What Iguanas Actually Damage

Iguanas dig. That is the entire issue. A green iguana is an invasive species in South Florida that burrows to nest and to shelter, and it prefers the soft, moist soil right along the water, which is exactly where the most expensive parts of a waterfront property sit. Here is where the damage shows up in Palm Beach County homes:

• Seawalls and reinforced concrete canal walls. Iguanas tunnel behind and beneath the wall. Over time the burrowing hollows out the soil that supports it, and the wall starts to lean, crack, or lose the backfill that keeps it standing. Seawall repair is one of the most expensive line items a waterfront owner ever faces, and it runs well into five figures.
• Canal banks and lake banks. The same burrowing that undermines a seawall erodes an unarmored bank. You see it as settling, small sinkholes near the waterline, and grass that collapses when you step near the edge.
• Pool decks and paver surfaces. Iguanas nest under slabs and pavers because the ground is easy to dig and the cover keeps them hidden. The result is hollow spots, pavers that rock underfoot, and settling that cracks a pool deck.
• Foundations and driveways near water. On lots where the house or the drive sits close to a canal, the burrowing reaches structural ground. This is the version that stops being a landscaping headache and becomes a repair a buyer will negotiate hard over.

I want to be precise here, because my whole approach to property condition is built on not overstating. Not every hollow paver is an iguana. Soil settles on its own in Florida, and plenty of seawalls fail from age and water pressure alone. But along a canal that is visibly full of iguanas, burrowing is a leading and often the primary cause, and it is the first thing I want checked.

A Wellington Example: The Olympia Entrance

You know Olympia, the big gated community in Wellington off Forest Hill. One of the four main entrance gates sits right on a canal, and that canal is loaded with iguanas. The paver drive-up at that entrance had to be reconstructed after the ground beneath it gave way. That is not a back amenity most residents never use. That is one of the ways you get in and out of the neighborhood, the surface every resident and every visitor rolls across.

The widely attributed cause is exactly what you would expect from a canal in that condition: iguanas burrowing along the bank, the soil under the pavers washing and settling into the voids, and the drive-up failing from underneath. When a community has to rebuild its own front door, that is the clearest picture I can give you of what this animal does when nobody is managing it. If it can undermine a community entrance built to commercial standards, it can undermine your seawall or your pool deck. That is the point of the example.

What Removal Costs, and Who Pays

The removal industry is your best evidence that this is a real expense, because a market this size does not exist for a cosmetic problem. There are full-time iguana removal companies working Palm Beach and Broward now, with trucks you have probably seen out on Southern Boulevard and through the western communities.

Here is roughly what it runs in South Florida. A single-iguana removal often lands around two hundred dollars, with some companies advertising entry-level service near one hundred ninety-nine. A full infestation, with trapping, repeated visits, and habitat work to keep them from coming back, climbs toward two thousand dollars. Waterfront and large properties cost more, because there is more ground to inspect and more water edge to protect.

Now the part that catches buyers off guard. The structural repairs iguanas cause, seawalls, foundations, roofs, are the kind of damage homeowners insurance typically will not cover. So you are looking at the removal cost and the repair cost, and the repair is the one that hurts. Two more realities worth knowing:

• If the property is in an HOA, removal gets complicated. Communities disagree about whether to remove iguanas at all, and many ban trapping or shooting, which forces slower pole-snare capture and stretches out the timeline. The Olympia entrance is a good reminder that an HOA can end up carrying a large repair whether or not it ever agreed on a removal plan.
• Who pays for the damage depends on where it sits. Damage to your seawall, your deck, your lot is yours. Damage to a shared bank, a community canal, or a common entrance is the HOA's, which means it eventually shows up in your dues or a special assessment. That is why I always tell buyers in a waterfront HOA to ask about the reserve study and any pending assessment before they fall in love with the view.

So Is the Coyote Your Friend?

Back to the animal on the bank. Here is the part that surprises people: the same coyotes that make Acreage and Loxahatchee homeowners nervous about their dogs and chickens are, it turns out, eating iguanas.

Researchers publishing in the Journal of Urban Ecology tracked what South Florida coyotes eat and found that when fruit and vegetation are scarce, these animals turn to iguanas and some peafowl. Both the iguana and the coyote are relatively recent arrivals to South Florida, one hauled in by the pet trade and gone wild, the other having wandered down on its own. And the coyote appears perfectly willing to treat the abundant, no-controversy lizard as a meal.

Let me be honest about what this does and does not mean, because overselling it would be the fast way to lose your trust. It does not mean coyotes will solve your iguana problem. They eat iguanas opportunistically, not as a primary food source, and they are not going to control a population that breeds the way iguanas do. Anyone who tells you to let the coyotes handle it is selling you something.

What it does mean is a small, real piece of reassurance. The coyote you are worried about is far more interested in the abundant iguana along your canal than in your dog. That is the honest version of enemy of my enemy. It lowers the temperature on the coyote worry without pretending nature is running a free pest-control service on your behalf. If you own acreage with small pets or livestock, you still take normal precautions. You just do not need to treat every coyote sighting as a threat aimed at your household. So is the coyote your friend? Call it a neighbor with useful habits. Not a friend you rely on, but not the villain the headlines make it either.

What I Would Tell You To Do

If you are buying waterfront or a pool home in Palm Beach County, walk the water edge before you write the offer. Look for burrow openings at and just below the waterline, pavers that rock or sound hollow, settling or small sinkholes near the bank, and any lean or separation in the seawall. Put iguana damage on your inspector's list by name so it does not get folded into a generic note about grading. My Palm Beach County Buyer's Guide walks through the rest of the pre-offer checklist.

If you already own waterfront, the cheapest fix is prevention. Keep the burrows filled, protect the base of the seawall, and deal with a small population before it becomes a large one. A two-hundred-dollar removal now is cheaper than a five-figure seawall later.

If you are in or buying into a waterfront HOA, ask two questions before anything else. Is there a current reserve study, and is any special assessment pending or discussed. Shared banks, community canals, and common entrances are where this damage becomes everyone's bill. For how HOA dues and reserves work in a waterfront community, see my guide to Admirals Cove in Jupiter.