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On 29 September 2005, I visited Gasparilla Island and the town of Boca Grande. This will be the first trip of many as I work on a book about reptiles in Florida; an initial article should appear sometime next week, but I thought people here would like to see some of the initial pictures I took of the iguanas.

I'll attach a pair of photos to messages under this thread. Any and all comments welcome.
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Scott Robert Ladd
1.0.0 Iguana (Rex)
1.1.0 African Giant Plated Lizard (Clyde, Cassie)
1.0.1 Uro mali (Wizard, Dizzy)
0.1.0 Corn Snake (Amber)
0.1.0 Red-Eared Sliders (Emerald)
0.0.1 Musk Turtle (Sausage)
1.1.0 Parakeet (Thor, Zeus)
1.4.0 Homo sapiens (Scott, Maria, Elora, Becky, Tessa)
blog: http://chaoticcoyote.blogspot.com/

Here's Desi, the (presumptive) male of a pair that were very accommodating to the camera. Most of the iguanas dashed away at the sound of a car door opening; Desi and Lucy, who were foraging in a picnic area, were very photogenic.

He later gallantly blocked my truck from leaving so Lucy could cross the road. Anthropomorphising? Perhaps, but still an obvious interpretation.

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Unless there is something genetically wrong with them. All the spinnys pictured are females. Females do not develop a crest of spikes on thier dorsal. Males develop a high crest. But there is always an exception to the rule. I have caught a few males that lacked the spikes. Here is a picture of a male.

Nice pics.

Manny

We saw quite a few huge males with spikes, but most weren't very camera-friendly. According to Dr. Jerry Jackson of the Florida Gulf Coast University, younger males (on Gasparilla) often lack spines, especially when they haven't established a colony.

Of course, I haven't been checking any iguanas for their sex; it seems a tad impertinent.

Here's one picture of a wild male, taken from a video frame. Like most big males, he scampered off faster than you can say "Iggy".

I need quieter door-latches on my truck.

Lucy showed a distinct fondness for these yellow flowers.

I talked to her while taking photos. Two nearby tourists made some smart remark about "Steve Irwin", and I almost slipped into a bad Australian accent to say "Crikey! Now there's a bee-yoo-tiful sheelah!"

And I wasn't even dressed in khaki...

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Great pictures!!! Thank you for sharing them!!!

This big one wasn't afraid of us in the least. He (she?) gave me one look, then slowly walked to the edge of the road and into the brush.

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Cool pics. I have some pics up on webshots if you are interested in looking at them. We try and get to gasparilla once a year in March.

Carole

PS the pics are mixed in that album with a lot of other feral igs from elsewhere and zoo animals.

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Web Shots Florida Album

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www.reptilecare.com

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