It was cloudy with a chance of iguanas.
A Florida animal lover is going viral after collecting iguanas that had frozen stiff and toppled out of trees amidst the frigid bomb cyclone pounding the US. Footage of him retrieving the herpetological hail is currently going viral online.
“Iguanas literally started dropping out of the trees,” taxidermist Brendan Denuyl, 29, told SWNS of the chilling phenomenon, which occurred across South Florida over Christmas weekend as temperatures dipped into the 20s, marking the region’s coldest Dec. 25 in 33 years.
This didn’t bode well for the Sunshine State’s invasive cold-blooded lizards, which seize up and become immobile when the mercury drops to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. In line with forecasters’ predictions, the sluggish reptiles started dropping out of trees like a biblical plague.
Brendan Denuyl, 29, with a bouquet of frozen iguanas that he collected. SWNS-Brendan Denuyl
Dennuyl, who works for Gray Taxidermy, said he noticed the strange rain while fishing in Pembroke Pines “on Christmas night, which happened to be the coldest night of the year.”
“I dropped my fishing rod and started gathering them as others were still falling to my left and right,” Denuyl described. “Once I had a good handful and a few more on the ground next to me, I made a video showing people how these iguanas in South Florida react when temperatures dropped.”
Accompanying footage shows the impromptu reptile rescuer holding a bundle of the comatose lizards in his hands like a scaly bouquet.
“All of these [iguanas] literally probably in the past 30 minutes to an hour have all fallen out of the trees right by this fishing spot that I’m at,” lamented the concerned good Samaritan on camera.
And it wasn’t just iguanas that got popsicled amid plunging temperatures. Denuyl added to SWNS that there are “also snakes freezing in the middle of the road.”
Iguanas seize up and become sluggish when the mercury dips under 50 degrees Fahrenheit. SWNS-Brendan Denuyl
“Most snakes and lizards down here will find a near road to bask on throughout the year,” he explained. “However, when temperatures dropped to 40 degrees, they freeze up on those roads and can’t escape or even move.”
Thankfully, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission experts assured the public that the critters’ weather-induced paralysis is only temporary, and that they’ll wake from their cryogenic slumber once the weather warms, SWNS reported. They advised the public to refrain from bringing the immobilized critters into their homes as they’ll undoubtedly reanimate.
Taxidermist rescues frozen iguanas as they fall from the sky
