Latest news with #lizards
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Meet Dozens of Gecko Species at a Tiny Brooklyn Zoo
If you head to the basement of an unassuming building in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and keep going straight past the Bone Museum, you'll find what might possibly be the world's smallest gecko zoo. The Gecko Gallery NYC, which grew out of a private collection originally housed in the apartments of its founders, Richie Laleh and Joseph Migirov, opens the weekend of May 23. It features 60 to 70 different species of mostly geckos (with a handful of non-geckos) for a total of about 150 lizards in a roughly 400-square-foot space inside the McKibbin Lofts, a mixed-use apartment building around the corner from night clubs and pizza joints. The men, who work full time on the zoo, claim it is the largest public display of rare and endangered geckos in New York City. Mr. Laleh, 29, has a degree in biology and Mr. Migirov, 19, is currently pursuing one, but both say they have been working 'hands-on' in the field for years. The New York natives said they have loved geckos since boyhood. 'We only work with geckos because we met a gecko,' said Mr. Migirov. 'Without finding a gecko in the beginning, we wouldn't be where we are.' At the Gecko Gallery NYC there are New Caledonian giant geckos, psychedelic rock geckos, monkey-tailed skinks, giant leaf-tailed geckos, peacock day geckos, and even a tiny juvenile (although almost fully grown) carpet chameleon that can easily curl up on your fingertip — just to name a few. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Florida high heat index: What's the best temperature to set your air conditioner thermostat?
Temperatures are rising and we are depending more and more on the state's most appreciated appliance: the air conditioner. It's roasting out there, which brings up the question: what temperature should I set my thermostat on? Short answer: it depends. Can't see the poll? Follow the link to vote. There isn't a magic number that everyone should use. It's a decision you make based on: What feels comfortable to you and the other people in your household The health conditions of people in your household How well your home is insulated and otherwise protected against heat What other cooling methods you use (floor fans, ceiling fans, closed curtains/shades, etc.) How much you're willing to pay on your electric bill The first and last ones are the most important ones. If you can afford it, run your a/c as low as you want. Just be prepared for considerably higher bills and likely more air conditioner maintenance and repairs, although Florida Power & Light has been lowering rates lately. FPL spokesperson Katarina Alvarez said a one-degree increase in thermostats could save between 3-5% on cooling costs. The less your a/c has to work, the lower your bill. So set your thermostat to the highest temperature you can remain comfortable in and can afford, and look for other ways to cool off your place. For a long time, 78 degrees has been the number everyone drops in their "stay cool" guides. Which is fine for some people, and for lizards. When the media and electric utility companies promote 78 degrees they often refer to ENERGY STAR, a program run by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that has become synonymous with energy-efficient appliances. But ENERGY STAR doesn't recommend any specific temperature. 'ENERGY STAR does not assert that any particular temperature setting is good for households,' the EPA said in an email to The Palm Beach Post. In the Florida summer, opening your windows day or night isn't a good idea unless you just like the heat. Temperatures don't drop that much in the Sunshine State overnight and letting the place heat up means your a/c will have to start from scratch in the morning. It also means letting in a lot of moist, hot air that will get absorbed by the carpeting and furniture upholstery, which means an uncomfortable house and the increased possibility of mildew. Turning it up a bit while you're gone can save you money, but unless you'll be gone for a week or more the work your a/c will have to do to bring the temp back down to liveable when you get home may not be worth what you save by turning it off. Air conditioning also helps reduce humidity in your house, and that helps keep mold and mildew in check. There are also your pets to consider. Your dogs and cats don't like the heat any more than you do, and they have fewer ways to cool off. When you're out of the house for an extended amount of time, FPL recommends setting your thermostat to 85 degrees with the fan on "auto." Older adults are more prone to heat stress, according to the Centers for Disease Control. They don't adjust as well to temperature changes, they're more likely to have a chronic medical condition that changes their normal responses to heat, and they're more likely to take prescription medicines that affect the body's ability to control its temperature. Older people also are more prone to Alzheimer's disease and other dementia-related illnesses, and scorching heat can be even more dangerous for individuals who may not notice that they're overheating, may not understand what it means, may have impaired judgment, or may not be able to tell anyone about it. "Summer can be extremely dangerous for those with Alzheimer's in Florida," Julie Shatzer, Vice President of Programs for the Florida chapters of the Alzheimer's Association, said in an email. "Symptoms of overheating can be difficult to detect in those with Alzheimer's and other dementia since they can be similar." Even if you're running your a/c nonstop, there are plenty of ways to give your air conditioner less to do. Use a programmable or smart thermostat. Raise the temps to 78-82 or more while you're at work, away or during the night (if you can). Start a fan club. Fans don't cool the air but they do make you feel better as the moving air cools your skin and helps your body evaporate sweat. Turn on your ceiling fans and put smaller fans around the place to keep your air circulating. Be sure to turn them off when you leave the room for more savings. Change your a/c filter regularly. Easy to do, and it does wonders to help your a/c help you. Dirty or clogged filters make a/c units work harder. Don't use a heavier filter than you need. Some promise to filter out all viruses, contaminants and pet dander, but they also choke airflow and may make your a/c work harder. The government's Energy Star program suggests changing your a/c filter every three months but says if it looks dirty after a month go ahead and swap it out. Close curtains and blinds. Keeping direct sunlight out of the house helps keep the inside from heating up. Keep vents clear. Blocking a/c vents blocks airflow. You want airflow so the room will cool to the temp the thermostat is set at. Check your insulation and weatherstripping. If heat is getting into the house (and cool air is getting out) your a/c has to work harder. Check the weatherstripping around windows and doors and make sure your attic is insulated. Close doors and vents of rooms you're not using. Why pay to cool a room you don't need to? Close the vents in your guest room, utility room or any space you don't use regularly and keep the door closed. However, don't close off any rooms that connect to other rooms you do use, otherwise you'll block airflow through the area. Cut your electric bill elsewhere. Unplug equipment and appliances that use energy even when turned off, such as TVs, air fryers and video game consoles. Turn lights off if you're not using them. Lower your water heat temp to 120. Use cold water in the washing machine. Use smaller appliances in the kitchen. Basically, everything your parents used to tell you to do. Sorry. . A/C repair companies are busy in the summer, and if yours breaks down they might not be able to get to you right away. Keep yours in good shape before it starts to make weird noises. Things you can do: 6 easy air conditioner tips to keep the cool air coming in the Florida heat ENERGY STAR recommends once a year, in the spring, but Floridians might want to go twice, especially if you live near the coast. Change or clean the air filter every month. Keep leaves, shrubbery and other debris at least 18 inches away from the outdoor unit to avoid blocking the airflow. Don't cover the condenser coil outside to make your house look prettier. Cooler is more important. If you have an outdoor drain, keep it clear and unclogged. Your a/c needs to be repaired if it stops working (obviously), makes loud noises while running, or can't keep your house cooled to at least 78 degrees. But it might need to be replaced if it's over 10-15 years old, your energy bills have skyrocketed and you keep having to get it fixed Older units have other issues, such as increasingly scarce parts or outdated coolant. The U.S. ceased production of Freon in 2020 and older units used R-22 Freon, which is getting tougher to find. And newer systems are more energy efficient. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida heat wave: For hot weather keep your a/c to these settings
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
It's hot again! What's the best temperature to set your thermostat in Florida?
As we rapidly approach the summer season, more and more Floridians are asking the inevitable question: what temperature should I set my thermostat on? According to Old Farmer's Almanac, NOAA and AccuWeather forecasters, Florida is set to face another record-breaking hot summer. Most of the U.S., including Florida, is expected to be hot and dry this summer. The forecast is for meteorological summer, which is June, July and August. South Florida, though, could see cooler, rainy conditions. "It's going to be a scorcher of a summer," according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. Floridians will remember the summer last year when the state suffered from the warmest (meteorological) summer on record. Florida also saw its second-warmest August on record in 2024. So what temperature should you set your air conditioner on? Short answer: it depends. It's a decision you make based on: What feels comfortable to you and the other people in your household The health conditions of people in your household How well your home is insulated and otherwise protected against heat What other cooling methods do you use (floor fans, ceiling fans, closed curtains/shades, etc.) How much you're willing to pay on your electric bill The first and last ones are the most important. If you can afford it, run your a/c as low as you want. Be prepared for considerably higher bills and likely more air conditioner maintenance and repairs, although Florida Power & Light has been lowering rates lately. FPL spokesperson Katarina Alvarez said a one-degree increase in thermostats could save between 3-5% on cooling costs. The less your a/c has to work, the lower your bill. So set your thermostat to the highest temperature you can remain comfortable in and can afford, and look for other ways to cool off your place. For a long time, 78 degrees has been the number everyone drops in their "stay cool" guides. Which is fine for some people, and for lizards. When the media and electric utility companies promote 78 degrees they often refer to ENERGY STAR, a program run by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that has become synonymous with energy-efficient appliances. But ENERGY STAR doesn't recommend any specific temperature. 'ENERGY STAR does not assert that any particular temperature setting is good for households,' the EPA said in an email to The Palm Beach Post. Turning it down a bit while you're gone can save you money, but unless you'll be gone for a week or more the work your a/c will have to do to bring the temp back down to liveable when you get home may not be worth what you save by turning it off. Air conditioning also helps reduce humidity in your house, and that helps keep mold and mildew in check. There are also your pets to consider. Your dogs and cats don't like the heat any more than you do, and they have fewer ways to cool off. When you're out of the house for an extended amount of time, FPL recommends setting your thermostat to 85 degrees with the fan on "auto." Even if you're running your A/C nonstop, there are plenty of ways to give your air conditioner less to do. Use a programmable or smart thermostat. Raise the temps to 78-82 or more while you're at work, away or during the night (if you can). Start a fan club. Fans don't cool the air but they do make you feel better as the moving air cools your skin and helps your body evaporate sweat. Turn on your ceiling fans and put smaller fans around the place to keep your air circulating. Be sure to turn them off when you leave the room for more savings. Change your a/c filter regularly. Easy to do, and it does wonders to help your a/c help you. Dirty or clogged filters make a/c units work harder. Don't use a heavier filter than you need. Some promise to filter out all viruses, contaminants and pet dander, but they also choke airflow and may make your a/c work harder. The government's Energy Star program suggests changing your a/c filter every three months but says if it looks dirty after a month go ahead and swap it out. Close curtains and blinds. Keeping direct sunlight out of the house helps keep the inside from heating up. Keep vents clear. Blocking a/c vents blocks airflow. You want airflow so the room will cool to the temp the thermostat is set at. Check your insulation and weatherstripping. If heat is getting into the house (and cool air is getting out) your a/c has to work harder. Check the weatherstripping around windows and doors and make sure your attic is insulated. Close doors and vents of rooms you're not using. Why pay to cool a room you don't need to? Close the vents in your guest room, utility room or any space you don't use regularly and keep the door closed. However, don't close off any rooms that connect to other rooms you do use, otherwise you'll block airflow through the area. Cut your electric bill elsewhere. Unplug equipment and appliances that use energy even when turned off, such as TVs, air fryers and video game consoles. Turn lights off if you're not using them. Lower your water heat temp to 120. Use cold water in the washing machine. Use smaller appliances in the kitchen. Basically, everything your parents used to tell you to do. Sorry. . A/C repair companies are busy in the summer, and if yours breaks down they might not be able to get to you right away. Keep yours in good shape before it starts to make weird noises. ENERGY STAR recommends once a year, in the spring, but Floridians might want to go twice, especially if you live near the coast. Your a/c needs to be repaired if it stops working (obviously), makes loud noises while running, or can't keep your house cooled to at least 78 degrees. But it might need to be replaced if it's over 10-15 years old, your energy bills have skyrocketed and you keep getting it fixed. Change or clean the air filter every month. Keep leaves, shrubbery and other debris at least 18 inches away from the outdoor unit to avoid blocking the airflow. Don't cover the condenser coil outside to make your house look prettier. If you have an outdoor drain, keep it clear and unclogged. Can't see the poll? Follow the link to vote. WalletHub released a study last summer ranking all 50 states by how much they pay for energy sources, which surprisingly revealed that Floridians are saving more than most states regarding year-round energy costs — despite consistently being one of the hottest states each summer. Here are WalletHub's top 10 states where the cost of energy consumption is the lowest: New Mexico Arizona Kansas Texas Nebraska Mississippi Florida Colorado Louisiana California According to WalletHub's study, Wyoming is the state where energy bills cost the most each year. Residents' average monthly energy bill hits a whopping $1,591 during winter months. Here are WalletHub's top 10 states where the cost of energy consumption is the highest: Wyoming North Dakota Iowa Montana Minnesota Massachusetts Connecticut Alaska South Dakota Virginia Contributing: Lianna Norman and Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY Florida Network This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Florida summer 2025: For hot weather, keep your a/c to these settings
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mini dragons invaded this Florida island. It's one man's quest to stop them with an air gun
The battle lines were drawn the day John Johnson saw an iguana emerging from a burrowing owl hole. The newly minted Marco Islander had enjoyed watching the owl family next door, the little male 'so cute, flying around gathering ribbon and tinfoil to dress up their burrow,' while mama bird saw to the business of nesting. Then the big bully arrived. 'I watched this thing crawling out of their hole ― iguanas are mostly vegetarians, but they'll opportunistically eat eggs,' Johnson says, 'while the parents were screeching and divebombing it.' More: Python Q&A: What does it mean when you say 'every python removed makes a difference'? It wasn't a fair fight, Johnson realized: a spiky, clawed dragon versus a teeny-feathered critter weighing in at 8 ounces, tops. And though the owls tried to defend their home, the iguana had done its damage. Eventually, the birds abandoned the burrow. 'I looked (iguanas) up and I saw they have no natural predators here," Johnson says. "And I said, 'That's not right … but maybe there is one. There's me.' Johnson, who runs a golf ad agency, knew he could even things up. As a kid in the Pacific Northwest, he'd grown up hunting; he knew his way around a trigger and a scope, so he figured he'd give it a shot. 'I invested and I plinked around, and in 2023, I'd killed 255.' A new business, Down Goes Iguana, was born, with Johnson as its chief hired (air)gun. All with the blessing of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which credentials Johnson and his fellow removers of invasive exotic pests. Different hunters have different tools and techniques, but Johnson favors pneumatic guns like the .25 caliber Brocock Sniper XR. Powerful and humane, he says. "A soft lead pellet through the brainstem ... they never know what hit them." Johnson shares the harvest. Crabbers use them to bait traps, Tampa Bay Discovery Center uses them to dissect, and he's supplied an FGCU class studying worldwide cuisines with the raw materials for taquitos de iguana. And sometimes he supplements his own protein intake. Last month, as egg prices spiked, Johnson demonstrated his home-grown solution: iguana egg scramble, in a TV news segment that made its way around the country, from Philadelphia to Chicago. It's a free breakfast, if you know where to find the iguanas, and just as tasty, he promises. 'Eggs are eggs.' Like Burmese pythons, veiled chameleons and Nile monitors, iguanas have joined a growing list of reptilian invaders in the Sunshine State, which has 'more established nonnative reptile and amphibian species than anywhere else in the world,' the University of Florida reports. 'Over 60 species of introduced reptiles and amphibians have established breeding populations (and) Florida has three times as many established species of introduced lizards as native lizards.' Two iguana species in particular plague Southwest Florida. The black spiny-tailed iguana has colonized Gasparilla Island, where it they outnumber humans five to one, undermining sea walls and dunes, gobbling native plants and gopher tortoise eggs and pooping all over the place. In 2006, Lee County paid renowned FGCU biologist Jerry Jackson $16,000 to study and strategize removal. It's an uphill battle, Jackson told islanders: 'These animals eat almost anything they can get in their mouths.'Farther south, the green iguana has settled on Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral and Marco Island, spawning a cottage industry in trapping, removal and even guided hunts (for a fee, the Lizard Kings will take you out to bag your own trophy). On Marco, the fight's dragged on more than a decade, with the city sometimes budgeting for an official removal program, supplemented by private operators like Johnson. Though he's only been in business a few years, he has an ever-increasing supply. Last year, a friend bet Johnson he couldn't average one a day (made even harder by the leap year) but turned out it wasn't much of a challenge. 'By the end of May, I passed the 366 mark and by the end of the year, I was at 730,' he says. Since he started, Johnson estimates he's taken out around 1,500. Prolific a killer as he is, 'You'll never pay the mortgage with iguana money,' Johnson says, 'but you can buy the coolest toys' like air guns with night vision, video-recording scopes and breathtaking precision. 'My PCP air gun at more than 50 yards can hit a fingernail over and over again,' Johnson says. Johnson's bread and butter is photographing golf courses around the world. It just so happens he enjoys a bite of eggs to go with that bread and butter ― iguana eggs. And why not? Iguanas themselves are often found on tables in their home range of Mexico through South America. 'Chicken of the trees, they call them,' Johnson says. Client Sally Riley shudders at thought, She just wants them gone. 'They're gross to look at and I don't want them on my house.' Or in it. That's why she's happy to have found Johnson, after two false starts with other companies. 'He came right out and killed two the first time, at least.' Safety first is Johnson's policy. After telling the police department where he'll be, he arrives in a bright visibility vest. The idea is to be as obvious to humans as he can, lest he be mistaken for something sinister, Johnson says. 'Every time I pull out the gun, I try to be as conspicuous as possible so people know what I'm doing.' Then he gets to work. He's picked them off docks, seawalls and roofs charging by the head: $50 for first; $25 each additional per trip. "And if I come and I miss, no charge." Johnson's got that work cut out for him. Iguanas are prolific breeders, with each female capable of producing up to 70 eggs once or twice a year. The larger males, often with spiky manes and leathery beardlike adornments called dewlaps, keep harems of a dozen or so females.'Do the math,' Johnson says. 'It's hard to make a dent.' Marco's iguanas have only been a problem for about 50 years, when they started stowing away in produce shipments or getting turned loose by disgruntled pet owners. "You don't hear any old boy iguana stories because they were never here before the 1960s," Johnson says. "In the last 10 years, Marco has seen a crazy increase." Besides Johnson and his colleagues, the only thing that stops them is cold weather, which stuns, then kills the creatures. But as the freeze line moves north, so can the iguanas, he says. "They're now in central Florida, devastating crops." He realizes they'll likely never be completely eradicated, but he's happy to make a hearty dent. "Some guys fish; some guys golf ― everybody's got their thing," he says. I'm also vested in the fact that this is not good and I have some skills and some tools to help eradicate this problem ... people are just so grateful. "I walk onto a property, they've got these creepy things and I can get rid of them. So it's fun." This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida iguana hunter uses air gun to kill invasive lizards
