FWC asks Floridians to bring frozen iguanas to disposal sites: "It's like a Florida Easter egg hunt"

We’ve seen plenty of photos and videos of iguanas freezing and falling from trees, laying motionless on the ground after dangerous cold temperatures moved into South Florida.

However, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) doesn’t want you ro just snap a photo – they want you to turn them in at a disposal site.

There are five drop off locations open on Monday.

Ryan Izquierdo caught 68 frozen iguanas on Sunday.

“It’s like a Florida Easter egg hunt”

“It’s like a Florida Easter egg hunt,” he said.

He has made this an annual tradition, and he documents it on social media.

On Monday, he wanted to add to that total. And it didn’t take CBS News Miami crews long before finding a small iguana on the sidewalk in Tamarac.

Some were limp. Others were frozen solid.

“This thing is frozen solid, Izquierdo said.

But it wasn’t dead. It’s in a state called torpor – when muscles stop working in the cold. Izquierdo said residents should be careful if you’re grabbing one.

The FWC said the saliva in their mouth can contain salmonella.

“They have nasty bacteria in their mouth, so you gotta be really careful handling them,” Izauierdo said.

And CBS News Miami found about a dozen cold-stunned iguanas near an apartment complex. Most of them likely fell from trees.

“I’ve caught some close to six feet long,” Izauierdo said.

And after abut 10 minutes, his hands were full and the load of iguanas got heavier and heavier. CBS News Miami even tried to locate some in Burrows by a canal.

“I guarantee there are some iguanas deep in these burrows right now,” Izquierdo said.

Iguanas can br brought to drop off locations

CBS News Miami crews counted about 90 of them caught after only two days. Izquierdo keeps them in the bed of his truck so they dont thaw out, and then CBS News Miami went ot an FWC drop off site in Sunrise so the state could dispose of them.

Although Izquierdo did keep a few for himself.

“With the rate that they’re multiplying, it doesn’t feel too bad because for everyone you see there’s 10 you don’t,” Izquierdo said.

Staff at five FWC locations will be receiving wild, cold-stunned iguanas collected by the public on Monday, Feb. 2 until 4 p.m.