Hollywood is where the iguana problem started
A trapper who works the whole county once called Hollywood "the birth ground" for South Florida's iguanas, and the layout explains why. Hollywood Lakes — Joseph Young's 1920s plan around North Lake and South Lake — puts a seawall, a dock, and a hedge on almost every lot along North and South Lake Drive, with the Intracoastal on the other side and the Broadwalk beyond it. Iguanas sun on those seawalls, burrow into the lake banks, and strip the hibiscus. The city acknowledges the burrowing is causing erosion around its own lakes and canals; it hired a trapping company for city facilities and asks private owners to handle their own lots.
Hollywood also produces a call other cities rarely do: iguanas in the toilet. Older east-side homes have open roof vent stacks, and iguanas climb the stucco, go down the pipe, and surface in a bathroom. One local trapper reports a steady stream of those calls, and Hollywood residents have made the news for it more than once. The same stacks admit Cuban tree frogs. Screening the vent is a roofing job; keeping the animals off the walls and hedges below it is a barrier job.
During the February 2026 cold snap, a removal crew reported collecting hundreds of pounds of stunned iguanas in Hollywood, most of them near the beach. The seawalls were busy again by spring.
West of I-95: lakes, golf, and pools
Hollywood Hills, Emerald Hills, Lakes of Emerald Hills, Park East, Boulevard Heights, and Driftwood are mid-century and 1970s–80s stock with pools, screened patios, and golf or lake frontage. The Club at Emerald Hills, Orangebrook, and the Lakes of Emerald Hills lake system give iguanas a bank to sun on and give cane toads and Cuban tree frogs a place to breed. Toads come up after rain and sit on pool decks and under landscape lights; they are toxic to dogs. T.Y. Park's freshwater lake has a growing iguana population sunning on the rocks, and West Lake Park and the Anne Kolb Nature Center — fifteen hundred acres of mangrove between Port Everglades and North Lake — line the whole east side with iguanas along the paved trails and the C-10 Canal behind homes.
Where to lay the band in Hollywood
Hollywood Lakes: the dry seawall cap, the dock landing, the lawn to the pool, and the hedge base; add a ring at the base of any exterior wall under a roof vent. Emerald Hills and the west-side lakes: the outside footer of the pool cage, the lake-facing hedge, and rings around low landscape lights and the pool-equipment pad. Canal lots on the C-10 or the Dania Cut-Off Canal: the canal bank and the fence line.
Hollywood is about ten miles south of our Fort Lauderdale base, so it is on our regular route with Dania Beach and Hallandale Beach. A Hollywood Lakes lot with a full seawall run is a 5-gal job; a Hollywood Hills pool home is a 32 oz bag.
A barrier you control, from five ingredients you can read.
ReptilesAway is a granular powder, not a spray, made from five ingredients — sodium chloride, citric acid, lemongrass oil, peppermint oil, and garlic oil — and formulated as an EPA FIFRA 25(b) minimum-risk pesticide — made only from ingredients on the EPA's minimum-risk list, so it is exempt from federal registration. One application lasts 2–3 weeks. The 32 oz bag is $24.99 and covers 1,500 sq ft; the 5-gal bucket is $164.99 and covers 30,000 sq ft. Made with food-grade and botanical ingredients. As with any product, keep pets from eating it directly and check the ingredient list if your pet has known sensitivities to any of them. Local treatment is priced by quote with no contracts — call 1-833-8REPTILES (1-833-873-7845).
See how it works- Sodium chloride01
- Citric acid02
- Lemongrass oil03
- Peppermint oil04
- Garlic oil05
Buy what you need.
Free shipping on orders of $100 or more. Flat $8.95 under that.
Label mockup shown. Final packaging may vary.
ReptilesAway Powder · 32 oz
1,500 SQ FT · 2–3 WEEKS PER APP$24.99
Label mockup shown. Final packaging may vary.
ReptilesAway Powder · 5-Gallon
30,000 SQ FT · 2–3 WEEKS PER APP$164.99
Three steps. You run them.
Find the travel lines
Walk your Hollywood property and flag the routes reptiles use — Intracoastal seawalls, canal banks, pool-cage edges, the gaps under a side gate.
Lay the band
Shake a three-foot band of powder along those lines. No spray, no fogger, nothing to dry — fine around the pool and patio.
Reapply on schedule
One pass lasts two to three weeks. Reapply after a heavy rain or every couple of weeks through the long iguana season.
Questions about Hollywood.
An iguana came up through my toilet. Can a repellent stop that?
Not alone. The fix is a roofer screening the vent stack, and then a band of powder at the base of the exterior wall and along the hedge the iguana climbs from. In Hollywood Lakes that usually means the seawall side of the house. Cuban tree frogs use the same vents, and the same two steps address them.
My dog found a cane toad on our Emerald Hills patio. What do I treat?
The outside footer of the pool cage, the lake-facing hedge, and a ring around each low landscape light and the pool-equipment pad, since toads come up from the lake after rain and sit under lights. Keep the band fresh from May through October, when toads are most active, and keep dogs away from any toad you find.
How fast can you get to a Hollywood Lakes property, and what does it cost?
Hollywood is ten miles from our base, so usually within days. We walk the lot, mark the seawall, dock, hedge, and pool lines, and send a per-visit quote — one visit or a recurring schedule, no annual contract. A long seawall run generally uses the 5-gal bucket; a dry lot uses the 32 oz bag.
Take back your Hollywood yard.
From the Broadwalk to the canal homes out west, the fix is the same: a granular line where the reptiles travel. Run it yourself, or let our crew handle the whole thing.