![\"Depicted](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Andrew-Morales-iguana-catch.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAndrew Morales claims he just caught a record-breaking iguana in South Florida.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAndrew Morales claims he just caught a record-breaking iguana in South Florida.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Photo from Andrew Morales via Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n Most South Floridians know the green iguana can be aggressive and territorial, so it\u2019s best to give it and its claws a wide berth, even if it\u2019s smaller than our posh purse puppies. But what if you ran into one the size of a small man?<\/p>\n If you\u2019re Andrew Morales, also known as the Cuban Tarzan<\/a>, you dive in and wrestle the behemoth like prime Steve Irwin on a croc. Morales, who works to remove invasive animals from residential areas in South Florida, recently caught what he\u2019s calling a record-breaking iguana. And while there\u2019s no official state record for the feat, he may have a claim solely based on the monstrosity depicted in his arms on Instagram.<\/p>\n \u201cFound that in Hialeah being fed by grandmas,\u201d one commenter quipped.<\/p>\n \u201cBro is the iguana rizzler,\u201d another impressed user wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cCareful \u2026 Godzilla is going to be upset that you are playing with his kids,\u201d another user wrote.<\/p>\n The tail alone appears longer than most iguanas you\u2019d find routinely roaming around South Florida, and its muscular legs, punctuated by bony hind claws, are pure, Freddy Krueger-esque nightmare fuel. They\u2019re not just for show either; iguanas have been known to attack humans when threatened, according to iguanacontrol.com<\/a>. They also carry salmonella and pack up to 120 razor-sharp teeth in their mouths.<\/p>\n Green iguanas are the scaly, prehistoric-looking reptiles that look like they just broke out of Jurassic Park. They\u2019ve been mesmerizing and terrorizing South Florida since the 1960s, when they arrived through the pet trade.<\/p>\n Iguana populations have positively thrived in South Florida ever since arriving from warmer tropical climates; they\u2019re seen regularly strutting through parks, basking on sun-soaked concrete, and perched nonchalantly on tree branches. They\u2019re considered invasive because they\u2019ve disrupted indigenous food chains and undermined infrastructure through burrowing, according to the\u00a0Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission<\/a> (FWC). Because of their destructive nature, Florida has declared open season on iguanas, allowing residents and wildlife wranglers like Morales to kill them year-round without a hunting license.<\/p>\n Morales, who hasn\u2019t responded to New Times\u2019 requests for an interview, posted his catch alongside the claim it broke a Florida record. And while he didn\u2019t specify the length or weight of the catch, it appears to be larger than those caught by others who claim the title online.<\/p>\n Raj \u201cThe Iguana Man\u201d made the claim in November 2022 after catching what was described as a nearly 16-pound iguana. He called it a state record on YouTube.<\/p>\n Another YouTuber, who goes by the Pok\u00e9mon-inspired name Zak Catchem, also made the claim in November 2019 with an iguana that appears to be substantially smaller than Morales\u2019 catch. At the time, he dubbed it a world record.<\/p>\n FWC doesn\u2019t keep statistics on the largest iguanas captured and killed in the state, unlike it does for its invasive cousin, the Burmese python. However, it notes that males can grow longer than 5 feet and weigh up to 17 pounds. On the eye test, Morales\u2019 catch appears to surpass both numbers.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t