I searched the web a little. Yours is more handsome than most, I think! (Some pictures really scare me!)

Uh oh. Baby nile monitor?

I hope not.

Fear not. They don't have stripes.

The head shape looks wrong for a nile monitor.

You're right. I was actually thinking of what the tegu looks like.

I think its a baby iguana

My " better half's " computer says it is a " Spiny-Tailed iguana ", an invader from Central America and Mexico and spring time is when they mate. A recent invader of course. This guy must have been a new born because the computer also says they will GROW TO 4 - 5 FEET LONG as adults !!!!

YIKES ! Am sure glad I have a secure wire-mesh guard around the underneath of this home, - lizards that big would keep me awake smooching all night ! ( smile )

Still have trouble with the image of a 4 footer !!!!

Boca grande used to be full of them. I remember one day me and my sis was going to the beach out there with that house like lighthouse and a real big one was running up infront of us in the road. It gave my sister the hibbi jibbies cause she freaks at the tiny anoles in my hedge.

Pea, do you still live in Boca grande?

I never lived there just spent much our spring vacations there. My aunt would come visit and we would pack up the car and head to boca grande to beach. Boca grande is still my favorite beach and will be heading out there this coming weekend to spend the day. Being born and raised here means i have spent a goodly number of days beaching it on boca grande.

Years ago in Tampa my neighbor told me she saw this huge lizard in the back yard on her outdoor pool deck. When she described how big it was I told her she needed to stop drinking alone. Then one day I happened to look out the window where we had a small compost pile. We had thrown out a large piece of watermelon and there it was, chowing down. I couldn't believe my eyes, this thing was about 4 feet long. So then I was leery of doing anything around a large shrub, afraid this thing would be hiding in it. Months after I guess it had traveled pretty far into a very exclusive subdivision and it was all over the local TV news about this huge thing being spotted. I guess if anyone in our neck of the woods had reported it the same conclusion would be that the person was drunk or high and nobody cared. Anyway, it turned out to be a Nile Monitor which can get to 6 foot and they are very dangerous.

Unfortunately the one that was found in the subdivision far away was probably a different one. There are large colonies in Tampa, WPB, and a couple of other places in the state.

Thanks guys, - I appreciate all the informative comments. I live right next to Boca Grande and have seen more than a few reptiles during my many trips there. When I ventured that these iguana's are " recent invaders " I merely meant long term,..just confident that they were certainly not found in South Florida in 1950, or 1955 ! They are just one of the myriad of unwelcome, nasty, vile creatures that have unknowingly been allowed to sneak in as travel and trade to those many countries " south of the border " increased after WW 2 ! One example of this is the 5 year war I waged ( still not 100 % sure it's over ) here with the glutinous, fast reproducing Cuban Tree frogs !

Am not getting excited by these iguana's,..yet ! lol Will wait & see what develops,...if they reproduce like the CTF's and continue invading this tranquil park,...well, will then have to call out Seal Team 6,..or at the minimum, dust off my old Havahart spring loaded metal trap !

Just hoping this was just a one-off friendly escursion by the baby iguana. All creatures are so cute when they are babies,..just unable to find anything cute about this fast guy ! Yikes,..his most notable attribute,..he ( she ) is amazingly quick, - one move to grab the slimy devil and WHOOSH, - it zooms away like a bolt of lightning !!!

Am sure hoping this was a one time meeting ",.. sure hope so ! lol

.if they reproduce like the CTF's

they do, but they eat much more and dig substantial burrows that can undermine a house :(

I can remember when iguanas first began to be naturalized in FL, back in the 80s. Young guys were releasing them in Coral Gables for the fun of chasing them through the tree canopies and the rest is history.

On the plus side, coyotes do eat them.

I'd rather have an iguana than a monitor or a tegu so there is a bright side...of all the large lizard invaders this one won't eat your dog.

Or cats I assume,...am in process of getting two male kittens,..from the same litter hopefully. They'll be named Bert and Ernie ! lol

Nothing should bother them as they'll be inside cats,..will tho venture out to the screened in lanai thru the flap in the lockable cat door where their litter box will be. So they will get plenty of fresh air, breezes and watch the passing parade, as we adults do ! At most they'd sit on a table and look out at the iguana's or any other reptile slithering by. Should be no problem,...right ?...RIGHT ????

My herd of furry felines enjoy watching the anoles. They chatter at them thru the window and get all excited when the lizards hop on the screen. If the lizards get inside sadly they get eaten faster than i can stop the cats from grabbing them.

Pea, one question,..do your cats' claws rip the screens ? Right now I am planning to have my two gray & white kittens' nails filed, rather than declawing them, which I think is cruel. One concern I have tho, will that be enough to keep them from tearing the lanai screens ? Was initially only concerned with them possibly encountering a large iguana, - forgot about the constantly appearing little guys. Can see them now lunging at the gecko's that pop onto the screens all the time !

Jofus, I'm not Pea, but my neighbor has two cats who spend most of the day on the screened-in porch. We live adjacent to preserve land so we see everything from CTFs to panthers. Her kitties try very hard but have not been able to rip the screens to grab their prey, and they are not even filed.

ETA As Pea said, though, it's a fatal mistake if one of the smaller lizards, even the African ones, get inside.

They might climb the screens especially when they are small tho i have one small female adult that will still climb the screens after a lizard. A little training with a squirt gun likely will curb their ethusiasm to climb. The screens will likely not rip but get pricks here and there. You will likely have to replace the screens more often than if you had no cats. But my screens are about 7 years old on my porch and still look ok tho certainly not pristine. The guys delivering the refridgerator did more damage than the cats. It really depends on the cat if they climb the screens or not. They do make pet friendly screening that i likely will use next time i rescreen...it is more heavy duty than the normal screen. You might want to get a metal screen guard for the door tho...for some reason that recieves more damage than the rest of the screens.

Oh on the nail filing...i clip my cats nails with human nail clippers. Just the little end most tips so i don't nick the little part that has that is filled with blood...a bleeding running cat freaking out cause you nicked the nail core is not something anyone wants. Most my cats will begrudgingly allow me to do it but a couple of them i have to sneak and get one or two nails at a time while they are sleeping. Elsewise they get caught in the weave of the couch.

Thanks guys for all the information, it was very helpful ! Bert and Ernie will be two very spoiled kittens,..will look into those more rigid screens whenever the need arises !

Look into "Pet Proof" screening. It really does work. My 12 pound cat scales the screens on the back porch like a ladder and they have held up fine. Before I changed to that screening he would tear holes in them and let himself out, much to my dismay! But fortunately he never figured out how to get out of the chain link fence that surrounds the backyard!

JUST FYI :
Our mobile home park's newsletter here in SW Florida, ( approximately 700 homes ) just announced that over seventy ( 70 ) of those slimy, voracious, spiny-tailed iguanas have recently been discovered in the park. This does not include our guy, who apparently slithered off to someone else's homesite and most likely is still at large, ( many vacant snowbird homes around ). A special reptile trapper was called in to round them up !
Just curious if anyone else out there has had " the pleasure " of recently stumbling across one or more of these guys outside your home,..or worse yet, inside your toilet bowl as I saw in some unfortunate's home last night on TV ! YIKES,..talk about a shocking surprise !!

I only have anoles and some geckos and occassionally a skink.

Last summer i worked out in Placida and they have a few Iguanias there.

Looks like more than a few this year, Pea ! 70 + in just one 55 + mobile home park ? I first moved here in 2004 from the Upper Keys,...where I lived for 16 yrs, - can't recall a pin-point invasion like this down there !

Just curious, where exactly in zone 10a are you ?

Of course nothing can compare with the Cuban Tree Frog invasion we experienced hereabouts 6 yrs ago ! I was ready to call in the 82nd Airborne Division to help me with that one ! ( smile )

Am hoping we have found all of these iguanas,.. and disposed of every one, - humanely of course. ( smile )

I'm over in Charlotte harbor but during season i do the art market out by the Fishery. The iguanas were real bad on boca grande about maybe 5-8 years back...englewood is not that far for them to travel, all it takes is 2 in one locale to start a colony. I think they can lay like 30 eggs to a time so thats a lot of lizard babies.

Jofus, just today I discovered these two forums. I didn't know that we had them. Maybe you could get some answers there?

Name This Animal

Reptiles & Amphibians

Carol in Jacksonville

Thanks Carol, will check both thoroughly asap !