Iguanas are dropping into Florida toilets — and you don't want to find this one swimming around
Harold Rondon says he's finding more iguanas in toilets due to lizard overpopulation
You never want to find a living thing in your toilet, especially not one with teeth.
So when wildlife removal specialist Harold Rondon got a call from a Florida resident about a Mexican spiny-tailed iguana in her porcelain throne, he knew what he was in for.
He says the spiny-tailed lizard isn't your typical iguana.
"If I had a choice, I would personally take the green iguana because they're not really trying to bite you," Rondon told As It Happens guest host Robyn Bresnahan.
"When [spiny-tailed iguanas] bite, they actually clamp down so hard they lock their jaw in place and they do a gator roll. So they're definitely going to tear flesh and you have to go to the hospital."
Rondon's company, Iguana Lifestyles, has been getting calls to remove iguanas from people's homes — and toilets — more frequently this year. And the lizard catcher has his work cut out for him.
That particular lizard can reach speeds over 33 km/h.
But he does have an advantage over the speedster.
"They're not the smartest things in the world, so you want to pretty much just get them cornered in somewhere," said Rondon.
He also has a pole that extends six metres, with a snare to catch the lizard. And his technique works well — Rondon is a record-setting iguana catcher.
"I actually have the record for the biggest one caught here in south Florida, at six [feet] four-and-a-half [inches]," said Rondon.
Toilet's the only way out
Rondon says there are a number of ways iguanas make it into people's homes in Florida. He says that each bathroom has a vent stack on the roof, which needs to stay open. That is the most common way for critters to get in.
"If these iguanas are not by water, they can sense where water is. If they're on a roof, they can smell the water. They end up going into the pipeline," said Rondon.
"Once they get into that pipeline … the only way [out] is through your toilet."
There is a solution to keeping the iguanas out. Rondon has put mesh on the vents of about 40 houses, but he said the iguanas are still finding their way into toilets by other means — for example, through shared sewer lines.
Rondon believes more iguanas are finding their way into homes because nothing is being done to reduce their population in Florida. He says as local parks become overpopulated by the lizards, they are pushed into residential areas.
But what to do with all these surprise pets once caught? For iguanas, breaking and entering comes with the death penalty, Rondon explained. They are an invasive species in Florida and, once apprehended, the catcher is responsible for its humane death.
That makes the toilet the iguana's last great adventure.
Written by Philip Drost. Produced by Arman Aghbali.
