MIAMI — When the temperatures dropped in South Florida, so did the iguanas.

This week’s cold snap stopped the slithery reptiles in their tracks, with hundreds, if not thousands rounded up by Florida residents who were hoping to clear out the invasive lizards.

Zoo Miami’s Ron Magill knows all too well how much of a nuisance and disruption the animals can be to our environment, but it’s this dip in our temperatures that could alleviate the overwhelming and intrusive population.

“The first morning of the cold we picked up 50 of them here on zoo property alone, so there is a lot of them out there,” said Magill. “They are not healthy for our environment, they are invasive. They do damage, they can spread disease, and the cold is one way of balancing that out a little bit.”

The cold weather causes the cold-blooded animals to become so lethargic they are unable to move, but in intense cold weather, they could even die from the exposure.

“So when that temperature gets below 50 degrees, their bodies begin to shut down,” said Magill. “The smaller animals shut down first and the larger animals shut last, but once we get into the thirties, that can be catastrophic for them.”

And while Magill said without a doubt that the iguana population in South Florida took a hit, it is only a matter of time before that population will spark back up again.

“I think it is certainly going to slow down the growth, but I think also just as quickly as it slowed down, it will rebuild itself as soon as the temperatures get warmer again,” said Magill. “These animals are incredibly adaptive.”

For the past two days, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has allowed residents to drop off iguanas at their offices, but they say they are no longer doing that and it is now up to you.

While it is okay to humanely kill the animals, Magill cautions that they can bite, scratch and whip you with their tails, so be careful.

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