Send lizards packing

Send lizards packing - A close up of a lizard - Lizard

Iguana Gone a new & natural repellant

Winter might provide a tiny respite, a kind of “not as many as usual” situation, then bam! The weather warms and it’s iguana here, iguana there, iguana everywhere. They are the house quests that were never invited to the party. What to do?

Developer and builder Frank Abdo’s yard in Fort Lauderdale was turning into Jurassic Park. Nothing could deter the iguanas from eating his bougainvilleas or swimming in his pool like it was the Marriott. He saw the first iguana in 2000 and thought, “How cute.” And just like the movie, it turned into disaster a decade later. Female iguanas can lay 20 to 70 eggs per clutch per year and live up to 12 years; it’s not hard to do the math. But Abdo’s wife, Jan, didn’t have the heart to kill the languorous creatures and tested her husband’s ingenuity to find another way to save his yard.

“I thought there must be a ‘natural balance’ to things,” said Abdo, who realized if the bold vegans were attracted to plants, then something in turn must repel them. Two years of development, and Abdo had a working formula. Aptly named “Iguana Gone”, Abdo’s all natural deterrent hit the market at the start of 2017 – to rave reviews.

“Iguana Gone is made out of 100 percent natural ingredients, no chemicals or pesticides, completely safe for pets and humans,” said Abdo. But he laughs, “It has a foul odor, ” smelling similar to rotten sesame oil. When it’s applied to a white scent strip every 10 days and planted 10 to 15 feet apart in the yard, the iguanas want nothing to do with the area. It has lasting effect on the iguana’s senses. 

“The iguanas have physiological trigger, when they use their tongues to test the air, they capture the scent molecules and a stress and flight reaction occurs and they leave,” said Abdo. “Not one person who has used the product has said it was ineffective.” Sold on Amazon, Abdo is now getting requests from around the world. Not only does Iguana Gone repel iguanas, but curly tail lizards and frogs as well. While research is not complete, Abdo looks forward to testing it on a variety of reptiles.

Abdo’s website iguanagone.com provides tips and has instructional videos on correct usage( beware of sprinklers and yard crews). If infested, keep the test strip soaked and wait a week to ten days to see results. Abdo is always available for help, because he’s been there, he understands, and like his customers, he just wants that iguana gone.

Go to iguanagone.com or shop on Amazon.com.

Iguanas are an ecological and human disaster, from salmonella to destroying our yards.     Frank Abdo, developer of Iguana Gone.

    “Though (Iguana Gone)  harmless, iguanas sense an immediate threat and are instinctively COMPELLED to stay away. As a solution, it’s quite remarkable in it’s simplicity.” released a statement by the Molecular Physiology Laboratory, Baker Medical Research Institute

Hays Blinckmann is an oil painter, author of the novel “In The Salt,” lover of all things German including husband, children and Bundesliga. She spends her free time developing a font for sarcasm, testing foreign wines and failing miserably at home cooking.