I just returned to STL from South Florida where I have been working and also discovered my Casita had been vandalized as I mentioned last week.

I cleaned her up and was camped at the John Prince Park in Lake Worth last week right on Lake Osborn in a postcard like setting which I will report on later.

Well Saturday night I am sleeping like a baby when around 3am there is a loud crash on the roof of the trailer and as I am awakened startled the trailer is shaking and there is scratching on the roof!!!!!

I go outside ( which in hindsight I do not recommend) armed with a flashlight and BearMace and see a 5 foot long IGUANA on the roof of the Casita!?!?!

He looks at me sort of suggesting I get the light out of his face and jumps off the side of the roof opposite me.
I run over only to see him racing off toward the water and he is gone.
Now I had already seen a few that big and bigger since I had been there but not from so close-up.
Evidently they hang out in trees and he either jumped or just fell out of the tree next to the trailer?
I will never know. Maybe he was trying to have a moment with the Egg?

All is well that ends well and no real harm done,I can wash my shorts.

Anyway the next day it strikes me as a possible trailer name...........Egguana!

Any thoughts?

Ed

I added pics of the location and featuring the new truck and the iguanas little cousin too

I like it. You could put a little lizzard decal on the Casita.

LOL! Poor you, poor iguana!

OMG, have to wonder who was scared the most?

Egguana! Love it!

Egguana sounds good to me, I've lived in Florida for going on 8 years and have never seen one of those boogers, I know one thing, if my wife ever saw it we would be moving back north again (like right now). They say the iguana's are getting to be a problem in Fl. east coast area and Ft Meyers areas, they are not a native, but they say that about most of the people here as well, yankee's you know. Back in Dec of 2004 I went to Grenada for a home build after Hurricane Ivan and that place is crawling with them, big ones. Also had a bunch of mongoose there, brought them in to take care of the snakes, now there is no snakes and the mongoose has taken over the place, have no idea what there food source is now.

That's a great name! And a great story.

The first time I ever saw an iguana was on a side street in Mexico. I was just walking along, thinking about something, and suddenly it was just there, right in front of me.

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I'm pretty sure I shrieked out loud

Gad, put a saddle on that sucker. I understand some people have these creatures as pets? Thanks, I'll stick with a dog.

You really just know when the name is right! Egguana is a really nice and funny name. Good idea of putting on a Iguana decal as well, hihi! What a night for you...

Here's a shot of some of those critters on Allen's cay in the Bahamas.

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And of course you will have to be insured by Geico!

Here is our first iguana in Puerto Vallarta:

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I guess the real problem in Florida is the pythons that people are setting loose, as well as the monkeys from movie shoots.

They imported mongeese? mongooses? into Hawai'i, too I guess, to control the rats. The only thing is rats are nocturnal and mongeese are diurnal, so never the twain shall meet. And now they have both ravaging the environment.

Right after we moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri in 1996, we spotted an iguana walking down the sidewalk across the street from our house. Now, these critters are not native to southern MO, so it was probably some college student's pet that escaped or was let free. My daughter and I went across the street to investigate, hauling along a big box. The plan was to put the big guy (about 3-4 feet long) in the box and take him to the local animal rescue office. Nice plan... didn't work. My daughter picked him up and went along nicely UNTIL we bent his tail to fit in the box. Faster than we could react, he took off, up the nearest magnolia tree. He sat up there hissing at us and then jumped down in the elderly neighbors' garden, never to be seen again. Interesting experience!

Hmmmmm, I am rethinking of wanting to go south for the winter!
Yikes! Snakes, IGUANAs , allagators.
Snow is not looking so bad tonight. LOL

When I was in college in Miami, Fl (won't say when) there was a character hung out in Key West known as the Iguana Man. He used to hang around with the big ol lizard on his shoulder and entertain the tourists. Think he actually made his living by having folks take pictures with him and the lizard.

When I checked in at the gatehouse I asked about the "permanent residents" and was told there are Alligators and Snakes and Raccoons and yes....Iguana.
They even warned me there were some ginormous ones but I thought they were just messing with me.

Well I go through the gate and don't get 50 yards into the park when I see one in the road at least 6 feet long! Looks like a Dragon to me!!! He is walking slowly and looks up at the truck/trailer and just stops there.
I debated honking or getting out but before I can he walks slowly off the road and into the lake. After that I see many smaller ones and the clues that big ones were there(avacado sized clues) but no big ones until that Saturday night.

They say the Gators used to eat them but they are too fast so the Gators have mostly moved to better hunting grounds too.

I did see the biggest,fattest Raccoon I have ever laid eyes on. I was backing in to my spot and in my mirror I see him creeping up to a picnic table and stealing food....with the people standing right there!
He snuck into a tree right behind my trailer and vanished.

The whole thing could have scared me if I dwelled on it.

The amazing thing about the reptiles is the ability to blend in and be completely still until it is time to move. I noticed Iguana several times only after staring at a spot for a long time before realizing there was one right there.

I was told that they rarely attack people and are more scared of us than we are of them?
I can promise you that was not true at 3:30 Saturday morning!

Also that clearly does not hold true for Raccoons.

Great Park,can't wait to go back.

Ed

I am sooooo with you Karalyn! LOL... Yep I can't think of much that stirs around in the snow other than deer and elk.




Ed, I would have had a heart attack! And your probably right about jumping out of the trailer after something like that happens with out investigating first.

I guess, Florida's got them selfs a new State Pet (formally roaches! IMHO)

Actually that is why the iguana's are also running rampant, Xpets, they sure are ugggly

holy hannah!! i sure don't want to run into one of these critters when i head down to florida in march!!! are they dangerous??? i also do not want to have any close encounters of a snake, either. we did see alligators on our last trip---at st. george island state park, but i do believe if i heard an iguana scratching around on top of my trailer, i surely would stay inside!!
yikes!!

Scratching around was only after it slammed into the roof from above!
Once I got back inside it didn't take me long to wonder what the hell I had just done?
The logic of running outside in the middle of the night armed as I was escapes me now but it seemed like the thing to do at the time?

From what I have read since,they are not known to attack unless cornered or during mating season if they are males and think you are another male iguana....which during mating season they often do seem to think.
Alligators on the other hand seem to look for an opportunity to attack.

According to the Guatemalan workers on the job site I was working on they make good eating too.
Another guy told me that they are not a protected species down in Florida and they periodically run stories in the paper about how to take them "out".
They suggest a Baseball Bat of all things?
I don't even know if the Bear Mace I had would have had any effect at all.

Oh and they also have a third eye on the back of the head and can see you coming from all directions......CREEPY!

They look pre-historic and though some make pets of them,I can not understand why?
They are also fairly intelligent and mostly vegetarian but have huge choppers,sharp claws and run faster than Alligators which evidently run faster than we think.

No Thanks

Real interesting. We have stayed at John Prince 4 times , I believe. My son lives 10 min. away. Looks like we might've camped on exact same site. Never had that happen although I've seen crock's in the water there just off shore. The beach across the water always concerned me.

Chris
I was in Site #17 in the front of the park without sewer connections.
That part of the park is under construction and I sort of gathered it has been for a while.
The Lakefront sites were not disturbed by this though just the walk to the bath house.

I really like the park and plan to be back there after Turkey Day too.
Despite my Surprise Visitor I am amazed this park is in the middle of Palm Beach County where it is and it was really safe a quiet I thought.

I wondered also about the beach front across the lake and I drove around until I found the road over there-Lake Osborne Drive.
It runs between Lake Worth and Lantana Roads if I remember correctly with Lantana road being the Airport road at the back of the park.

I am told that in the back of the Golf Course off of Forest Hill the Iguanas are so thick they hang from the trees all the time and that is as close as I ever intend to get to the Golf Course for sure.
Evidently they just gravitate to certain spots on their own?

Ed

Ed
#17 sounds familiar but if we get back, I think I'll get one without trees. I too have seen lots of iguanas there but just not in the campground. I saw them in the small stream that is just to the side of the road just before you get into the campground. Really did like this place except when we were there in the summer. By the time I got dried off from the shower house, I was starting to sweat. Guess I need to use the camper shower and the A/C.

We stayed in John Prince in a pop-up years ago, it was a quiet park. Sounds like it turned into a jungle. The only places we have seen iguanas are the Virgin Islands and Mexico.

Can you imagine if one of those monsters fell onto the bunkend of a popup?!?! We live in florida (and own a popup) and I can guarantee you I will be looking up and asking questions before parking under a tree from now on, LOL!

Melissa

I don't think they like that, Donna (the saddle).