Florida lets you remove green iguanas from your own property year-round, so DIY is legal. The question is whether it's worth it. A hatchling on a hedge is one thing; a five-foot adult basking on a seawall is another. Cornered iguanas bite, scratch, and tail-whip hard, and a lot of DIY attempts end with the animal diving into the canal and coming right back.
The other half is the part people skip: collapsing burrows and cutting off the routes back in. Catching the iguana you can see does little if the seawall is still full of dens and the fruit tree is still an open highway. That's the difference between a cheaper hobbyist attempt and a professional visit from $189 that actually changes the property.
The safety reality on a seawall or roof
The physical risk is where DIY goes wrong most often. A big adult on a seawall or a roofline isn't going to sit still while you grab it. The bite is powerful, the claws are long, and the tail whips hard enough to leave a welt. Doing that off a ladder, near water, or over a pool deck is how people get hurt.
There's also the humane requirement. Florida requires green iguanas to be handled humanely under FWC guidelines, and that's harder to do properly than it looks when you're improvising with a catch you found online.
Where the real cost hides
The trap or catch-pole is a one-time purchase, so DIY looks cheaper on paper. The hidden cost is the return trip — yours. Without collapsing the burrows and closing the access, the iguanas come back and you're right where you started, buying more equipment and losing more weekends.
- DIY is legal on your own property year-round
- Adults bite, scratch, and tail-whip — real injury risk on seawalls and roofs
- Handling must stay humane under FWC guidelines
- Skipping burrow collapse and access means they come back
- A pro visit from $189 includes the burrow and prevention work DIY usually skips
Common questions
Is it cheaper to do it myself?
Upfront, sure — a trap or a catch-pole costs money once. But if you don't collapse the burrows and close the access, the iguanas return and you're back where you started, which is why most people call a pro after a DIY round or two.
Is DIY iguana removal safe?
With small ones and care, often. With big adults on seawalls and roofs, the bite, claw, and tail-whip risk is real, and handling has to stay humane under FWC guidelines — which is a lot to manage on a ladder.
Can I trap them myself and have you collapse the burrows?
You can handle the small stuff and call us for the parts that matter most — the seawall dens, the tree wraps, the piling guards. Plenty of people do a DIY round first and then bring us in when it keeps coming back.
