‘I was scared’: Florida man finds hissing iguana in toilet

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — A South Florida man received an unwelcome surprise when he walked into his bathroom on Friday.

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John Riddle, 58, of Hollywood, saw a hissing iguana in his toilet bowl, WSVN-TV reported.

“I thought I was in ‘Jurassic Park’ or something,” Riddle told the television station.

Riddle told WPTV that he may have left his bathroom door open while walking his dogs. He said that the spiny-tailed animal was “splashing and hissing” at him.

It was a very unsettling sight, Riddle said.

“I was scared,” Riddle told WSVN. “I’m not a reptile fan.”

The mating season for the iguana ended in February, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Since temperatures are now rising in South Florida, the lizards have been spotted in many places. Normally it has been trees or rooftops, but Riddle found an iguana in a very discomforting space.

“This is the time of year that their activity explodes,” Blake Wilkins, the co-owner of Redline Iguana Removal, told the newspaper.

Riddle tried to get the lizard out of the toilet but was not successful as the iguana went deeper into the pipes.

Riddle said that he grabbed a baby gate to keep the lizard from running into his bedroom, WSVN reported.

“I came back probably a little less than an hour later, and there he was again, splashing around,” Riddle told the television station. “This was my chance, and I was trying to work up the nerve to grab him and throw him out, but before I did that, he crawled out, and crawled, like, behind the toilet, and that’s when I grabbed the strainer and shooed him out.”

Riddle said the iguana dived into his pool and ran into the backyard. The reptile was not injured.

“It’s a story to tell, for sure,” Riddle told WSVN. “Hopefully we can avoid any instances in the future.”