You are a true desert rat. Yeah, I was never one to believe the experts. Animal populations and ranges are pretty much made up like global warming. I trust local folks and even anecdotes more.
Florida has more trouble with exotics that dumb people bring in as pets. We have a colony of Tegu lizards a few miles from my house now:
They can grow up to four feet and can bite your finger clean off. They sell them as pets, and when people can't afford to feed them...
They sell them as pets, and when people can't afford to feed them... That's the problem, right there. They either don't have the guts to put the animal down, (the sense to not buy it in the first place), or the brains to take it to a shelter or zoo.
Thank The Almighty we have Winter here, it cuts down on the invasive species.