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 Iguanas entrenched in waterfront neighborhoods
By BETH FEINSTEIN-BARTL
Waterfront News Writer
They eat everything in sight. They make a mess. They won't leave.
No, they're not relatives visiting from up North. These house guests are iguanas and they love a waterfront view.
Land overlooking canals, rivers and the like, it seems, are the reptiles’ habitat of choice. The water serves as their natural travel and escape routes. So it comes as no surprise that in South Florida the critters can be found lounging on docks and pool decks in many residential neighborhoods.
Some folks think the reptiles are exotic, decorative fixtures for their property. But not everyone's enthused. The lizards dine on foliage, leave droppings everywhere and can aggravate erosion by digging holes in the banks of canals and behind seawalls.
The population is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands and growing. As their numbers increase, the cost of maintenance for homeowners is also expected to climb, said William Kern, Jr., associate professor of entomology and nematology at the University of Florida Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center in Davie.
“What we're seeing is that people are spending more time and money to repair damages,” he said.
Kern's becoming a popular go-to guy for folks wanting to know how to tackle their iguana problems. He's getting requests to attend public talks including a recent symposium held in West Palm Beach.
Most people he encounters want to know how to
get rid of the spiny-backed landscape munching, pooping machines.
It's not easy. The region's iguana invasion began with pets released into the wild, either by accident or on purpose. The latter is illegal since iguanas are not native to Florida, Kern said.
Over time, the adults began reproducing and with few predators to thin the ranks, iguanas are thriving. Three of the species have become well established in the region. Most common are the green iguanas, whose life span ranges from 10 to 20 years and can grow up to 6 feet long. They can defecate about a pound of feces per day, he said.
There's also the Mexican spiny-tailed iguanas and black iguana from Central America, according to the research center's website.
“They're a nuisance,” said Mark Streisfeld, an inventor from Boca Raton. “They're causing millions of dollars in damages.”
Streisfeld's heard repeated complaints from neighbors and has experienced damages first-hand too. He accuses iguanas of eating up the flowering plants, making holes in canal banks and ripping screens at The Palms, a residential community resting on the Hillsboro Canal where he serves on the homeowners association board.
Streisfeld did more than listen. He's come up with what he deems is a humane way to make the buggers scram by selling an organic pesticide called Iguana-Rid. He put the product on the market two months ago.
The deterrent spray causes a burning sensation in the reptile’s mouths when they eat foliage, making them leave the property. For places where there are no feeding grounds such as docks, the product emits a smell that drives them away, Streusel said. To date, sales are going well. “Some of my biggest clients are waterfront homeowners,” Streisfeld said.
Bob Cooper's also offering assistance. As president of Bill Cooper Marine Construction in Davie, he repairs seawalls. But he doesn't blame iguanas for all of the deterioration.
“Many of the holes are caused by natural erosion from age and the tides,” Cooper said. “The iguanas take advantage of that, see the holes and make it their home. We find that all the time. They add to a problem that was already there, but their not creating the problem. We explain this to homeowners all the time.”
Still, iguanas can be a pain. Cooper's been in business for some 40 years. Iguana sightings were rare until around a decade ago when he began spotting them more frequently. “They're everywhere,” Cooper said.
John Terrill, chairman of the Fort Lauderdale marine advisory board, said he too sees iguanas on residential docks along the New River and Las Olas Isles. No one's come to the advisory board with complaints and he hasn't experienced too many problems personally.
“But that doesn't mean they don't exist,” Terrill said. “They're definitely out there. They poop all over the docks.”
John Beauchamp, a realtor at Intercostal Realty in Fort Lauderdale, doesn't have to look far. He finds them in his backyard, sunning on the pool deck and gorging on mangoes from his trees.
“These things, some are 4-and-a-half to 5 feet long,” he said. “They eat a lot and leave their calling cards everywhere.”
The iguanas are all over Fort Lauderdale's eastern waterfront, where Beauchamp resides. “They're taking over,” he said. But from a real estate standpoint, it's not affecting sales. “To many people, they're cute,” Beauchamp said.
For more information on iguanas and South Florida landscaping go to:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN528
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