If you like lizards, SW Florida’s got ’em. All colors and sizes. An emerald iguana as big as a Maine Coon cat who sprints across the grass, hips swiveling as he propels himself along. Or you might see one the length of a young gator with a tail that lashes like a whip when he spots you, the human intruder.

In the cooler winter temperatures (which sometimes drop at night to 40 degrees), our local stations may broadcast an alert to watch for falling iguanas. Since they sleep in trees, the chilly temps can cause them to lose their grip and fall. Believe me, getting hit by a 2-foot long iguana would really leave a mark… 

My favorites are the anoles (sometimes referred to as geckos or Komodo dragons). Brown, green, mottled, striped–they resemble tiny dinosaurs and may have been featured in old black and white sci-fi or horror flicks. Blown up to hundreds of times their actual size, they’d present a very scary appearance to a cowering victim.

In real life, anoles dart in bursts of motion across the path or down the screen of your lanai, pausing occasionally to pose. My friend Rainbow tells me these “primitive” creatures can regenerate a tail or a leg if they happen to lose one.

If only we advanced humans possessed such a magical ability to heal ourselves!