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SUN-SENTINEL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 30 September 05 When iguanas lunch in your yard, they rarely leave (Christine Winter Juneau)
A juicy red hibiscus tree planted along a canal doesn't have a chance. It's a delicacy that the typical iguana can't resist. And all those orchids you worked so hard to naturalize in the trees in your yard ... yum!
Some people find the prehistoric-looking beasts amusing, and even give them cute names. But there comes a point -- usually when Fred or Ethel starts stripping whole rows of your ornamental plants -- that it isn't so much fun having a thriving iguana population in the neighborhood.
However, getting rid of them is difficult, if not impossible. You can catch them, but you can't release them in Florida, because they are considered exotic animals. Some reptile stores might accept babies, but feral adults rarely make acceptable pets.
About the only other thing you can do legally with a captured iguana is kill it, according to Willie Puz, spokesman for the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission. And that must be done humanely, he added.
He suggested trying to find an affordable trapper, though many are no longer willing to bother with iguanas. And there is always the chance another iguana will move in once the territorial resident of your yard is removed.
Dogs kill a lot of juvenile iguanas, but canines are taking their chances if they corner the adults, which have strong tails, sharp claws and nasty teeth. I would not turn my little dogs loose in the yard with an adult iguana.
Besides, most gardeners are nature lovers, and really don't like killing wildlife, even 4-foot-long lizards that may carry salmonella and are chomping on their roses and impatiens with abandon. Unfortunately, there are only a few tips on how to safeguard your flowers. But none of them is really a slam dunk, once these big hungry lizards get established in your yard.
Puz suggested caging your vegetation, which might work on smaller ornamentals but isn't practical for trees and large bushes.
Garlic products, such as Garlic Gard, which are sold at garden centers, generally don't get very good reviews from those who've tried them, at least on the larger iguanas.
"We usually suggest that people make their own, by putting a large number of garlic cloves in the blender with a little cooking oil [to make it stick to leaves]," said Sascha Rybinski, a staffer at the Wildlife Care Center in Fort Lauderdale. "You have to make it strong and be persistent in spraying it."
You can try clearing out dense thickets of vegetation where they hide and use sheet metal guards to make it harder for them to climb your favorite trees and palms, W.H. Kern Jr., an assistant professor at the University of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, suggested in an article published by the University of Florida/IFAS Extension.
Or you can throw in the towel and try planting an "iguana resistant" landscape that would include milkweed, pentas, oleanders, crotons and other toxic or tough, thick-leaved plants.
A friend who has been frequently bedeviled by them suggested starting an Iguana-On-A-Stick franchise, since the lizards are considered a tasty delicacy in some countries. And just to add insult to injury, she wants to marinate them in garlic.
When iguanas lunch in your yard, they rarely leave

i've heard that plants in the mint family are wonderful repelents for wildlife that comes into the garden to feed.
you just make a boundary around your garden with whatever mint plant, and the scent is so strong, it basically hides the rest of the plants.

n/p
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

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