Last weekend’s frigid bomb cyclone delivered not only record cold temperatures, it also dropped loads of cold-stunned green iguanas from South Florida’s trees, allowing pest control companies to collect them by the thousands.
Some Floridians revived the cold-stunned lizards, but professional pest control businesses rushed teams out to collect as many as they could from HOAs, farms and municipalities before the invasive lizards roused from their stupors. The numbers they collected were “amazing,” said one contractor.
Falling iguanas have become a Florida cliche at this point, but this cold snap was the most brutal since 2010. Temperatures plummeted to the mid-30s and winds were gusting to 45 mph around South Florida early Sunday morning.
“It was kind of the perfect storm to really knock them out of the trees and create this crazy phenomenon we haven’t seen in a very very long time,” said Pierce Kennamer of IggyTrap, a pest control company.
The cold spell was expected to be so severe that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Friday signed a temporary executive order allowing the public transport live cold-stunned iguanas to drop-off sites for humane euthanization.
The state considers the ubiquitous lizards, which hail from the tropical regions of Central and South American, to be an invasive species because of the damage they do to seawalls, levees, gardens, agriculture and other human endeavors.
Florida made it illegal to possess, breed, or sell green iguanas as pets in Florida without a special permit on April 29, 2021.
The professional pest control teams stayed busy. American Iguana Management posted a picture of the bed of a pickup truck full of iguanas and said they collected 300 near Deerfield Beach.
Kennamer said IggyTrap collected 834 cold-stunned iguanas on Sunday, 500 or so Monday, totaling more than 1,400 lizards.
An cold-stunned iguana captured by the staff of IggyTrap on Sunday, February 1, 2026. (Courtesy IggyTrap)
Tom Portuallo of Iguana Control said he sent 12 of his men out on Sunday to hit their bigger accounts first. He said they pulled 800 iguanas from just one account, a municipality with lots of parks. They then collected 200 or 300 iguanas from a number of HOAs.
“They were picking up boxes and bags full of iguanas,” he said. “It was a rush situation, but it was good. I’m proud of my guys,” said Portuallo. “It was a banner day, if you will.”
Portuallo, who’s been running the company for 18 years, was shocked by the numbers of iguanas his company collected. “It’s amazing, the numbers. And these are just the ones that we see. Imagine how many we don’t!”
The pest control companies humanely euthanize the lizards, following FWC recommendations on how to do so. A common method is to use a captive bolt gun followed by pithing.
Iguana Control sends the euthanized iguanas to one of their sister companies: One processes iguana leather, the other turns the lizards into fishing chum.
Under normal weather conditions, iguana control companies use air guns to hunt the lizards, while IzzyTrap uses traps that can catch up to 25 iguanas at a time.
Kennamer said that Tuesday, after some sunny days, iguanas were waking up, basking and not compliant.
Though iguanas do live in trees, making them susceptible to cold wind, they also seek shelter in holes and burrows, which can be a problem for endangered and protected native species, Kennamer said.
“We had a couple locations where gopher tortoises are present, and you could see from the tail drags that the iguanas had retreated into the gopher tortoise burrows, as well as burrowing owls. It’s not something we like to see when the invasive iguanas are running into burrow systems of protected animals.”
Bill Kearney covers the environment, the outdoors and tropical weather. He can be reached at bkearney@sunsentinel.com. Follow him on Instagram @billkearney or on X @billkearney6.