Trapper says iguana laid 30 eggs at bottom of Miami-Dade resort’s pool, got stuck in water slide – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

MIAMI (WSVN) – An iguana removal expert said he found a scaly surprise inside the pool of a Miami-Dade resort, but that wasn’t all.

Speaking with 7News on Sunday, Michael Ronquillo said he made the unexpected discovery on Friday.

“It’s a pretty crazy event, you know. The resort called us to an iguana being stuck in a jet of a slide, and also because they had the iguana eggs in the bottom of the slide,” he said. “We have no idea how it got there.”

Ronquillo, who owns Humane Iguana Control, said it’s not every day that he receives a call about an iguana trapped in a resort’s water slide after laying 30 eggs at the bottom of a swimming pool.

So he rushed over to get the job done.

Ronquillo said seeing the eggs underwater was a strange sight for him.

“The eggs, we really have no idea how they ended up there. Our guess is [the iguana lay] them around the slide area, and the eggs just rolled down from the slide, so that’s pretty much how they ended up in that area,” he said. “Iguanas this time of year, you’re going to find them in various spots just laying eggs. Typically, they lay eggs in burrows; we get calls all the time about iguanas laying eggs in random places, around homes, businesses and schools as well.”

The iguana experts looked inside the pool pipe with an endoscopy camera to make sure no lizards were left behind.

“When we arrived, the iguana actually escaped through the same hole it was in, so when we got there, it wasn’t there, so it actually escaped from the jet,” said Ronquillo. “You know, we actually looked for the iguana, but it was nowhere to be found, so it booked it and disappeared, pretty much.”

Ronquillo said the eggs were removed due to iguanas being an invasive species, adding this hasn’t been the only unusual case he’s handled in recent weeks.

“That’s one of the weirdest places, you know. About a week or two ago, we went to a home that had an iguana inside of a kitchen vent,” he said. “So what happened is, the iguana climbed on a roof to get sun, and I guess it decided to go down one of the pipes on the roof and ended up inside of the exhaust vent of the kitchen, so that was a crazy case as well.”

Ronquillo said there were no health risks thanks to their fast response.

For residents who need help dealing with invasive iguanas, Ronquillo said there is a website to book an appointment with him. For more information on Humane Iguana Control, click here.

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