Thursday, June 11, 2015

Plumber pulled iguana out of woman's blocked toilet

A South Florida homeowner was surprised to discover an iguana was blocking her toilet at her home on Sunday. Fort Lauderdale resident Marian Lindquist said her encounter with the foot-and-a-half reptile began when her daughter Lily tried unsuccessfully to flush the toilet at their home in the Poinsettia Heights neighbourhood. "I knew that something had to be wrong," said Lily. Lily said she then called her mother for help.



"I thought that maybe something had fallen and was stuck in the toilet," Lily continued, "Maybe jewellery or something." Marian said she used a plunger several times, but the toilet remained clogged. "I put the plunger in, then I pushed on it, but water came up," she said. Marian then called Roto Rooter. Professional plumber Alisa Scott came to the family's aid. "You just never know what you're gonna get out of there," she said. Armed with an auger, Scott dug in.

Not long after, she discovered what was blocking the toilet. Then she screamed. "We heard this bloodcurdling scream from the bathroom," said Lily. "I said, 'What's the matter?' And she said, 'It's a lizard,'" said Marian. The homeowner said the iguana was so large that the plumber required assistance. "She needed help because the auger was stuck in the iguana," she said. The plumber said the incident was a first in her 12 years of fishing in toilets.



Scott said the reptile was alive when she first pulled it out, but since it got hooked on the auger, it later died. It is not uncommon for residents in the Lindquists' neighbourhood to see iguanas crawling around, especially near the edge of the area's small man-made lake. As it turns out, the reptile had lodged itself in the pipeline by way of the roof. "She said that it probably jumped from the tree onto the roof, went down the pipe, couldn't figure out how to get out," said Marian. With the lines freshly flushed, the Lindquists spent Monday morning on their roof, sealing off their house to prevent encore appearances by free-roaming reptiles.

With news video.

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