Extended cold could kill invasive iguanas
Dropping temperatures slow down lizards
Photo credit Bjørn Christian Tørrissen
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With this week’s evening temperatures falling toward the upper 30s, strange fruit may drop from South Florida trees: non-native, invading iguanas that many residents consider more pest than pet.
“It’s a big deal for me,” Jessica Morgan, a Margate homeowner, said as she watched a yard-long, bright orange male iguana roam near her butterfly habitat. The reptile has a slightly smaller green girlfriend.
“They climb up on the bank and will poop on my dock,” she said. “Fingers crossed that this cold snap will kill them. I don’t have the heart to beat one to death. I hope the weather does it for me.
Iguanas become immobilized when the temperature drops into the 40s, as it did Sunday night, said Tiffany Snow, nuisance-wildlife biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. While they usually revive when the temperature rises, they could die if it remains below 40 degrees for three days or so, she said.
It is legal to kill iguanas, but it must be done humanely. Among the options is decapitation. Some local animal control authorities will accept live iguanas that have been trapped, Snow said.
“If somebody is looking to trap them, I guess right now would be a good time because they’re not moving,” she said.
Ahh, the silver lining and looking on the bright side, dead critters.
“Fasool Rasmin (19:17:46) :
Here in Australia we are advised to place cane toads into a plastic bag and then pop into the freezer to kill them humanely; this is called double-dipping (Freeze them humanely after they have suffocated in the plastic bag!).”
I thought you guys just swerved your car to bring the tyres inline with the toad?
If they ate Warmists it would be a 2fer. We would have less nuts, and the Iguanas would not be a Threatened Species in a place where they never belonged in the first place.
Ed Murphy (19:47:59) : Wrote
“Manatees dying at a record pace | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091212/NEWS01/912120314/Manatees-dying-at-a-record-pace”
Oh the humanity.
Someone tell the Greenees what we skeptics did, Cause WE DIDN’T LISTEN.
Al Gore said this would happen.
John A (19:34:59) :
The most humane way to kill them would be to put them in the freezer.
Does that make it harder to skin them? And I would hate to have to double-freeze; do it once, thaw, process, then refreeze the bagged-up parts.
I am thinking in humane terms here. The dog doesn’t even like her meat frozen once. Why should she have to suffer?
First the iguanas then the manatees, what’s next, The billion dollar orange crop? Why didn’t I listen, Why didn’t I lesten?
So what’s the recommended way of decapitating an iguana?
Andy
Douglas DC (20:17:32) : What about the Python population? seems they to would have a hard time.
Pythons and Iguanas- a waste of perfectly good Cowboy boot leather…
It ain’t wasted ’till it thaws out unused. Jus’ go boot shopin’ with a gunny sack… 😉
(And yes, I grew up in a very “rural” environment and I’ve had “road kill” for dinner… “You Might Be a Red Neck: If you have EVER had roadkill for dinner, and nobody thought A Thing About it!” Pheasant… venison … “Hey, thet sucka’ broke my grill, he’s gotta PAY for it”… Ah, those were the days. I actually remember a heated discussion between two neighbors about how wrong it was that the game warden told one of them he could not keep the deer without a deer tag… )
So long ago, so far away, and I didn’t know about Merlot then… Would have gone well with the pheasant, too… 😉
My spouse would be appalled if she knew, so nobody tell her, OK? 8-}
Might be a good time to have a python roundup. If they stay in the water it might not be a big deal for them, but they might not like ice build up on the surface.
Any of them in exposed locations should be pretty easy to gather up, sort of like picking up fire wood.
Larry
Around here we have a pine beetle infestation problem in some places.
A few days of -40C weather would take care of that problem.
Glenn (21:16:50) :
Depends on who you listen to I guess. If the AGW crowd is to be believed, then I would be an invasive species. Although, being the realist I am, I would list all species as endangered because we all face the certainty of extinction. Of course, in the timescales significant to human lives, we can say with some certainty that a species is in trouble of meeting its certain doom, but then name me one species that you can say for certain will continue on with perpetuity. So really the philosophical question of specie extinction is not if, but when. Given this we can say, at the very least that all species are either currently extinct (nice to have a status even after existence has left the building), in immediate danger of being extinct (like, say Bald Eagles), or in the process of defeating its adversaries for life-sustaining resources.
This last group includes the so-called invasive species. I do not agree with the terminology because of the negative connotation. Are not ‘invasive’ species simply proof of evolution at work? One species has climate conditions change in a way that favors them, and so they snatch a larger geographical area as their home, and in the process, in my view, stall the inevitable extinction of their species. Of course, this may sound gloomy and such, but it is a scientific certainty that at some point life on Earth will end. Yet this triumph of evolution is termed ‘invasive’ by human observers fretting about the changing environment. Personally, I feel we should start finding out if iguanas and humboldt squid taste good with Tobasco sauce.
What do you think?
Matthew (22:03:29) :
So you really know Python tastes like chicken ??
Grilled, huh. Got a recipe?
Oh, I forgot to add:
Sometimes a species will become overconfident in a territorial grab and grab territory that is only temporarily available. Like this iguana incident. Like the Sahara pump theory, sort of, but with a mass kill event instead of spreading the species.
Parents roam the swamps of Flor Ida, weighing about 7 tons, 30 feet long and walking on their back legs. They ‘re called Iguana Dons and for good reason. So be very careful about bashing the little ones to death. If you must, do it at the house of a friend.
OT:
Monbiot and his little friend to the rescue of AGW by setting up some easy strawman targets to knock down:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jan/06/cold-snap-climate-sceptics
You pray for warmth and you get hit on the head by a bunch of global warmists with rabies. You pray for cold and you get hit on the head by falling iguanas, while the peaceful manatees, the cows of the sea, freeze to death. It just goes to tell you, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. You can’t win for losing.
hotrod (22:00:24) :
Any of them in exposed locations should be pretty easy to gather up, sort of like picking up fire wood.
So long as they stay frozen until you get them home.
And stay dead of course. Pythons in the armchair, fridge full of squawking Iguanas and a 1200lb Manatee flapping round the kitchen. Welcome to Florida.
Matthew (22:03:29) :
I was kidding. No pythons around here anyway.
(Think your post applied to deer, not python!!)
wayne (22:27:32) :
Matthew (22:03:29) :
So you really know Python tastes like chicken ??
Of the land-based critters, apparently most taste like chicken, while many of the rest taste like beef. Humans though taste like pork, according to those who have resorted to cannibalism to survive. (First heard that on a game show, then elsewhere after that.)
I have been reading how in the UK there are or will be eco-cops who will invade your home to see if you are complying with recycling, energy reduction, and similar eco-fanatic measures, snooping through everything without needing your permission to enter.
I am awaiting reports of those freezing UK pensioners who can’t afford heating, having their finances helped out with gifts of free sausages.
In the Caribbean, they just throw the iguanas live on an open pit fire. They clean them out after they’re fully cooked and tender. Add salt and spices and dinner is ready. They taste like chicken.
Sorry, animal lovers, but not every culture is sensitive to animal cruelty as you call it. Farmers and hunters just don’t care all that much.
They make oil when buried.
photon without a Higgs (20:44:34) :
Steve in SC (19:19:33) :
9 iron
—————————————————————-
Is that what Tiger Woods got?
He got his mashie niblicked for putting out of bounds.
For some more pertinent antique club names, take this quiz.
AndyW (21:59:12) :
So what’s the recommended way of decapitating an iguana?
A sharp blade works well.
And while iguana *does* taste a bit like chicken (especially when slathered in barbecue sauce) python tastes like python, no matter how you cook it — but it’s best when cut into kabob cubes and grilled.
And the ribs make dandy toothpicks…
NO, Not the pythons too. That’s THREE species gone in one season. WHY DIDN’T WE LISTEN?