Iguana Invasion!: Exotic Pets Gone Wild in Florida

by Virginia Aronson, Allyn Szejko

Burmese Pythons are crawling across Florida from Lake Okeechobee to Key Largo. Hundreds of thousands of Green Iguanas relax along canals and on pool decks around the southern part of the state. And other non-native animals like seven-foot Nile Monitor Lizards and poop-tossing Rhesus Monkeys are scaring Florida residents. How did all these animals get into our public parks, canals and lakes, undeveloped areas and suburban yards? The unfortunate truth is, kids and their parents are partly to blame. Parents are purchasing cute baby animals for their kids, then abandoning the unwanted adult pets in the Everglades and anywhere else they think the animals might survive on their own. Some species are indeed surviving—and they are breeding wildly, becoming nuisance species. This book provides identification information for the most common exotic species and has the answers to these Readers learn how to stay safe, be humane, and appreciate nature—and are encouraged NOT to purchase exotic animals as pets. Recommended by the National Association of Science Teachers

69 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 2010

About the author

Virginia Aronson was born in Boston and educated in New England. She worked as a health writer at Harvard University School of Public Health before moving to South Florida. Her poetry and prose have been published in small literary journals and by indie publishers. Her numerous nonfiction books include a cookbook coauthored with the White House Executive Chef, interviews with people healed of illness by extradimensional forces, and an art book featuring artists with psychoneurological disorders. She's written textbooks for students and educational books for young readers. Under a pen name, she publishes spicy fiction.