When I see these stories about invasive non-native species, I always wonder how something like a 6-foot lizard makes its way over here from Africa (”lizards on a plane?”) and into Florida’s swamps without being detected somewhere along the way.
"There are few lizards less suited to life in captivity than the Nile monitor. Buffrenil (1992) considered that, when fighting for its life, a Nile monitor was a more dangerous adversary than a crocodile of a similar size. Their care presents particular problems on account of the lizards' enormous size and lively dispositions. Very few of the people who buy brightly-coloured baby Nile monitors can be aware that, within a couple of years, their purchase will have turned into an enormous, ferocious carnivore, quite capable of breaking the family cat's neck with a single snap and swallowing it whole."
(Bennett, D. 1995. Little Book of Monitor Lizards, Viper Press, Aberdeen, UK)
Idiots get them as pets when they are small. These things get big quick. Because they are idiots, they don’t learn how to handle them. So they let them go. Other idiots decide they want to breed them and sell the skins to shoe companies and make a quick buck. It takes work and effort to be successful. The quick buck doens’t come. They let them go. Therefore big problem. First ones were brought in by Gangsta’s, flamboyant tonsil hockey players, and the like. Given the right environment, Florida certainly provides it, they will flourish in the wild. They are flourishing.
Irresponsible pet owners simply tire of them and let them go. The Everglades are full of Burmese pythons now for this very reason.
They follow the Mexicans.
LIIIZARRRDS ON A JET PLANE....
dum dum dum....
(hic)