Saturday, November 28, 2009

Iguanas really annoy me

To say it politely.   To say it otherwise, this would look like something out of an old Looney Tunes cartoon with punctuation to spell words like  "*$#|{!".

I've been dueling with these creatures for the last year solid and am fed up with it.  They're officially an invasive exotic species here in Florida which means they can be "humanely controlled".   I know of people who go to all sorts of "humane control" measures to protect their properties.   While some people keep exotics for pets, including me with my own Orange Wing Amazon Parrot, most don't let them escape.   With no predators, they will breed until something like the lack of food limits their numbers.

There are products like Iguana Rid that supposedly will protect your plants.  I've had no luck with the stuff since I have actually sprayed one in the eye and it just stayed put.   My preferred method is to chase them away with an 11 foot pole or a border collie.   My Border Collie thinks its great fun to chase things but that is problematic in itself.

I'd like to have a solution for this but I don't think there is one other than keeping an outdoors dog and paving the yard with concrete.   I prefer my dog indoors where she can entertain me and concrete is not an ecological solution. 

The real solution is legislative.  The State of Florida, and others, should not allow the purchase or sale of exotic species in areas that they could live outdoors.   In this state, it is south of the I-4 Line - Daytona to Orlando to Tampa, roughly.   Simply ban them from pet stores.   We don't need Ball Pythons roaming the Everglades, or Iguanas perched in my Bougainvilleas.   If you have the critters, keep them until they live out their lives but don't allow "replacements".   Somehow I don't think that would pass or would work.  If you go to Miami or Dade County, you still see plenty of Pit Bull "Mixes", and they are outright banned there.

So today (I write this stuff ahead of time), I'll move my Hibiscus in a pot out front and hope it doesn't get discovered.  I miss the yellow flowers it has when it's happy and it certainly has been moping for a very long time.

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