As one of the strongest winter storms on the East Coast in modern history pummells cities with snow and sleet, forcing schools and businesses to close while grounding thousands of flights, in South Florida, it is “raining iguanas.”
Green iguanas, like all reptiles, are cold-blooded animals, so when the temperature falls to a certain level they become immobile, said Kristen Sommers of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Under 50 degrees Fahrenheit, they become sluggish; under 40 degrees, their blood stops moving as much.
They like to sit in trees, and “it’s become cold enough that they fall out.”
“The reality is South Florida doesn’t get that cold very often or long enough that you see this frequently,” Sommers said.
On what to do with these fallen iguanas, a reporter at CBS12 News, suggested that “iguanas have a good chance of thawing out if you move them into the sun.”
However, experts would prefer you didn’t. Sommers said the reptiles could become frightened as they warm. “Like any wild animal it will try to defend itself,” she said.
Ron Magill of the Miami Zoo told WPLG TV in 2010 about a man who collected sleeping iguanas and threw them into the back of his station wagon. Then they awoke.
“All of a sudden these things are coming alive, crawling on his back and almost caused a wreck.”
The situation was much worse for iguanas in 2010, when temperatures in South Florida fell to the low 30s.
“Neighbourhoods resounded with the thud of iguanas dropping from trees onto patios and pool decks,” Sentinel reported. Many iguanas died that year, as did other animals.
“Many pythons were reported dead, floating in the Everglades,” the Fish and Wildlife Commission said in a statement to The Palm Beach Post.
The deaths resulted from both the low temperatures and the length of time of the frigid weather.
The iguana population has since recovered.
“We have been receiving more calls from people that are experiencing wildlife conflicts with iguanas… Iguanas in their yard that they are not happy about, you’ve seen them further north in large numbers,” Sommers said.
According to The Sentinel, iguanas arrived in Florida first as pets, and once they escaped or were freed by their owners, first moved into Miami-Dade County in 1966, then to the Keys in 1995, before making a home of Broward County in 2001 and in Palm Beach in 2003.
The winter storm sweeping across parts of the East Coast has prompted animal rescue organisations and local authorities to issue warnings about giving pets shelter, with dogs left out to freeze to death in the cold.
In South Florida, the cooler temperatures also affect sea turtles, manatees and other creatures that hang out in trees.
“Bats sometimes will fall out of the roost of trees when we have a pretty cold snap,” Sommers said.
Sommers said that while she’s heard of falling iguanas on social media, the agency hasn’t gotten any reports of falling iguanas.
“There have not been an influx of calls to FWC about people worried about iguanas falling out of trees,” she said. “It’s not like something you see every year.”
On Thursday the National Weather Service issued a freeze warning for parts of South Florida; the temperatures in the area will be the coldest since the cold snap in December of 2010.
