Say you catch a baby green iguana off a Miami seawall and take it home. Under Florida Statute 379.372 that's a Level Two violation: up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine for a first offense, plus you surrender the animal. Kill the same lizard on private property with the owner's permission and you've broken no law.
Meanwhile:
- The state itself stocked peacock bass in 1984, and their bag limit (2) is stricter than native largemouth (5).
- Brazilian pepper covers 700,000+ acres.
- Cuban treefrogs aren't on either FWC nonnative list.
- FWC's outdoor cat guidance is "a policy only and not a regulation."
- Feral hogs are in all 67 counties and can legally be trucked live to hunting preserves.
I wrote a longer, sourced piece on this (statutes, FWC documents, the USARK v. Zinke ruling), including the April 2023 Broward case where FWC officers killed 34 pythons and, by FWC's own account, a legal pet boa by mistake:
Scapegoats With Scales: Florida's Reptile Bans and the Invasive Species Nobody Bans
A few questions for keepers here:
1. Did anyone go through the 2021 permit and microchip process, or lose a breeding operation when iguana and tegu breeding ended in 2024? How did it go?
2. Does "one pet doesn't affect an established wild population" hold for tegus, which are still spreading, or only for iguanas in South Florida?
3. What actually cuts escapes and releases: caging standards, amnesty, stiffer release penalties?
Pushback welcome too.
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Strategic Liberty Coalition | X: @Strategize4USA | Instagram: @Strategize4USA
