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Dry_Judgment_9282 t1_j0sme9t wrote

“It’s happened three times this year because of iguanas” in Lake Worth Beach, he said. “That’s down 50% from last year.”

Kudos to the most intentionally funny quote I've ever read in an article.

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GZAofTheMidwest OP t1_j0u71uy wrote

I can see someone with a professionally made graph at a Lake Worth Beach city council meeting taking credit for it, too. "If this trend continues, iguanas should be maintaining our power grid, rather than disrupting it, by 2024."

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Fineous4 t1_j0u7ox8 wrote

As a substation engineer in the north I can say the most common problem is raccoons climbing on top transformers.

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Classic-End-5505 t1_j0xwv3i wrote

The raccoon population has about doubled in recent decades because they do really well with development and suburbanization/ex urbanization. The continent has never had as many raccs as it does now. Booming.

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FireWireBestWire t1_j0srhy1 wrote

So would that mean 5 or 4 last year?

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TheManassaBaller t1_j0szw4f wrote

Probably 5. If it was down from 4 you'd say 33%

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AttackOficcr t1_j0tbq0c wrote

Wouldn't it be 6? 50% down from 6 would be 3 power outages.

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FriendOfDirutti t1_j0tqatx wrote

I’m no math scientist but I’m not sure how these people got 5 or 4.

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outerproduct t1_j0ttbm3 wrote

They went to school in Florida.

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SuddenlyElga t1_j0uvpgv wrote

That will do it. Did you know dinosaurs and Homo sapiens existed at the same time? Only about 4000 years ago. Florida knows.

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AttackOficcr t1_j0tx7bm wrote

Percentages don't work this way, but the thought was probably: (Down 50%, resulting in 3) if reversed is (50% up from 3)=4.5

I'd probably assume the .5 was a brownout caused by iguana and not round up or down if that was the case.

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FriendOfDirutti t1_j0tymqk wrote

Sir, I already told you I wasn’t a math scientist!

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AttackOficcr t1_j0u5yho wrote

Neither am I, bad math is a side gig. Biology is more my interest.

Like how did they not already have this same reptile issue with Floridian snakes crawling into electrical infrastructure?

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SuddenlyElga t1_j0uvtlp wrote

Floridian snakes generally don’t climb.

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AttackOficcr t1_j0v959t wrote

Rough Green snakes ~3 ft, Red corn flakes snakes ~4ft, and Eastern Ratsnakes ~6ft, are all known as good climbers.

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SuddenlyElga t1_j0ws28e wrote

I dunno man. Not doubting you but I always see them on the ground. We have black rat snakes, cute little ring necks, moccasins and cotton mouths around here and all of them are always on the ground. I did see what looked like a rough green on top of a hedge once! That was cool. And I’ve only come across one rattler but he was really pissed about it.

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AttackOficcr t1_j0xtupy wrote

They're often nocturnal, hunting birds or eggs from nests, and I'd guess sleeping in the trees, they don't stand out like a sore thumb.

A quick google search and apparently the Jacksonville area has had recurring snake power outages in 2014-2017 for similar reasons.

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flamboyant-dipshit t1_j0vfz4m wrote

Honestly, having followed this for years: It could mean either one as people are really bad at +/- percents as they are not communicative.

33% less than 6 is 4. 50% more than 4 is 6, but people transcribe them all the time and will say 50% less when they mean 50% more than the smaller number and in their mind the inverse is implied.

I should add, sometimes it's on purpose because "50% is bigger than 33% and I want to make it sound more dramatic". What really annoys me, though, is when you hear "<something we should be worried about> has decreased 115% over the last 3 years!!!" Uhh, no, that's unpossible.

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AttackOficcr t1_j0ycs89 wrote

That can happen when it's a rate of growth going negative.

For example, the population growth rate of a rebounding endangered animal suddenly dipping after an extreme weather event. Like a flock of whooping crane getting caught in a tornado.

If the whooping crane population grew in size 20% last year, but decreased in size by 5% this year. Then the rate of population growth decreased by 125% (the population growth rate went negative).

The same could be said for inflation rates or stock growth rates if a positive trend suddenly reverses.

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Eat-Shit-Bob-Ross t1_j0ustu3 wrote

That’s 24% less than 36% power outages annually. That is down from last year, Hold your applause.

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moodpecker t1_j0sg2ta wrote

At some point, you have to realize he's just going to do it again.

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Smegmarty t1_j0ss7u6 wrote

I'm Just Now, Internally, Asking Myself, In Quite A Worried Way, Whether I Might Have Made An Error

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zesty_hootenany t1_j0sh13m wrote

I hope there are signs at the power company that say:

“It has been _____ days since the last iguana outage” and the line has a scribbled out number like 199, with a newly drawn zero next to it.

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grateful_american t1_j0sjj65 wrote

This would be so funny if it was the same iguana each time. You just see him standing next to the power station smoking a cigarette.

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SuddenlyElga t1_j0uwh6u wrote

We were playing pickleball a couple of weeks ago (hold for laughter) and an iguana climbed down the fence onto the court. It slowly walked across the court and stopped.

It then looked over its shoulder right at us and squeezed out a massive pile of shit WHILE LOOKING AT US THE WHOLE TIME.

Then this Motherfucker just slowly walks back to the fence and up and out.

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ziburinis t1_j0uypt0 wrote

I've had an iguana. They prefer to shit on the ground rather than where they spend most of their time, which is in trees.

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Malrottian t1_j0ucypl wrote

Dragged off in cuffs, chatting with the arresting officers.

"Good to see you, Richards. Kids doing alright?"

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SuperGameTheory t1_j0vfgtr wrote

"Yeah, me and ol' Betsy over here...looks lovingly over shoulder, takes a drag...I don't know what you'd call it, but she makes me happy."

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usrevenge t1_j0tfryo wrote

Eh they are causing these issues because they are shorting the lines.

Odds of surviving that have to be low.

Birds don't have this issue because they only sit on 1 line. If they could hypothetically reach over to one of the other lines you would have fried bird

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Jim_from_GA t1_j0u65ux wrote

Florida Iguana! This is the problem with letting aliens into the classroom. This one probably took electrical engineering technician courses and has turned to nefarious pursuits since it is so hard for undocumented workers to get jobs in Florida anymore.

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ohcanadada67 t1_j0sndro wrote

Texas, please come pick up your iguana.

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HaloGuy381 t1_j0v34iq wrote

Sorry, we’re facing single digit temps in a couple days, we can’t have Abbott’s lackey freezing people to death again.

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Kaiju_zero t1_j0sl221 wrote

If it's the same one... fuck that lil dude!

:D

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jeblis t1_j0uts4f wrote

It’s not. They likely don’t survive.

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totallyclips t1_j0skas6 wrote

That's a very fragile system if an ex pet can take out the power supply

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christhomasburns t1_j0sxmc3 wrote

Squirrels cause outages all the time by chewing through wires.

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like_a_wet_dog t1_j0t1usg wrote

As a cable-guy, we had a "rodent damage" service code to bill the main company. Sometimes they pick a spot they hate and kill it with their teeth, no one knows why lol.

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Captain_Quark t1_j0t2xy4 wrote

I remember seeing the guy from the electric company bring a fried squirrel back to his truck after fixing a power outage. Pretty wild.

And iguanas are basically the squirrels of the tropics, so this story makes sense.

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Dt2_0 t1_j0v7f05 wrote

Except Iguanas are way larger and quite a bit meaner!

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WaterHaven t1_j0ve0rl wrote

Two power outages this year because of that for me. My wife thought a bomb went off for a second, because she just saw a flash and heard a big book right outside our living room lol.

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DKLancer t1_j0szcxh wrote

I worked at a retail store once that had regular brown and black outs entirely due to squirrels chewing wires in the circuit box.

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tikael t1_j0timbw wrote

Small animals can get into really small openings and wreck things. A weasel even took down the Large Hadron Collider.

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Ed_Durr t1_j0u747t wrote

A weasel disrupted the Large Hadron Colluder on April 29, 2016. Within a week, Donald Trump became the republican nominee for president.

Coincidence? I think not!

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prusik15 t1_j0sg3ho wrote

We gotta stop this iguana before he causes any more outages...

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cypressgreen t1_j0t4xqs wrote

I heard he shares a hidden shack in the Everglades with Florida Man and that guy named 4Chan. Arson lives there too. So many fires are due to Arson; why don’t they just arrest him already‽

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Ed_Durr t1_j0u646n wrote

You try approaching Florida Man’s home with an arrest warrant. Even if you can make it pass the land mines and killer mosquito nests, the methed-up attack alligators will surely get you.

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blurtard t1_j0vq20l wrote

Enough of this soft language. They’re not “iguanas”. Call them what they are - domestic terrorists.

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A-Perfect_Tool t1_j0smcl4 wrote

Can't they catch this damn thing and relocate it before it does anymore damage?

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strongerpainkillers t1_j0uh3l3 wrote

They kill them, it's a pest in Florida so relocation doesn't happen for these fellas

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No-Lunch80 t1_j0un6sg wrote

Not a pest. they are invasive. They were, however, "pets" until their owners released them into the wild. like pythons.

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strongerpainkillers t1_j0uu2vd wrote

With a iguana population estimated as 20000 green iguanas in Florida.

they do significant damage to infrastructure and constructions, consuming wild flowers and decreasing insect life, damaging the eco system.

I wouldn't say a pest is the wrong description

It's true thing about some of the iguanas out there being former pets or their fathers/mothers were

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No-Lunch80 t1_j0uz8xw wrote

Not just some, ALL Green Iguanas are from Brazil/Mexico. It's literally Invasive, they aren't from here, aren't supposed to be here.

Yes you are correct; they wreck havoc, and yes they are technically pests by definition, as is anything that causes damage. I think the term 'non-native pest" is more apt. Term pest really undercuts the severity of Iguana problem. Mosquitos are pests also, but they belong, and removal of mosquitos from the ecosystem would cause a collapse. Iguanas don't belong, and their presence in a ecosystem is catastrophic, with their removal actually benefiting the system.

Same with the pythons...These guys are literally destroying an ecosystem. Lots of things are pests, but the effect of Iguanas and pythons on the same ecosystem is very, very different.

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ziburinis t1_j0uz7gj wrote

That and Hurricane Andrew, I think it was. That is the likely cause of a bunch of invasive species, including the python issue. A reptile breeding facility was totally leveled. I had friends with iguanas in outside aviaries that couldn't bring them with when they evacuated and they were all gone after that storm.

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Southernerd t1_j0sm28n wrote

Lake Worth has the shittiest power grid in the developed world. Even without iguanas, they can barely keep the power up.

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GZAofTheMidwest OP t1_j0smfa8 wrote

Maybe they're using them as scapegoats.

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like_a_wet_dog t1_j0t2n03 wrote

Scapequanas, if you please.

They should install Iguana-Shields® When you wanna stop the iguanas

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Southernerd t1_j0sn2ww wrote

It's a real possibility. I knew a guy that lived at the edge of their service area and he actually build a line to connect to FPL because their service was so bad and the city served him with a cease and desist letter.

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ratebeer t1_j0td45j wrote

When questioned, the unruly reptile quipped, “And Iguana keep doing it!”

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GZAofTheMidwest OP t1_j0sgy5z wrote

Is "Florida Iguana" now a thing?

Should we go ahead and start r/Floriguana now?

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SheriffComey t1_j0siyem wrote

They've always been a thing.

With the cold front coming through this week I guarantee you'll hear about them falling out of trees frozen.

Every so often someone has to go to the hospital because they got dinged in the head by a falling iguana.

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EmotionalSuportPenis t1_j0smba0 wrote

Well, they haven't "always" been a thing because they're invasive. People letting their pet iguanas loose established the first breeding populations in South Florida in the late 1960s.

Basically, the first Florida iguanas were making the first Florida iguana babies while the Beatles were writing Sgt. Pepper's.

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Croweclawe t1_j0slapp wrote

You got a reptilian concussion from warming repercussions.

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mces97 t1_j0svhmm wrote

Funny, not funny.

... Well, kinda funny.

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drkgodess t1_j0sjgfm wrote

People often release them here because they think the climate suits them. Now, there are wild populations descended from pets.

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Ginger_Anarchy t1_j0uiok0 wrote

They're a whole population throughout South Florida because of exotic pet owners just releasing them and them thriving. They get everywhere too and are basically fearless. Really annoying to deal with.

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Ok-Abrocoma3862 t1_j0sfr4s wrote

I wish I was in Tijuana eating barbequed iguana

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CaptCol02 t1_j0sj14i wrote

You can have iguana sashimi with shots of turpentine at any speed dating family reunion in Florida. No passport required.

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warrant2k t1_j0t0ras wrote

I bought a little salamander and named it Tiny because it was my newt.

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FLTDI t1_j0sk1n9 wrote

That's one resilient iguana

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CredibleCactus t1_j0sr58q wrote

Been struck with the might of zeus and walked it off to fuck around another day

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VictorHelios1 t1_j0t0mcc wrote

The same one? How do you piss an iguana off enough that it attacks your power grid three times?

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peter-doubt t1_j0sgguj wrote

And? Squirrels do the same around here.

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GhettoChemist t1_j0sj1i9 wrote

How do we know that's not just iguanas doing it and blaming it on squirrels?

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Changlini t1_j0uetq7 wrote

> Iguanas are extremely adept climbers and have large bodies – a combination which makes the reptile a bigger threat to electrical equipment than birds or squirrels, according to Kerr.

>“Unlike birds, the tail and sheer size of iguanas” allows them to make a connection between two parts of the electrical system, he said. This was likely the cause of the latest outage, he added.

>Green iguanas are not native to Florida but began to appear in the state in the 1960s, likely escaped or released from captivity, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The reptiles are considered an invasive species “due to their impacts on native wildlife” and legally can be humanely killed on private property, the commission said.

So, Iguanas cause power outtages by simply creating two connection points with their long bodies, which means ZZZZAP and explosions

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DWCourtasan2 t1_j0t3hic wrote

Flordia's version of squirrel with the munches!

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Nazamroth t1_j0tnsda wrote

Someone lock that iguana up already.

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Kytyngurl2 t1_j0ubi6v wrote

Go go, fight the powah

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SuddenlyElga t1_j0uvft3 wrote

The headline is written as if it’s the same iguana

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Traherne t1_j0tbwlq wrote

Just give him the damned spot on the Geico commercials.

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kstinfo t1_j0thjdk wrote

" allows them to make a connection between two parts of the electrical system "

It's not specifically mentioned but I'm wondering if the iguana caused a short circuit. If that's the case it's definitely not the same one each time.

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HardlyDecent t1_j0u3vwy wrote

They should really jail that iguana if it keeps doing this.

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NoahCharlie t1_j0u96ya wrote

Those iguanas need to be locked up.

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meeplewirp t1_j0v5po2 wrote

I feel so bad for the electrocuted iguanas.

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Tail_Nom t1_j0wvigr wrote

I'm not reading the article or the comments in order to preserve my headcanon that this is the same iguana.

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GZAofTheMidwest OP t1_j0wz158 wrote

I wholeheartedlt support your decision. You should come up with some grand moniker for it, something like "Pepe, the menace of Lake Worth Beach public utilities."

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Tail_Nom t1_j0x0wm1 wrote

"The Midnight Lizard"

"Iguana Shutov"

"Donny Darko"

"Repto Resisto"

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Logistocrate t1_j0sgebc wrote

Fool me three times...can't fool me again?

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008Zulu t1_j0ss5ux wrote

Iguana + electricity = Kaiju.

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kanzler_brandt t1_j0st4n6 wrote

He’s just trying to help them manage their gas and electricity expenditures this winter.

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JennJayBee t1_j0sz4s3 wrote

Florida man is getting upstaged by Florida iguana in a big way.

Next thing you know, there will be stories of a methed-up iguana getting into fights with a gator at the Wawa before running off with a single stolen bag of chips.

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Jonatc87 t1_j0tzzde wrote

At this point is it not more cost effective to run power underground like many developed nations?

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The_big_one123 t1_j0ujlmr wrote

We've had a beaver cause an outage by chewing through a tree and it landing on a line

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lovestobitch- t1_j0ul0e3 wrote

Owned a condo about 30 miles south of Lake Worth and during one hurricane some idiot who had a number of iguanas penned up had the pen burst. Iguanas are prolific breeders and now the grounds are inundated with them alk from this guy. Poop all over, they burrow in the sea wall thus compromising it to the ocean/intercoastal and they carry disease. What used to be cool if you saw one, isn’t anymore. My neighbor who works from home was on a video call and didn’t realize one came in his place and scared the crap out of him. He doesn’t keep his door open now on calls.

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SirThatsCuba t1_j0utvb0 wrote

Someone update that squirrel game

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jaymobe07 t1_j0v6cbb wrote

Roberto Iquana Rodriguez just wants to jack off. He's going through some shit with iquana devil, let him be.

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knightopusdei t1_j0v840j wrote

Lizards are taking over Florida ..... also an iguana shuts down power three times

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not918 t1_j0vuayv wrote

That iguana should be in jail!

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Lhamo55 t1_j0w6zvz wrote

I’m going to assume that it’s not the same one unless Florida has become home to charbroiled zombie iguanas.

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HandbananaThompson t1_j0wmn13 wrote

Guess they’re still mad about Matthew Broderick winning.

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Previvor t1_j0wolgt wrote

Send those fekkers to Russia...

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GeeToo40 t1_j0ws4ux wrote

Are they even remotely qualified to work around high voltage?

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disneylegend t1_j106u20 wrote

I believe it was because the Iguana was partying so hard with his friends and all the electricity he was using for the disco lights and music caused the power outage.

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giabollc t1_j11u13b wrote

Just get something that eats iguanas

0