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PALM BEACH POST (Florida) 12 September 07 When it comes to pool problem, the iguana has all the ammo (Frank Cerabino)
I'm talking with the Illinois college professor who co-founded the Green Iguana Society, a nationwide community of "iggy" enthusiasts.
I'm finding it hard to share Deena Hergert's love of iguanas, especially since Monday, when I saw a 3-foot iguana taking a prodigious poop in my backyard swimming pool.
My search for a solution to this new problem has led me to Hergert, one of the high priestesses of lizard land, who is breaking the bad news to me from her office at Rock Valley College.
"In the wild, they tend to defecate in the water," she says. "If that water happens to be your swimming pool, that's a problem."
I know it's a problem. Believe me. I know. I know
Iguanas rate Web info page
There I was, looking out my back window, when I spotted this iguana, the front half of his body up on the pool deck, the back half submerged in the soon-to-be-less-than-crystal-clear blue water of the pool.
And the next minute, I'm running around the pool like Iguana Dundee with a broom in my hand and thoughts of salmonella dancing in my head, while the offending lizard and his buddy in the nearby palm tree take off.
And then it's fishing time with the leaf net, followed by a trip to the pool supply store, where my mega-jug purchase of chlorine is met by, "Yeah, we get about five iguana stories a week," from the store's owner.
In Boca Raton, where I live, wild iguanas have become numerous enough for the city government to post an iguana information page on its Web site.
"It's a huge problem for your area," Hergert says, "and as far as we know, there isn't a good answer."
She suggests a pool cover.
I was hoping for a tip that wouldn't make my pool look like a landfill.
I've heard that some in the neighborhood have begun trying to kill them. But killing iguanas is dicey. Anti-cruelty laws require that it be done humanely.
I don't think the broom or a pellet gun qualifies.
What about getting a decoy of a bird of prey? Will that keep the iguanas away?
"Those decoys don't work," Hergert said.
Some people have tried using garlic spray, which sounds like a better way to keep people away from the pool.
"There's just been mixed results with the garlic spray," Hergert says.
Trapper passes on house calls
I had called the county's Animal Care and Control, which doesn't respond to nuisance iguana calls but does humanely euthanize your prisoners.
"If you have an iguana you capture, we can come and handle it for you," said Karen Buchan, animal care's community projects manager.
But my limited experience with iguanas has taught me that catching one won't be easy.
Bob Freeman, who runs Grizzly's Wild Animal Service in West Palm Beach, takes a pass on iguana house calls. "We don't trap iguanas," he said. "They're too much of a hassle."
There isn't a trap made for iguanas, he said, and they're too quick.
"You've got to go out there and net them," he said.
The only good news is that an iguana's metabolism works best when the temperature is 85 degrees or more, Hergert said.
So when it cools off, their metabolism slows, and they'll become less active.
In the long run, spaying pet iguanas may be the only way to keep former pet castoffs from multiplying in the wild, she said.
Did I mention that iguanas live for 20 years?
By the time I finished talking with Hergert, I had gone from hope to resignation.
"I think people in Florida are just going to live with them," she said.
When it comes to pool problem, the iguana has all the ammo

A trap made for raccoons works very well for catching green iguanas, just put a piece of lettuce and maybe something red like a tomato, strawberry, or every a hibicious flower and you won't be able to keep them out of the trap. This works great for the bigger iguanas! I do agree that we will live with iguanas in south florida forever. even if you get all the adults there is all the babies your never going to catch and eventualy they become adults making more babies.

Nile Monitors love eggs...and will eat almost anything that moves. So, maybe they'll weed out some Iguanas?? Too bad we can't sterilize some females, thus causing the male Ig population to spend a lot of mating time effectively shooting blanks! LOL