Man given a fright when chased by big lizard

Bradley Arington, 24, from Orange Park, Florida, had never heard of heard of an Argentine tegu lizard before. Last weekend he was taking the rubbish at his home when he heard some sort of hissing behind him. "I heard this very loud hissing sound and I boogied back inside," said Arington. "And it kept coming at me so I ran."

Arington was then chased back into his garage by a four-foot black and white lizard with a long tail. Arington lives in a suburban neighborhood, not the woods, but he was being chased by a Tegu. While it was hiding in his garage, Arington called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commission. FWC contacted Rod Smith of House of Reptiles who captured the lizard.
"I do not know where it came from," said Arington, "but I don't want to see anymore of them." For the past year, the Argentine tegu has become a concern among conservationists in Florida. The lizard is not indigenous to the state and has quickly made the list of troublesome invasive species. "They are a problem in South Florida," said Mark Beshel, senior herpetology keeper at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.

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"Most tegus that are found up here are probably escaped pets. Tegus are not aggressive, they don't hunt anything as large as us," he said. But they do eat small, mammals, eggs, and fruit. Rod Smith now has the tegu in quarantine. He said he will monitor the lizard for thirty to sixty days days for parasites or other disease, then the plan is to put him on the market.