Florida’s most intense cold front since 2010 sparked widespread sightings — and a flurry of collections — of invasive green iguanas in South Florida on Sunday and Monday.
Freezing temperatures and strong winds have affected thousands of reptiles, leaving them stunned by the cold and causing many to fall from – or abandon – the trees where they usually roost.
In Palm Beach County, five or six iguanas living in a tree in Maria Eugenia Pardo’s backyard disappeared when the cold front hit the area.
Thanks to this unexpected help from nature, Pardo told El Nuevo Herald that she doesn’t have to raise paralyzed iguanas in her yard — as has happened in many other parts of South Florida.
Florida removes more than 5,000 invasive green iguanas after extreme cold
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reported that with the help of citizens, partners and agency staff, 5,195 invasive green iguanas were removed during the extreme cold event.
Executive order no. 26-03 temporarily allowed people to remove live, cold-stunned green iguanas from their natural habitat without requiring a permit.
The measure was in effect Feb. 1 and 2, during a prolonged period of cold temperatures in South Florida, and authorized residents to deliver animals to FWC offices.
Of the 5,195 iguanas collected, 3,882 were delivered to FWC headquarters in Sunrise; 1,075 in Tequesta; 215 to the Marathon intake center; and 23 at the Fort Myers office, according to official records.
An iguana is seen lying on the ground in a Pembroke Pines neighborhood as temperatures drop into the 30s make their way across South Florida on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
The FWC announced last Friday that on Sunday and Monday, people could capture iguanas and bring them to those offices to be humanely euthanized or transferred to licensed pet breeders.
“The special regulations in EO 26-03 provided a unique opportunity for members of the public to remove cold-stunned green iguanas from their property during the recent unusually cold weather and bring them to FWC without a permit,” FWC Executive Director Roger Young said Wednesday.
Young explained that as an invasive species, green iguanas have a negative impact on Florida’s environment and economy.
‘Iguana rain’ in South Florida: What happens when cold-induced lethargy sets in
When temperatures drop to near or below freezing, reptiles and amphibians—including non-native green iguanas—can enter a lethargic state in which they temporarily lose muscle control and appear “frozen,” sometimes even falling from trees.
Florida has seen an “iguana rain” during the recent cold snap, with people corralling the reptiles in their yards, on neighborhood lawns or along lakeshores.
An iguana lies on the ground in a neighborhood as temperatures drop into the 30s and a cold front moves into South Florida Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
While many of these reptiles were turned over to the FWC, some people said on social media that they brought them into their homes to “warm” them with hair dryers or covered them with blankets to help them recover their body temperature — something the agency does not recommend.
“If you encounter a cold-stunned green iguana, you should never bring it into your home or building to warm up, and never put it in a vehicle unless specifically transported to FWC in accordance with EO 26-03 regulations. Iguanas can recover faster than you might expect and, once recovered, can act with snarls and long claws,” the agency said.
Is cold weather killing pythons and iguanas? The real impact on invasive reptiles
Frank Mazzotti, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Florida/IFAS, said that one or two days of extreme cold doesn’t have much of an impact on pythons and iguanas, unlike what happened in 2010.
He told el Nuevo Herald that deaths could occur depending on how low the temperatures drop and how long the cold lasts.
In 2010, he explained, Florida saw several cloudy days associated with a severe freeze, with temperatures staying below freezing.
“It’s the combination of these factors that caused the death in 2010, and we haven’t seen the same combination now,” he said in an interview.
Andrew Baron, a trapper with Redline Iguana Removal, unloads cold-stunned and dead green iguanas from the back of a truck after collecting them during a cold snap on February 2, 2026, in Hollywood, Florida.
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Some iguanas recover, but the cold can still be deadly
Mazzotti noted that iguanas in a lethargic state that were not collected were able to raise their body temperature again on sunny days.
But in colder areas, they are much more vulnerable. For example, along the east coast of Florida—where temperatures fell below 24°F—deaths may have occurred.
Reneé Stoll, director of communications and marketing at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, said they don’t have a count of how many Burmese pythons may have been frozen.
“I can tell you right now that we have not found any of our 40 snake researchers to have died of cold, but we are still in the process of locating them all,” she told el Nuevo Herald.
South Florida iguana removal companies reported picking up paralyzed and dead iguanas Sunday in what appears to be a record number due to the cold snap.
Blake Wilkins, owner of Redline Iguana Removal in Hollywood, said about 50 percent of the iguanas removed were dead.
Miami Herald reporter Sofia Saric contributed to this report.
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