Florida’s invasive tegu lizards survive cold and eat tortoise babies

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Argentine achromatic and achromatic tegu is multiplying and mobilizing successful the backwoods and backyards of the Sunshine State — a carnal much ominous than pythons due to the fact that of its acold hardiness and indiscriminate palate.

Wildlife officials person warned for years astir the tegu’s enlargement successful South Florida’s amenable subtropical climate, but present the unusually brainy reptile is colonizing arsenic acold northbound arsenic St. Lucie County with an appetite for everything from gopher tortoise babies to bananas.

This month, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is gathering with national officials, landowners and assemblage researchers to sermon curtailing the St. Lucie colonisation and getting up of the tegu occupation overall.

But it’s a contention they whitethorn already beryllium losing.

In 2019, 1,425 tegus were removed from the chaotic — much than treble the fig trapped successful 2015.

“It doesn’t look similar we’ve learned a acquisition from our acquisition with pythons,” said University of Florida wildlife prof Frank Mazzotti, who leads the Croc Docs probe team. “If you hold until you spot the interaction an carnal is having, it’s excessively late.”

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UF circulated an updated information expanse connected the tegu penetration successful Florida this month, raising different reddish emblem that “additional resources are captious to code the tegu occupation connected a larger scale.”

Released and escaped pets arsenic good arsenic unscrupulous dealers are liable for seeding the tegu spread, Mazzotti said. One of his cardinal concerns is the tegu’s appetite for eggs, whether it beryllium oversea turtle, crocodile, alligator, gopher tortoise oregon bird.

An investigation of the tummy contented of 124 tegus included frogs, toads, lizards, snakes, turtles and tiny mammals. Threatened gopher tortoise hatchlings were recovered successful the gut of 5 tegus from Central Florida.

TEGUS WILL EAT ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING

“This is the archetypal critter I’ve ever worked with that eats everything, genuinely everything,” Mazzotti said. “Because they tin unrecorded successful galore much places and devour everything, determination is not going to beryllium a full batch to halt them.”

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Mazzotti said his probe squad was stunned successful 2019 erstwhile it asked for assemblage assistance identifying Nile show lizards successful Palm Beach County and fractional of the photos that were sent successful were of tegus.

“Palm Beach County amazed the hellhole retired of us,” helium said.

The invasive taxon tracking website EDDMaps lists 43 tegu sightings successful Palm Beach County backmost to 2009. The astir caller study was made successful May erstwhile a metropolis of West Palm Beach worker recovered a tegu successful the parking batch of Grassy Waters Preserve.

That’s compared to 6,008 reports successful Miami-Dade County and 245 successful Charlotte County. Both counties person known breeding populations.

Tegus person besides been reported successful 4 Georgia counties.

“Research and hazard assessments conducted amusement that tegus person a precocious imaginable to go the adjacent Burmese python successful Florida,” said Larry Williams, Florida ecological services authorities supervisor for USGS.

TEGUS HAVE SHARP TEETH AND CAN GROW TO 4.5 FEET LONG

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Tegus raised from hatchlings are considered household pets by immoderate reptile fans. They tin beryllium housetrained and “like to beryllium hugged,” Mazzotti said.

They besides person crisp teeth and claws and tin turn to a magnitude of 4.5 feet.

While determination is nary tegu absorption program successful Florida, FWC approved licensing changes successful February that people 16 non-native reptiles, including tegus. The changes necessitate tegu owners to person their animals microchipped with ownership accusation and registered done a escaped permitting process.

Also, opening this past April, nary caller favored tegus tin beryllium acquired successful Florida, but existent pets tin unrecorded with their owners until they die. Tegus cannot beryllium imported into Florida but are not listed federally arsenic “injurious” wildlife, meaning they tin beryllium legally brought into different states wherever allowed.

It wasn’t until 2019 that authorities and national officials began penning a python absorption plan. That was astir 2 decades aft pythons were archetypal reported arsenic having an established colonisation successful Everglades National Park. In 2012, U.S. Fish and Wildlife listed them arsenic an injurious species, prohibiting importation and shipment.

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A absorption program outlines a taxon history, ecological and economical impacts, range, methods of power and however antithetic agencies volition enactment together.

Mazzotti said plans are invaluable for getting each the agencies connected the aforesaid page.

“It’s not that we don’t cognize what to do, it’s that we don’t person the resources,” helium said. “We person to halt waiting for thing unspeakable to hap for america to respond.”

For copyright information, cheque with the distributor of this item, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post.