I went looking for the adopted son of Sanford
A ginger headed, African type lizard
At the old abandoned bank where he thrived
I found nothing, had any of the agamas survived
Someone had done a little renovating
And probably a whole lot of exterminating
The old building was now some sort of school
I stood there staring and looking like a tool
At least to the guys at the business next door
Who said, "we don't see the red heads any more"
But there were so many here before
There was an old restaurant with holes in the ground
Where I thought the temperature they needed was found
They seemed to be doing so well
But maybe when the temperature fell
With no underground left for the lows
They stayed out in the open and froze
I'm curious, if anyone knows
Calvin "Cheese Grits" Yerke
I think on most lists, the red headed agama would come up as an invasive species. At every location I have seen them in here in Florida, they seem to stay on the buildings and other construction of Florida's most invasive species, us. They are very territorial and since they prefer the buildings and walls that we create, I don't see them moving into the surrounding natural habitats that are left. The population I use to see in Sanford was in a lot where there was an abandoned bank, and an old restaurant with holes in the ground going to what was possibly an old septic space. This group surprised me because the longer I stayed there and watched, the more I would see coming out of both buildings and using the rental car lot next door. The woods that separated this area from an apartment complex and pond behind it, held nothing but Cuban Anoles.
At the pond, I found a water moccasin, some leopard frogs and a garter snake, but no Agamas in this area. On my recent visit, two weeks ago, I did not find the first Agama. The bank was now a school, and the restaurant was gone. Maybe some of them survived and just moved, or maybe since I was there in the heat of the day, they were thermo regulating in the shade somewhere. It was strange, because I had never been there in years past without seeing many of the lizards, but maybe this fall I can check some other populations where I have seen them further south.
This is the area they are usually in; if someone sees them let me know: Sanford