Large Lizard Spotted In Tree Is One Of Several Terrorizing Neighborhood

POSTED: 6:47 am EDT October 9, 2007

UPDATED: 1:01 pm EDT October 9, 2007

EDGEWOOD, Fla. -- A large lizard capable of eating small pets and injuring children spotted in a Central Florida neighborhood tree remains on the loose, keeping homeowners on edge.

PHOTOS: Lizard Hiding In Tree

The lizard, believed to be longer than 4 feet, was spotted Monday apparently trying to get to a nest in a tree near several Edgewood homes.

Neighbors said it is one of at least three dangerous lizards roaming the area.

"As we walk through the neighborhood, we are now looking up into the trees," homeowner Janie Drummond said. An 89-year-old woman has shut herself inside her home because of the lizard invasion.

"She won't come out," daughter of local homeowner Robin Adams said. "They've told her to stay inside so that's what she is going to do." Other homeowners are keeping their children and pets inside because of the possible danger. The reptile is being blamed for biting a large dog on the head.

"I think it's probably not a good thing to have him running around," homeowner Daymon Powell said. "There are kids in the neighborhood that could corner him and it might attack them." Local 6 showed a large crowd of people standing around the homes where the lizard was spotted.

"It is something to see," Powell said. Experts said the lizards can be aggressive and dangerous. They said they think the loose lizards may have been someone's pet and let loose in the area.

Please be advised that the photos at the Local 6 site are of such poor quality and feature such a dearth of detail that I didn't think them worthy of re-posting here.....all you can see is a very distant tail and perhaps a poor outline of a head, but that's about it.

The video at that page is not much better, although it does mention a resident characterizing one of the lizards as being six feet in length, something not included in the text of the story.

More on Monitor Lizards:

Monitor lizard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nice video here, more informative than the one at Local 6

Monitor Lizard - Video - MSN Encarta

Is it generally legal to kill such things in town?

Not being a Floridian, my guess would be that they are regarded as a protected species and so harming or killing one would probably result in serious jail time and fines, unless it can be clearly shown that a human was in imminent danger.

Even then, it would probably not be without legal consequences.

We got inguanas running all over the place in Cape Haze and Gasparella Is. FL

Are the iguanas big or aggressive enough to cause a danger to the public?

Some of my Australian friends consider it a sign of good luck when lizards take up residence in their gardens, because they eat rodents and some poisonous insects and thereby are a benefit to gardeners.

They are very small lizards though, typically no more than 1 1/2 feet long

Are the iguanas big or aggressive enough to cause a danger to the public? ................ They come in different sizes and colors. The largest I have seen was about 3’nestled in the dunes. On the average I’ve seen them around the 2’ size. We have a couple here running around that are emerald green. They don’t bother the dogs or cats as far as we know. I would think they would be tasty morsals for the local gators. Those we have in the larger sizes. The biggest compaint we hear on the Island is that there are too damn many of them (Inguanas). Maybe because there is too much Inquana Guamo? They do like bird’s eggs and turtle eggs I hear, so that could be the major problem.

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