Leepin' Lizards!  Did you know that Iguana's are not indigenous to Florida?  However, just like the Chameleons & Curly-tailed Lizards they have made themselves a part of Florida's habitat.  You may see little brown Anoles scurry across your walk ways or see a lizard or two crawling up your screens but these creatures are a part of nature that are also effected by the impacts of our left behind litter. 

Green Anole aka Chameleon

Origin, Habitat And Habits

Found in Southeastern USA, Cuba, Jamaica, and other Caribbean islands. Only the green anole is native to the U.S.; all others are released or escaped pets, many of which have survived and bred in the U.S.; the other six species are native to the Caribbean islands. The vast majority of green anoles sold in the pet trade are wild caught in the Southeastern U.S. There are over 36 species of non-native anoles breeding in the wilds in Florida (out of an estimated total of 250 anole species in the world), and there has been considerable interbreeding so markings may be considerably altered from the true wild types.

Habitat

Found in bushes, trees (not above 15'), in and on rock walls, woods, around houses.

Habits
Primarily terrestrial, these diurnal lizards inhabit low bushes and the ground underneath. Often found sunning on exposed walls and branches.

Diet
Wild diet includes grubs, crickets, cockroaches, spiders, moths, any arthropod which will fit in their mouths. In captivity, avoid 'sowbugs' (aka potato bugs, pill bugs) and beetles. Even though anoles will go for bigger prey, the size fed to them should be no bigger than 1/2 the size of the anoles head.

IGUANA

Introduction
Due to Florida's prominence in the exotic pet trade, iguanas imported as pets have escaped or been released, and are now established in South Florida. This has created unique problems for Florida's homeowners and businesses. South and Central Florida's subtropical climate allows these large herbivorous (plant-eating) lizards to survive, reproduce, and become part of the Florida environment. Three large members of the iguana family (Iguanidae) have become established in south Florida. These are the common green iguana (Iguana iguana), the Mexican spiny-tailed iguanas (Ctenosaura pectinata) and black spiny-tailed iguana (C. similis). Large male spiny-tailed iguanas are often misidentified as alligators by startled homeowners because of reduced dorsal spines and dark color. There are many other large lizards established in Florida that some people misidentify as iguanas. The brown basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus) is a large (up to 2 feet) lizard that is often mistaken for an iguana and occurs in the same areas as introduced iguanas. Knight anoles (Anolis equestris) commonly reach between 12-18 inches. Jamaican giant anole (Anolis garmani) males can reach 12 inches. People in South Florida often call these large green anoles "iguanas" or "iguanitos." Occasionally escaped pets that have not established breeding populations are seen by surprised neighbors. These include large lizards like many of the monitor lizards (Varanus sp.).

Habits
Adult iguanas are herbivores' feeding on foliage, flowers, and fruit. They will occasionally eat animal material such as insects, lizards and other small animals, nestling birds and eggs. Juveniles eat more animal material, especially insects, and hatchling green iguanas eat the droppings of adult iguanas to acquire the gut bacteria that help them digest plant material. Males are territorial against other males, but are not territorial against females and juveniles. These large lizards like to bask in open areas; sidewalks, docks, seawalls, landscape timbers, or open mowed areas. If frightened, they dive into water (green iguanas and basilisks) or retreat into their burrows (spiny tailed iguanas). This habit of diving into the water to escape makes green iguanas very difficult to capture. Basilisks and anoles generally eat insects and small vertebrate prey, but Knight anoles occasionally eat small fruits and flowers as well.

Damage
Damage caused by iguanas includes eating valuable landscape plants, shrubs, and trees, eating orchids and many other flowers, eating dooryard fruit like berries, figs, mangos, tomatoes, bananas, lychees, etc. Iguanas do not eat citrus. Burrows that they dig undermine sidewalks, seawalls, and foundations. Burrows of iguanas next to seawalls allow erosion and eventual collapse of those seawalls. Droppings of iguanas litter areas where they bask. This is unsightly, causes odor complaints, and is a possible source of salmonella bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning. Adult iguanas are large powerful animals that can bite, cause severe scratch wounds with their extremely sharp claws, and deliver a painful slap with their powerful tail. Iguanas normally avoid people but will defend themselves against pets and people that try to catch them or corner them.

Control Options

 Tolerance
Many people enjoy sharing their living space with a few iguanas. Learn to appreciate these exotic creatures. Do not feed iguanas in your yard. This will attract more iguanas and can create problems for both you and your neighbors by creating unnatural concentrations. Do not become a nuisance to your neighbors by feeding iguanas. Pans of cut fruit will attract rats and raccoons as well as iguanas. Be a considerate neighbor and good environmental steward.

Exclusion

Protect valuable plants with cages or screen enclosures. There are currently no repellents registered for preventing feeding damage from iguanas.

Habitat Modification
Avoid planting species that are preferred food for iguanas (See Table 1 ).
Remove protective cover such as dense thickets and piles of landscape timbers or rocks. Sheet metal guards of trees, palms, and dock pilings will prevent them from climbing. Fill vacant burrows with concrete and sand during the day when the animals are likely to be away from the burrow. Electric fences on seawalls and docks may deter or stop iguanas from climbing up on to them. Persistent harassment will also encourage iguanas to move to safer pastures.



Natural Enemies
Raccoons, fish crows, vultures, feral pigs and other predators dig up iguana nests and eat the eggs. Raccoons, snakes, hawks, owls, egrets, herons, cats, and dogs kill the majority of hatchling and juvenile iguanas. After young iguanas reach about two feet in length, they have fewer natural enemies. Automobiles and people are the main cause of mortality of adult iguanas. Alligators may occasionally take adults in the water. In tropical America, large predators like ocelots, pumas, jaguars, anacondas, boa constrictors and people eat adult iguanas. Dogs occasionally catch iguanas in the open and can overtake them before they escape into the water or down their burrows to safety. Freezes keeps iguanas limited to the southern half of peninsular Florida.

MEDITERRANEAN GECKO

By boats, trucks or planes, the Mediterranean Gecko is by far the most successful stowaway of all North American lizards. This is the most warty species of the four species of house geckos, its head, body, legs and tail covered with prominent tubercles. Adults may reach 5 in. (13 cm) TL. Like all house geckos they are rather flattened, with large heads, bulging eyes with vertical pupils and covered with an immoveable clear spectacle. It is usually darker brown or gray with darker spots by day than at night, when it may appear a ghostly white. Irregular dark markings across the head and back may disappear at night. The tail has dark bands, which are especially prominent in juveniles. The belly is white and somewhat translucent.

Habitat and Range

The most widely introduced lizard in the United States, the Mediterranean Gecko is found on all major Hawaiian Islands. The Mediterranean Gecko can be expected throughout Florida and the southern tier of counties in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. It is found at least in scattered colonies throughout most of Louisiana, and throughout the southern third of Texas, including the Big Bend region. North and west of this range (Arkansas, Arizona, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma and South Carolina) these geckos are found in scattered locations centering on urban areas. As its name implies, its native range includes coastal areas around the Mediterranean and Red Seas, East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and east to Pakistan.

Habits
House geckos are often found lurking on walls or ceilings near lights, waiting to ambush moths and other insects. Mediterranean Geckos are very vocal at night. Males make chirping calls, possibly to defend territories. Often they make a squeaking sound when picked up. Females lay pairs of oval white hard shelled eggs above ground, under loose bark, palm fronds or other protected location. They are a communal nesting species. They are preyed upon by cats, large spiders and Cuban Treefrogs. A female’s clutch of two eggs may amount to 25% or more of her body weight.

Conservation & Other Threats
This species is a ferocious colonizer, and is capable of displacing native nocturnal climbing geckos wherever they come in contact. Between 2000 and 2005, 24 reports of new US locations for Mediterranean Geckos have been published. The lizards have shown an astonishing ability to hitchhike around the country on produce trucks and other conveyances. From a single specimen found in Brownsville Texas in 1950, Mediterranean Geckos had dispersed north along highways into most of southern Texas by the 1970's. Ironically, despite its early introduction and aggressive spread, this species is being displaced in much of southern Florida by the other three species of house geckos.