As real estate agents in the Myrtle Beach and The Grand Strand, area we often receive routine questions from prospective home owners regarding housing, neighborhoods, schools, weather, etc,. However this question from a lady in Europe caught us off guard.
Q: Are there lizards in Myrtle Beach?
A: Myrtle Beach is known worldwide for sun, sand, surf, fun, dining, nightlife, golf, and entertainment but not for it’s lizards.
Yes, Myrtle Beach does indeed have lizards. Primarily “lounge lizards” but also a healthy population of green anoles and other small harmless lizard species. There are no large iguanas or iguanadids like those found in Southern Florida, the Caribbean and other tropical areas.
Myrtle Beach has a moderate seasonal climate that supports a wide range of plants and animals including lizards.
The green anoles are very common to this area, so common in fact that after a while you hardly notice them. Anoles are cold blooded reptiles and can often be seen basking in the warm Myrtle Beach sun. They rarely grow over 5-6″ and change colors from a brownish gray to a bright lime green. They’re really very pretty in the bright green state and the males are spectacular when they show off for the lady lizards by extending their vermilion throat fan.
Most Myrtle Beach area locals consider it good luck to have an anole or two hanging around their deck or back door. They earn their welcome by consuming massive quantities of flies, mosquitoes, bugs and other creepy crawlers.
They’re really quite harmless and a beneficial part of our environment. When we were kids we used to catch them and let them bite onto our earlobes (no it doesn’t hurt and they don’t break the skin as they don’t have teeth, just rough raspy lips). Then we’d go inside wearing 5″ live lizard earrings and “freak” our mommas out.
Though not as common as the anoles, you may occasionally see a blue tailed skink in the shadows or a six-line racerunner in the sand while visiting Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach is also host to North America’s largest lizard, the American alligator. Warning! DO Not dangle baby alligators from your earlobes.
Yes, someone really did ask this question. They were severely affected by Scoliodentosaurophobia (fear of lizards) and did not want to live in an area that had lizards. By the way, the only state in the U.S that does not have lizards is Alaska.
So, if you suffer from Scoliodentosaurophobia, Myrtle Beach might not be the best place to relocate to or invest in a vacation home. However, if you can tolerate a few anoles, an obnoxious lounge lizard or two, and an occasional gator, The Grand Strand is a wonderful place to live, retire to, and invest in.