An Orlando man found a lizard in his backyard last week, but this wasn’t just any lizard. It is believed to be an Argentine black and white Tegu.
An Orlando man found a lizard in his backyard last week, but this wasn't just any lizard. It is believed to be an Argentine black and white Tegu.
"I went, 'Oh my God.' I knew what it was," said Gary Nunn when he spotted it for the first time. Then, he decided to trap it.
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"Because I don't want them running around terrorizing my cats," Nunn said. "They don't belong here."
According to NBC6 affiliate WESH, who first reported Nunn's sighting, he used a cage to catch the lizard using some pretty simple bait -- cat food.
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Although Nunn had lived in his East Orlando neighborhood for twelve years, he hadn't seen a lizard like this until recently. But none of this surprised Zoo Miami's Ron Magill.
"Florida has become the Ellis Island of exotic animals," Magill said.
Magill said tegus are an invasive species that likely came to the state as a pet that got out or was released and are much common in South Florida.
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"They are a very adaptable lizard," Magill told WESH. "It doesn't surprise me to see them slowly but surely migrating up the state."
Tegus were added to the state prohibited list in 2021 and Magill says they can be a problem for certain animals.
"If you have any kind of small livestock, if you're in a rural area, you're raising chickens with eggs or anything with eggs. Tegus love eggs," he said. "They'll go into eggs whatever chance they get. And they will take small birds. They take small mammals."
But he says the big concern is the impact on the ecosystem.
"They are just such a large, powerful lizard that they outcompete native species for food. And when you start outcompeting these native species, that can have a snowball effect on the environment and ecosystem as a whole," Magill said.
Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said tegus can be humanely killed on private property, but Nunn said he isn't sure what he'll do with the one he caught.
"Hopefully, somebody will want to take it; otherwise, I'm just going to have to kill it. I can't let it free," Nunn said.
If you spot what you think might be a tegu in your neighborhood, FWC urges people to take a picture, write down the location, and report it on the IveGot1Mobile app or by calling 1-888-ive-got1.