Crouched atop a small wooden boat, Kevin Chandler cruises through a Broward canal. He searches for prey in the dark, with a small light wrapped around his forehead. A Newport cigarette hangs from his mouth.

''There, Kev. Two-footer right there. Do you see it?'' whispers his boss, Ray Van Nostrand, as he steers the boat.

``Where?''

``Eye level, Kev. Eye level. How could you miss it?''

Chandler's spotlight bobs up and down. And there it is, his target: an unsuspecting green iguana.

''Look at that thing! That's $10 right there,'' Van Nostrand says.

The well-chronicled surge in the iguana population has made things much easier for reptile sellers. No longer are they forced to journey to Colombia or Guatemala to find the prettiest scaly creatures, like Van Nostrand's father did. All it takes is a trip along local waterways, where mansions meet mangroves.

There, they lurk in the night to steal a creature some contend shouldn't be there anyway.

Just how profitable these trips will be might change if the Broward County Commission continues to push for a special classification for iguanas. The designation would lump them with Burmese pythons and anacondas, requiring Florida buyers to microchip them and pay a $100 annual fee. The commission is set to consider the issue later this month.

The goal is to make regulations so stiff that few pet shops would want to order them and fewer people would want to buy them.

Those concerns can seem so distant when the smell of gasoline wafts in a 14-footer and the hum of an engine mixes with the song of the crickets. It can get pushed out of your mind when you think of the low-grade thrill and the high financial payoff of doing one of man's oldest activities in the backdrop of new Florida.

Van Nostrand, a 43-year-old with a leathery face and throaty voice, inherited his love from the elder Ray Van Nostrand, who was known for smuggling exotic reptiles into the country.

The family business, Strictly Reptiles, grew out of a garage in Dania Beach and into a legendary Hollywood warehouse at 6450 Stirling Rd.

Chandler, who lives in Ft. Lauderdale, began working at Strictly Reptiles when he was 17. Now he is 28 -- lanky and stoic, his chin graced with a scruff of blond hair.

Since childhood, Chandler has had a fascination with reptiles. The calm in their walk. The lushness of their skin. The experience has changed him some -- cleaning out cages every day takes a toll -- but owning pets taught him responsibility and compassion.

''How could you have any child pay $100 to experience this?'' Van Nostrand asked, holding one of the captured lizards.

Animal rights groups have lots of reasons. Both sellers and owners agree that too many buyers think the baby lizards will always be docile and easy low-maintenance. But when the lizards grow to seven feet, some owners release them into the wild. Iguanas can breed up to 90 eggs a year, spiking their population exponentially.

Groups like the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida lament that peeved residents take out their frustration by shooting lizards with bow and arrow. Some naturalists fear these exotic animals, which thrive on hibiscus and birds' eggs, will damage the natural ecosystem.

GOT HERE IN 1966

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, iguanas arrived in South Florida in 1966. That makes them older than many of the newly built palatial houses west of the canal where Chandler and Van Nostrand hunt.

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