As if the latest reports of Burmese pythons, monitor lizards and Cuban tree frogs crawling around Florida are not enough to creep you out, there’s a scary new invader in town, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
It’s an exotic lizard called a tegu, a 4-foot-long reptile from Argentina with sharp claws, a voracious appetite for meat and the possibility of tipping the ecological applecart. One was spotted this week just north of State Road 40 in Ocala National Forest, a place teeming with campers, swimmers and hikers.
Tegus are omnivorous and have a taste for native plants and small rodents, which are food for Florida snakes and raptors. “So they are taking away a food source for those animals,” said Carrie Sekerak, a forest-wildlife biologist
Forest officials said the black-and-white critter was likely dropped off in the forest by an overwhelmed pet owner.
Common in South America, tegus are one of the most abundant lizards in southern Brazil.
Tegus have become popular with exotic-pet aficionados in the United States because of their docile nature. It’s not unusual for tegu owners to let their pets run free inside their homes, said Kevin Enge, a herpetologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“A lot of people watch television with them sitting on their laps,” Enge said.
However, the animals can bite and will lash their tails as a whip if cornered.
Lizards 101: get to know your lizards
Photo: Black-and-white or Giant Argentine Tegu / University of Florida, IFAS Extension
