# Frozen Alligator and Iguana on a stick. Awesome **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2018, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299 "2018-01-10T09:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/1 "2018-01-10T09:19:22Z")
I’d always assumed that reptiles died in abnormally frigid weather. I badly misjudged their innate survival instincts. I still suspect a long term climate change would eventually wipe them out. But they can survive a few days of harsh weather. Two examples… Frozen iguanas falling out of trees in Florida. > **[Iguanas are falling out of trees in Florida because it’s so cold. Please...](https://www.sciencealert.com/iguanas-are-falling-out-of-trees-in-south-florida-but-please-don-t-pick-them-up)** > > In South Florida, it is “raining iguanas.” Frozen gators in the Swamp. Snouts poking out of the ice. That’s just incredible they can do that and survive. A human would die within minutes. > **[Alligators in North Carolina poke their noses through ice to survive freezing...](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/alligators-north-carolina-poke-nose-ice-survive-freezing/story?id=52233678)** > > The alligators are in brumation, a process like hibernation. > [@](#): > > And in South Florida, it is “raining iguanas.” > > Green iguanas, like most reptiles, are coldblooded animals, so they become immobile when the temperature falls to a certain level, said Kristen Sommers of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. > > Under 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius), they become sluggish. Under 40 degrees (4.44 degrees Celsius), their blood stops moving as much, Sommers said. > > They like to sit in trees, and “it’s become cold enough that they fall out”. > [@](#): > > The alligators went into the water last week during the “bomb cyclone” that hit the East coast. The water in the swamp was warmer than the air, explained Howard. > > The animals are experiencing brumation, a process cold-blooded animals go through that lowers their metabolism so they can survive cold climates, similar to warm-blooded mammals’ hibernation. > > “It is very, very abnormal for southeastern North Carolina,” Howard said of the ice and freezing temps. “It is not abnormal for the [the alligators] to do this because they know they have to breathe.” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/2 "2018-01-10T09:24:48Z")
Corrected Frozen Gator link > **[Alligators in North Carolina poke their noses through ice to survive freezing...](https://abcnews.go.com/US/alligators-north-carolina-poke-nose-ice-survive-freezing/story?id=52233678)** The Google Amp link refused to work. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/3 "2018-01-10T10:20:43Z")
I wish was in Tijuana, eating barbecued iguana. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/4 "2018-01-10T10:41:02Z")
They are probably are feasting on fried iguana in Florida right now. Fresh, frozen in your own backyard. 😉 Ready to dip in batter, fry, & eat. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/5 "2018-01-10T10:54:29Z")
(Pounding disco beat) _It’s raining iguanas! Hallelujah, it’s raining iguanas! Hosannas! Scales gray! Long and lean! I always thought that they were greeeeen… It’s raining iguanas!_ ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/6 "2018-01-10T11:49:47Z")
\*Every time it rains, it rains Iguanas from heaven. Don’t you know each tree contains Iguanas from heaven. \* ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/7 "2018-01-10T12:17:19Z")
This sounds kind of terrifying (For the iguanas), I mean, are they still conscious when they are “frozen” like that? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/8 "2018-01-10T13:00:46Z")
It seems that reptiles go into a suspended state in cold. Their heart rate slows down and I’d guess brain activity slows down too. The article says they wake up after the sun warms them. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/9 "2018-01-10T13:14:42Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I wish was in Tijuana, eating barbecued iguana. I’ve had iguana fricassee made from freshly caught beach iguana. I was not impressed. There’s not a whole lot of meat and you have to gnaw what’s there off of the bones. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frozen-alligator-and-iguana-on-a-stick-awesome/806299/10 "2018-01-10T16:18:00Z")
Hey there **cochrane** , hear the dj Can’t understand just what does he say