TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The green iguana is an invasive species that has almost no natural enemies in Taiwan, allowing it to reproduce at an astonishing rate.
On Sunday (June 25), Joby (J爸), a self-proclaimed Tainan "lizard catcher," posted on his Facebook fan page the incredible results of one night of hunting. He said a few days ago he was patrolling a shrimp farm in Rende District where he found a large number of green iguana larvae. In just four hours, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., he caught 400 juveniles.
"It’s better to catch them when they are young. When they get bigger, it's going to be more difficult," he said on his Facebook page, along with an orange plastic bucket full of juvenile green iguanas. In the past, he said that he has caught more than 200 green iguanas in one night but he has never caught 400 so easily. He also believes that despite his efforts, the number of green iguanas has not decreased in Taiwan.
The green iguana is a Central and South American species. It is also popular, and many Taiwanese raise it as a pet. However, they are frequently abandoned in the wild by their owners, and now they can be found all over Taiwan, creating a type of ecological disaster as they have no natural enemies and females can lay between 20 and 80 eggs.
Tainan Agriculture Bureau official Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) says that May and June are the hatching periods of green iguanas, making it the most appropriate time to catch larvae and juveniles to prevent their spread and reproduction.
The Tainan Agriculture Bureau welcomes the public to become involved in tracking and reporting the location of green iguanas. If the public finds that they cannot handle the capture of green iguanas, they can closely observe their habitat as well as the time when they typically appear and turn this information over to the Agricultural Bureau for further follow-up.
