HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — A Florida family was surprised to find an iguana splashing around in their toilet, where it lived for several days before being removed.

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Kurt Hilberth went to the bathroom July 24 to brush his teeth when he saw the large lizard, WFOR reported.

“It was so big that it was not submerged completely in the water,” Hilberth said. “And it’s got that tail that whips back and forth.”

Hilberth donned protective clothing and gloves and tried to grab the iguana, however it quickly swam down the drain.

“I was able to grab him by his back legs and part of the tail,” Hilberth said. “I was pulling out, he was pulling in, the tail was going back and forth, water was flying everywhere, it was total chaos in the bathroom.”

It resurfaced three days later. This time an iguana trapper was called to help Hilberth and his family.

“I went, grabbed him, he turned around, got caught with everything, went in that toilet. Put my hand, was able to get him and removed him immediately,” Harold Rondan, a trapper with Iguana Lifestyles, told WFOR.

They believe the iguana gained access through the sewer vent pipe that protrudes through the roof. Hilberth put a screening over the opening to stop future intruders.

Hilberth is thankful it was not worse.

“Your bare behind is over the toilet and there’s something in there,” Hilberth said. “Something with teeth. Something that can bite you down there is really a shivering kind of thought. You’re at a very vulnerable point.”

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