Iguana Chronicles – Weird Tales About Marco Island Iguanas . . .
Are Iguanas really that harmful? It’s a question I often get asked. Well, if you ask the city of West Palm Beach, they caused $1.8 million dollars of damage to a dam that controls the city’s reservoirs due to their extensive burrows in the earthen dam structure. Multiple power outages have been reported by Iguanas climbing power lines. FWC has estimated millions of dollars worth of damage is being done to sidewalks, foundations, seawalls, berms and canal banks. Their latest census puts the population of Iguanas in Florida at just over 4 million! So yes, we do have a problem.
Here on Marco Island, the damage is mounting. This hole is on the back side of a local seawall. It is huge with multiple burrows at the bottom of it. It has completely eroded out the back of this seawall which is now cracked and will have to be replaced. That will be a very large replacement bill to this owner.
I have removed SIX Iguanas from this nest – Here is a photo of two of them and the Iguana on the left is clearly pregnant with over 40-50 eggs. Due to the diligence of multiple neighbor’s calls, this week I got one more on this property who was digging a new nest behind the seawall on the opposite side of the large nest pictured above.
We have to be proactive with our eradication of this invasive species. Left unchecked, they will over-populate an area like what you see here near Miami. Please, don’t feed Iguanas, they are now banned to own them as pets here in Florida.
I have several properties here on Marco Island where over time, I have removed 6 to 9 Iguanas. However over on the East coast, some hunters are reporting 30 to 40 Iguana removals in a single day. Unbelievable. We don’t want that here.
If you see an Iguana, call me, 239-344-7706. I live full-time on the Island, I can usually be there in 10-15 minutes. I am registered by the State of Florida for wildlife control and also report directly with the Marco Island Police Department when I am on location.