Dog-Sized Lizards Have Made Their Way To The U.S. and I Am Freaking Out
File this under OH, HECK NO!
Some of you might find these creatures cute and cuddly, but that’s a NOPE for me. Anything with scales, forked tongues, and an affinity to hate the cold — *Shiver* Uh-uh.
Dog sized lizards have made their way from their tropical forest homes in South America, all the way up to places like the Florida Everglades, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina.
Yes. I said DOG-SIZED.
They are called Argentine black-and-white tegus, and they are omnivorous — which pretty much means they eat mostly anything. This means you need to watch your little dogs and cats, as they don’t differentiate pets from wild creatures.
Their most favorite food is eggs, so if you have chickens or ducks, and you are in one of the affected areas, you may want to pay extra special attention to the durability of their enclosures.
Farmers also need to beware, because they will also eat veggies right out of the fields — hungry little boogers.
They are (unfortunately?) a very hardy breed of lizard, which means they are pretty hard to get rid of once they have taken over an area.
While I’m making them sound pretty scary, these big lizards are actually pretty docile. Hey, just because they may not want to eat my hands off, DOESN’T mean I want to be BFFs with any of them.
You might be wondering how these things got to North America. Well, just like other species, they started as pets. They either escaped, or people released them when they got too big for residential homes. From there, the lizards just procreated and spread.
You can see a short video about these dog-sized creatures below.
In my world, dog-sized lizards are about as scary as the flying snakes that everyone was talking about a few months ago. It’s what my nightmares are made of!
