Fresh sod and new plantings are an open invitation to iguanas. Here's how to protect the investment through the vulnerable first weeks.
There's a special frustration in watching iguanas destroy landscaping you just paid to install. Fresh sod, new hibiscus, a re-planted bed along the seawall — the tender new growth is exactly what they crave, and the disturbed, softened soil is easy digging. A lot of people call us right after a landscaping job because the iguanas treated the new install like a grand opening.
The vulnerable window is the first several weeks while everything is establishing. Protect it through that stretch and you save yourself replacing the same plants twice — which, if you're on a canal or lake, is otherwise a recurring line item.
Time the install with removal, not against it
The single smartest move is to clear the resident iguanas before or right as the new landscaping goes in, not after they've discovered it. Putting fresh sod and tender plants down on a bank full of iguanas is feeding the colony at your expense. If you've got a landscaping project coming up on a pressured waterfront lot, that's the moment to get the animals cleared and the burrows collapsed, so the new install starts on ground that isn't already occupied.
We're happy to coordinate timing with a landscaper so the fresh sod isn't going down over active burrows that'll just re-open under it.
Protect the sod itself
Fresh sod is vulnerable both to grazing and to being dug up while the roots are still loose. Through the establishment window, a few measures make a real difference.
- Keep the sod well-watered and rooting quickly — established sod is far less appealing and harder to disturb than loose new pieces.
- Where pressure is heavy, use temporary fine-mesh fencing or netting along the bank edge the iguanas enter from.
- Collapse any burrows under or beside the new sod before it goes down, so it isn't undermined from below.
- Cut the climb routes nearby so they aren't dropping in from trees and cage tops onto the new beds.
Protect the new plants
New ornamentals are most at risk in their first weeks of soft growth. Cage or screen the prized and most-grazed plants — orchids, hibiscus, bougainvillea — until they're established, and lean the beds nearest the water toward plants iguanas find less appetizing. Raising vulnerable plants into elevated beds or baskets keeps them out of easy reach entirely.
As with a garden, repellent sprays are the thing people reach for and the thing that disappoints — they wash off and get ignored. Put your effort into the physical protection and the removal instead.
The honest bottom line
Protecting new landscaping is really a two-part job: shield the install through its vulnerable weeks, and remove the reason it's under siege. On a lightly pressured lot the shielding may be all you need. On a canal, lake, or Intracoastal lot with a resident colony, you'll keep replacing plants until the iguanas are cleared and the bank is hardened — that's just the reality of the waterline.
If you're about to spend real money on landscaping, a free property walk beforehand is worth it. We'll tell you honestly whether a single $125 clear-out protects the investment or whether the ongoing pressure calls for a monitored program from $99 a month with no lock-in.
Questions we hear
Why do iguanas target new sod and plantings specifically?
The tender new growth is exactly what they graze, and the freshly disturbed, softened soil is easy digging for burrows. A new install on an occupied bank is essentially a fresh food source and easy den site at once, which is why so many people see a surge of damage right after landscaping work.
How do I protect fresh sod while it establishes?
Keep it well-watered so it roots quickly and becomes less appealing and harder to disturb, use temporary fine-mesh fencing along the bank edge where pressure is heavy, and collapse any burrows before the sod goes down. Cutting nearby climb routes stops them dropping in from trees and cage tops onto the new grass.
Should I landscape first or remove iguanas first?
Remove first, or at least coordinate the two. Putting fresh sod and tender plants on a bank full of iguanas just feeds the colony at your expense. Clearing the residents and collapsing the burrows before or as the install goes in means the new landscaping starts on ground that isn't already occupied.
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