Chameleons in Florida
 

I hear that there is possibly two populations of two chameleon species that have been introduced and established in Tampa FL. Has anybody else heard this or checked it out?

Not sure about Tampa but I know there's a couple species living in the everglades. Lot's of non native thru out Fl, so I wouldn't rule it out.

I live in MB and have seen them in North Shore Open Space Park before. I've only seen one, so it could have been a recent release or it could be a small population. You seen lots of invasives/exotics down here.

I hear they are by new port richie...

The only ones I know of were near Fort Myers and they were Veileds, Last I heard the freeze a couple years appears to have wiped them out though?

When I lived in Saint Petersburg I found a pygmy in my neighbor's orange tree. Think it was a pygmy but it was over 10 years ago.

There was at least one established colony on a property on the east side of Ft. Myers, that used to be home to a reptile shop many years ago. Apparently they had veileds and they were kept in an outdoor enclosure that was broken into one night and left open by the perpetrators and there were many escapees. I don't know any of this first hand but, this is what I remember being told by a long standing member of the local herp society that did have first hand knowledge. There may also be something to the story that says they were killed off by the cold, I don't know for sure, but it certainly seems possible.

I've heard a lot about veileds in Fort Myers but never any specific location. I wish I did know a specific location considering Fort Myers is only 40mins away from me I'd be out there in an instant to check out these invasive veileds.

Glades Herp, maybe?

I remember in the early to mid 90's there used to be a ridiculous amount of exotics in Hallandale Beach surrounding Strictly Reptiles. I drove down there one day and saw a large, male plumed basilisk sitting on the menu board in the Burger King drive thru. The same day I saw a fresh DOR adult leopard tortoise on Hallandale Beach Blvd. Later that same year my friend found a prehensile tailed skink in a overgrown vacant lot a few blocks from Strictly Reptiles. That's when you could still buy imported prehensile tailed skinks for about $75.

I've come across several veileds, adults and juveniles, in my backyard in Fort Lauderdale.