I’m currently in south Florida killing iguanas. AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wish we could do the same with feral and outdoor cats. Horrible for native ecosystems.

OP here


I don’t think I could ever bring myself to shoot a cat. I have two cats.


But I get what you’re saying. Ferals are a HUGE problem. I can’t even fathom how many birds and small mammals they kill.


But I’m not the guy for that. I love shooting iguanas. Cats? Couldn’t do it. Sorry.

The correct way to manage feral cat populations is through targeted trap, neuter, release programs - not through mass killing. It's honestly not even funny to joke about. I know you're not trying to stir up the animal welfare people but your lighthearted tone about killing animals is pretty stomach-turning to people who care about animals.

OP here


I DO care about animals. It’s possible to care about certain animals and want to eliminate others at the same time.

You don't just want to "eliminate" them - you're here asking for people to cheer you on for smashing their heads in. It's disgusting. These animals didn't ask to be in this position, and they certainly suffer.

[Anonymous]

How many did you both bag total on this trip or others?

[Anonymous]

No questions - but as a frequent traveler to Florida THANK YOU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought people who lived in Bethesda were sort of bland but hoo-boy, was I wrong.

I knew a woman who kept an iguana in a tub and treated it like a baby. She had a hard time finding house sitters.

OP here

Well, I’m not from Bethesda, I just live in that area now. I grew up in PG. But you’re sorta correct, I only know of one of our neighbors who would be down for a trip like this one, but they moved to AZ last year. The rest of the folks I know on our part of the block all seem pretty stodgy. I don’t play golf or watch ballgames on TV, so I’m always the odd-man-out when it comes to the rest of our neighbor-husbands. M’eh, I’m fine with that. We do cool stuff, and my Wife is awesomely badass.

Bethesdan here and I would hang out with you guys! If your boys are in scouts, maybe I already do.
On the bash their head in issue, my question is how many hits it takes. If it’s one and done, that doesn’t seem necessarily cruel to me. If it’s a nasty drag out where they are screeching and clawing, that would be different.
I appreciate the fact that nature=death and every iguana you don’t kill just means a more defenseless and native creature will be killed. And I even rather like iguanas. I also like the idea that they are being sold for some purpose….is it livestock feed? Dog food? Human food? Compost?

[Anonymous]

I’d like to go back to the python. Do they strike? Is the person in front of you in danger of getting but? Do they bite and hold on? Are they all mostly Burmese or are more aggressive African rock pythons popping up? Are they easy to spot or can you walk right past them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone who recently moved to Florida- thank you for doing this! I had no idea they were an abusive species and found them kind of cute. I'm not sure i'll start killing them but this is good to know i guess

Wait until there is a frost in Florida. They sleep in trees. When it turns frosty overnight, they lose their balance and fall on whatever is beneath. True test you know you are in Florida when you wake up on a frosty morn and find several um, gone bodies in and around ur house.

[Anonymous]

Wait in your house? So the pythons get into the house?

Does the frost kill them or stun them? Do they wake up and seek out warmer places?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No questions but very interesting. Have never been to Florida and didn't know iguanas were a problem invasive there.

OP here

It’s not just iguanas. Florida is filled with invasive tropical species.


We saw two monkeys on top of dumper behind Taco Bell in Dania Beach this evening. Yes. Monkeys.

You snow birds move down here and have no clue about history. Monkeys have been in Ft Lauderdale forever.

“In its heyday, the mangroves at Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sheltered a barrel of wild monkeys who so loved their mistress, Evelyn Bartlett, that they seemed to know exactly when she was en route from Massachusetts. By the time she arrived for the winter season, they were gathered in the branches overhanging the porch, awaiting the toast points with strawberry jam that Evelyn fed them.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought people who lived in Bethesda were sort of bland but hoo-boy, was I wrong.

I knew a woman who kept an iguana in a tub and treated it like a baby. She had a hard time finding house sitters.

OP here

Well, I’m not from Bethesda, I just live in that area now. I grew up in PG. But you’re sorta correct, I only know of one of our neighbors who would be down for a trip like this one, but they moved to AZ last year. The rest of the folks I know on our part of the block all seem pretty stodgy. I don’t play golf or watch ballgames on TV, so I’m always the odd-man-out when it comes to the rest of our neighbor-husbands. M’eh, I’m fine with that. We do cool stuff, and my Wife is awesomely badass.

Bethesdan here and I would hang out with you guys! If your boys are in scouts, maybe I already do.
On the bash their head in issue, my question is how many hits it takes. If it’s one and done, that doesn’t seem necessarily cruel to me. If it’s a nasty drag out where they are screeching and clawing, that would be different.
I appreciate the fact that nature=death and every iguana you don’t kill just means a more defenseless and native creature will be killed. And I even rather like iguanas. I also like the idea that they are being sold for some purpose….is it livestock feed? Dog food? Human food? Compost?

That's just not true. The iguanas aren't pushing out native species. They are harmful to ornamental landscaping. The pythons are deeply harmful to other species - there is a legitimate environmental and moral argument for killing them, essentially by any means necessary. The iguanas are inconvenient. They destroyed one seawall.

I'm not saying there is no argument for reducing their population. Clearly there is. But there is a big difference between them and pythons. Don't let tourists like OP convince you otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d like to go back to the python. Do they strike? Is the person in front of you in danger of getting but? Do they bite and hold on? Are they all mostly Burmese or are more aggressive African rock pythons popping up? Are they easy to spot or can you walk right past them?

OP here

Yes, they will strike, absolutely. They will sometimes strike and hold, and other times not. Our friend we were hunting with has been bitten once, it was very unpleasant. They have lots of large pointed teeth, and each puncture becomes a laceration because the snake invariably moves and pulls back, tearing the skin at each puncture. Their saliva is also an anticoagulant, so the wound bleeds a lot as well. So yeah, it’s dangerous - far more so than iguanas.

They are mostly Burmese. There are Rocks too. But mostly Burmese.

They are NOT easy to spot. You have the best luck from 7-9 am this time of year, when they’re basking to get their temps up and start the day. You find them in bare spots of ground or wrapped around trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought people who lived in Bethesda were sort of bland but hoo-boy, was I wrong.

I knew a woman who kept an iguana in a tub and treated it like a baby. She had a hard time finding house sitters.

OP here

Well, I’m not from Bethesda, I just live in that area now. I grew up in PG. But you’re sorta correct, I only know of one of our neighbors who would be down for a trip like this one, but they moved to AZ last year. The rest of the folks I know on our part of the block all seem pretty stodgy. I don’t play golf or watch ballgames on TV, so I’m always the odd-man-out when it comes to the rest of our neighbor-husbands. M’eh, I’m fine with that. We do cool stuff, and my Wife is awesomely badass.

Bethesdan here and I would hang out with you guys! If your boys are in scouts, maybe I already do.
On the bash their head in issue, my question is how many hits it takes. If it’s one and done, that doesn’t seem necessarily cruel to me. If it’s a nasty drag out where they are screeching and clawing, that would be different.
I appreciate the fact that nature=death and every iguana you don’t kill just means a more defenseless and native creature will be killed. And I even rather like iguanas. I also like the idea that they are being sold for some purpose….is it livestock feed? Dog food? Human food? Compost?

That's just not true. The iguanas aren't pushing out native species. They are harmful to ornamental landscaping. The pythons are deeply harmful to other species - there is a legitimate environmental and moral argument for killing them, essentially by any means necessary. The iguanas are inconvenient. They destroyed one seawall.

I'm not saying there is no argument for reducing their population. Clearly there is. But there is a big difference between them and pythons. Don't let tourists like OP convince you otherwise.

OP here

The iguanas eat the eggs of nesting birds and chicks in the nest. They also eat the flowers/fruit of a local shrub that is the only food source for the Miami Blue Butterfly. It will likely go extinct specifically because of iguanas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many did you both bag total on this trip or others?

OP here

Trip is over, heading home.

Final tallies:

101 iguanas, the largest was 74” long and just shy of 16 pounds. And that wasn’t the biggest we saw, just the biggest we killed. Passed on several others that were even bigger, but they were in spots where it wasn’t safe to shoot them due to proximity to houses/boats/cars/people/etc, and they were too far away to harpoon.

0 pythons. A real bummer.

2 lionfish. May do another trip in the summer over on the Ft Myers side to go spearfishing for them. They’re more common on the gulf side.



So we’re coming home with 30lbs of iguana legs and tails on ice. Iguana-taco party Friday night!!


Thanks for following the thread, y’all. Hoped it was interesting.



OP out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many did you both bag total on this trip or others?

OP here

Trip is over, heading home.

Final tallies:

101 iguanas, the largest was 74” long and just shy of 16 pounds. And that wasn’t the biggest we saw, just the biggest we killed. Passed on several others that were even bigger, but they were in spots where it wasn’t safe to shoot them due to proximity to houses/boats/cars/people/etc, and they were too far away to harpoon.

0 pythons. A real bummer.

2 lionfish. May do another trip in the summer over on the Ft Myers side to go spearfishing for them. They’re more common on the gulf side.



So we’re coming home with 30lbs of iguana legs and tails on ice. Iguana-taco party Friday night!!


Thanks for following the thread, y’all. Hoped it was interesting.



OP out.

Well
Done.
I thought
It
Was
A
Very
Cool
Thread

🐊

[Anonymous]

I’m bumping this old thread to see if OP or anyone can recommend a service to help rid the huge Iguanas in my backyard - in South Florida
Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does one kill iguanas? Where do you put them? Who commissions this? Did you fly to FL just to do that?

We’re using a couple different means.

High-powered air rifles (not Red Ryder Carbine Action Range Model Air Rifles, lolz). Big, powerful air rifles. A headshot is almost always instantly lethal to even large (5ft) lizards.

Blowguns which fire darts connected to fishing line (for places where it’s too close to buildings/homes for air rifles). You dart them, reel them in, then club them.

There is a guy down here who is a fish market buyer who buys them. $.50 pound.

Yes, came here just to kill iguanas and hopefully a python or two.

How bad is the python issue currently?