'Frozen' iguanas everywhere: Florida roads, sidewalks, yards

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

South Floridians awoke Sunday to find “frozen” iguanas in their yards, streets, sidewalks and driveways after record low temperatures stunned the invasive reptiles.

At 8:50 a.m., 10 minutes before the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission opened its Sunrise drop-off location Sunday morning, John Bridgman and his wife, Lindsey, waited with a trash bag filled with two dozen iguanas.

The FWC opened five designated drop-off offices in the South and Southwest regions on Sunday and Monday to temporarily allow people to remove live, cold-stunned green iguanas from the wild without a permit.

When temperatures drop and sustain to near-freezing or below, reptiles and amphibians, including nonnative green iguanas, can go into a state of torpor, where they temporarily lose muscle control and appear “frozen,” according to the FWC.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/frozen-iguanas-everywhere-florida-roads-191800989.html

I hear they're edible. Not that I want to try one.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

1. Ugh.

Why put them in garbage bags?! Just leave them alone and they’ll thaw out as the day warms up…

Already posted this one elsewhere so had it at the ready. They’re harmless and pretty cool. No reason to manhandle them on top of the insult of the weather, poor dudes.

[Dear_Prudence]

3. Invasive species

It is sad to see them disabled like that and thexpoor creatures are descended from victims of the pet trade. However, they are not native. They grow up to 5 feet long. They harm native species, devouring native plants and eating birds eggs. They threaten endangered species, a snail and a butterfly. So the state is trying to humanely eliminate them. The article linked below explains all this. I do sympathize with these colonizers because I am also not a native species, I'm over 5 feet tall, I eat native plants, and my home displaces wildlife habitat. 🦎

https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/lizards/green-iguana/

[sop]

2. Crandon Park, on Key Biscayne in Miami, is teeming with huge iguanas sunning themselves everywhere.

I've heard stories of people being struck by iguanas falling from trees.

[msongs]

4. hungry gators on line one....

[oberle]

5. I had the most incredible iguana as a pet. She was over 4 feet long.

And her name was Fluffy, named after a 26 foot boa at the Columbus, OH zoo. Fluffy was housebroken, and loved to sit on my shoulder. She went out the cat door and hung out in the fenced in yard when it was warm. Seeing all these frozen iggies makes me sad. I know they are an invasive species, but still......

[buzzycrumbhunger]

6. Had a friend with a big one

He used to ride his bike with the iguana hanging onto his shoulder. I always worried that he’d get his tail caught in the spokes but thankfully, he managed to hang on just right.