Iguana camps out in Florida family's toilet for several days

Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A Florida family spotted an iguana in their toilet -- and the lizard camped out inside the commode for several days before being captured.

Kurt Hilberth said he went into the bathroom of his family's Hollywood home to brush his teeth when he spotted the reptile splashing around in the toilet bowl.

"It was so big that it was not submerged completely in the water. And it's got that tail that whips back and forth," Hilberth told WFOR-TV.

Hilberth said he attempted to catch the iguana, but it fled down the drain.

He said the lizard resurfaced again three days later.

"I was able to grab him by his back legs and part of the tail. I was pulling out, he was pulling in, the tail was going back and forth, water was flying everywhere, it was total chaos in the bathroom," he said.

The iguana was again able to escape his grasp.

"Unfortunately, I was left with a handful of tail," he recalled.

The family summoned trapper Harold Rondan from Iguana Lifestyles, who was finally able to get the iguana out of the commode.

Hilberth said he determined the iguana had gotten in through a sewage vent on the roof of his home. He said he installed a wire mesh to hopefully prevent future unwanted visitors.

The iguana was not the first to make an unexpected appearance in the toilet of a Hollywood home. Melissa Reynolds made a similar discovery when she opened the lid of the toilet in her home in June 2019.

Reynolds summoned her father to the house and captured video as the man removed the lizard from the toilet and transported it outside.