Meet the iguana hiding in a Florida toilet bowl
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Florida citizens are having recurring encounters with lizards in their homes.
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The Iguana found in John Riddle's toilet (The Guardian)
A Florida man found an iguana in his toilet after hearing splashing sounds. John Riddle of Hollywood, Florida, told The Orlando Sentinel that he saw a "frightened-looking reptile" looking back at him when he lifted his toilet bowl.
Riddle recalls trying to remove the lizard with a pool net but to no avail. He details how he "worked up enough nerve to try to grab him" using his hands.
The iguana swam up Riddle's pipe and eventually got out of the bowl and hid in the bathroom, where Riddle managed to get him out of his home.
Iguanas have become a real problem in Florida. Riddle's address seems to be particularly loaded with them as in 2022 Michelle Reynolds also reported seeing a Mexican spiny-tail iguana in her home near Miami.
Reynolds detailed how the iguana, which can grow up to 18in with an 18in tail, took up "most of the toilet bowl."
According to The Guardian in 2021, iguanas are an invasive species that are now commonly described as pests. “The iguanas hang out on roofs, dig under houses, and to the horror of homeowners can crawl into sewers only to emerge, thrashing around, in the toilet bowl.”
The Tampa Bay Times said the "voracious little Godzillas … tend to be good swimmers, able to hold their breath for an extended time period” and then exit from toilet pipes.
Blake Wilkins, owner of Redline Iguana Removal also explained that the lizards can come into toilets from vents in roofs or walls, something that according to Wilkins comes with "a lot of screaming and yelling."
Riddle recalled that it has never happened to him in 21 years of living in his home. He expressed that since it has happened, "the odds are probably really good that it won't happen hopefully for not at least another 21 years or so."
