Some surprising — and ecologically frightening — information has come from dissecting the spinytail iguanas. For example, the reptiles, thought to be mostly vegetarian, have been feeding on the eggs and young of the endangered gopher tortoise.

Gopher tortoise holes are a common sight on Boca Grande, and the cool underground shade they offer has become a haven for the island’s iguana infestation. Apparently, the holes are now a source of food as well.

New research on Boca Grande has also shown that the iguanas eat the seeds of the Brazilian pepper tree — an invasive exotic pest plant that has caused major problems in Florida.

The reptiles then apparently defecate out the seeds, helping to spread the plant. It’s one problem propagating another.

“We’re learning,” Christie said. “There’s a lot to learn still.”

Southwest Florida’s lizard problems aren’t restricted to Boca Grande.

The green iguana can also be spotted throughout the area. As a newborn reptile it is more of an insect hunter, and it becomes a vegetarian at maturity.

A larger problem exists in Cape Coral, where the Nile monitor lizard, which can grow as large as 7 feet, has made a newfound home.

A carnivorous animal native to central Africa, the lizard has an aggressive temperament that has made it far more than a simple pest.

Lizards are such a problem in Florida that exotic species now outnumber native ones, Hall said.

As the USDA traps and kills thousands of iguanas, reducing their population on Boca Grande, Hall concedes it is unlikely the reptile will ever be completely removed from the island.

In a consistently warm climate without natural predators and the ability to breed rapidly, the Mexican spinytail iguana, green iguana and Nile monitor lizard likely aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

But unlike the iguanas on Boca Grande, Hall and the USDA are welcome guests.

“We’re here by invitation,” Hall said.