Look before you sit. An iguana popped up in a Miami toilet, and the end was dramatic
The night after Halloween was a scary one for a Coconut Grove family. An iguana visited their home, and not a human in costume.
The reptile’s trick: hanging out in the toilet water.
Terrified homeowner Camila Hire called for backup. Harold Rondan of Iguana Lifestyles in North Miami Beach came out the next morning to help.
In video provided to the Miami Herald, Rondan is seen plucking out the reptile with special tongs. He identified the iguana as a Mexican spiny tail, which has razor-like spines up and down its body and can be aggressive if agitated.
Hire told the Miami Herald she was putting her young son to bed and and first spotted the creature in his bathroom. She almost sat down to use the commode.
“I was halfway, and then saw the motion sensor light had fallen, so was bending down to put it back and, ‘Boom!’ it was staring at me,” she said. “It really has given me the heebie-jeebies.”
The woman posted the ordeal on her Instagram with the humorous hashtag #lizardgate and a link to a clip from WSVN Channel 7 News, who interviewed her and her husband on Tuesday.
After the removal, Rondan said he humanely killed the creature with an air rifle and went on his merry way. He’s a busy guy since starting his business last year, telling us he gets 10 calls a day about iguanas ending up in people’s homes, usually plopping from the roof vents into the toilets.
“They are literally out of control,” said the trapper of the invasive species. “We can’t stop them because they reproduce like crazy. We just have to contain them.”
