Will Iguanas be Falling from Trees in South Florida?
Bottom Line: Iguanas are one of South Florida’s biggest nuisances, this side of bad drivers anyway... So much so that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission has recommended removing and humanely killing the invasive species since 2019 as part of what’s known as the Iguana Removal Project. Still, we’ve progressively only seen their numbers grow. For example, five years ago I seldom would see an iguana in my yard. These days, at least on sunny days, I can’t look around my yard without spotting at least one. That’s due to the lack of a natural catalyst, a la freezing temperatures in our area, that could naturally reduce their numbers.
2010 was the last time we had widespread freezing temperatures in South Florida. If you were here, you may recall that many iguanas died off during that freeze. More recently, in January of 2018, you may remember widespread accounts of iguanas falling from trees, but they often didn’t die. We’re not going to see freezing temps this time around, but will it be cold enough to do the trick?
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, once the temperature dips below 50 iguanas enter a sluggish state. But does it kill them? Only freezing temperatures will kill iguanas with certainty. With temperatures below 50 but above freezing – could kill them but only if the temperatures were stay down long enough or if the fall from a tree is hard enough. Iguanas will only die if temps stay below 50 long enough for chronic dehydration to set in (which could take up to a week). Based on current forecasting that won’t happen. This is why iguanas haven’t been able to establish populations north of St. Lucie County, however. Falling iguanas are possible but a cold snap that could naturally remove large numbers of iguanas isn’t in the offing this time.