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[quote=Anonymous][quote=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 [/quote]

OP here!!!!

My Wife told me someone resurrected this thread! Oh my gosh!

While I don’t know of anyone personally, I do know for a fact there are specialty exterminators in SFL that deal with iguana removal. Some even have YouTube channels, and that might be a good place to start searching. No idea what they charge though. It’s more involved than spraying for bugs though and it might require multiple visits, so it’s probably not cheap.

Having said that, what about doing it yourself? You can get an airgun capable of (humanely) killing an iguana for about $230 or so (I’d recommend a Gamo .22 Nitro Piston). Read the manual, assemble everything according to the instructions, and then find a safe area to price shooting it. Sight it in and get the scope adjusted properly, then spend a few hours practicing with it until you can hit a 1” target at 30 yards consistently. The 1” is important because the area of the iguana you need to hit is about that size. When you shoot them, center the reticle of the scope (the crosshairs thing you see when you look through it) on the rear part of the iguana’s head (as viewed from the side). This will be behind and slightly below the eye, almost where the ear would be if they had protruding ears. A hit in this area with a .22 pellet from a decent airgun will usually kill the lizard instantly. If you cannot see this spot on the lizard, don’t shoot it in the body. Body hits do very little to iguanas in the way of incapacitating them. They might die later (but usually don’t) but it’s not going to drop them in their tracks.

After you’ve eliminated the problem iguana(s), you should definitely try eating them! Any dish that works with chicken will do well with iguana. But they are very lean and have no body fat, so you’ll need to add some kind of fat to the recipe to replace the missing fat for mouthfeel. Butter works, I personally like to add some bacon fat.

Clean the iguana off with a hose. Cut off the rear legs (and the front ones if it’s a big one) and about 7-12 inches of the thickest part of the tail. This is where the meat is. The torso has no real meat, it’s just a bag of guts and ribs. Toss the legs and tail in a lot of boiling water for about 7-9 minutes to blanch it. This will allow you to peel the skin off easily, which would be really difficult otherwise. After skinning, pull the meat off the bones like jerked chicken, and then cook the meat in whatever manner you’d do for chicken. I like to finely chop it and then sauté it like chicken with taco seasoning (don’t forget to add fat or some kind).

They make great tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, etc.

In Panama my coworkers used to roast the whole iguana over a fire, after filling the body cavity with peppers and onions and herbs. I haven’t tried that way, but will next time.

I’m going back to FL in December to try another python hunt, so we’ll be getting some iguanas too.

Good luck resolving your iguana troubles!

OP over and out. [/quote]

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