GTA 6 Has An Inaccurate Portrayal Of Pet Iguanas in Florida

The first two trailers for Grand Theft Auto 6 have been praised for how well they’ve captured the essence of South Florida in the game’s fictional state of Leonida. As someone who’s lived in various places across Florida for over 20 years, I found myself pointing at the screen, instantly being reminded of locations like the Everglades, Hard Rock Stadium, and Hallandale Beach. But one small detail still doesn’t sit well, even months later.

Despite some truly bonkers recreations of real-life locations and events, there’s only one part of GTA 6 that comes across as somewhat contrived. This is through the pet iguana shown off in Trailer 2, walking around in a Jimmy Buffet-style tropical shirt.

The same iguana is shown off in promotional material for the game, and a different one is seen in Trailer 1 around the shoulders of a man sitting on the sidewalk. That may sound nitpicky, but most Floridians would eagerly point it out and tell you exactly what’s wrong with so many people having iguanas as pets.

GTA 6’s Pet Iguanas Are A Problem

How Florida Really Feels About Iguanas

It may seem like an inconsequentially playful part of the trailers, but the pet iguanas in GTA 6 make absolutely no sense. There are still people who keep iguanas as pets, but permits are needed, and most of the locals absolutely despise them. Iguanas are an invasive species in the area, have become illegal, and are even actively hunted in an attempt to reduce their population.

Even the Florida government incentives this by now allowing people to catch iguanas and ship them out-of-state, a fact shared by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission earlier in 2025. In recent years, there have even been bounty proposals on iguanas in the Sunshine State, widely reported by local stations and even global outlets like The Guardian.

A character like Jason Duval doesn’t care about the law. He’s seen robbing a convenience store, for example. But laws aside, people in Florida still mostly despise iguanas, so it feels disingenuous that Jason, or any other characters for that matter, seemingly keep them as pets — and dresses them up, no less.

GTA 6 Gets One Detail About Iguanas Right

Iguanas Are Common In Florida, But Not As Pets Anymore

Even people who don’t want iguanas dead aren’t above calling companies for removal. In my neighborhood alone, a week rarely goes by when a pest control van isn’t parked outside someone’s home, spraying around hedges and fencerows in an attempt to curb iguanas from overtaking the yard.

It’s such a prominent problem in South Florida that in the winter, if it gets cold enough, there are “falling iguana” warnings (see Accuweather for more details). People jogging have to watch out for iguanas freezing up and falling out of trees on top of them. In the summer, the local parks look like that scene in Jurassic Park where gallimimus are flocking toward Alan Grant and the kids.

That’s something GTA 6 has presumably gotten right — these reptiles are pervasive in both trailers and official materials shared by Rockstar. It’s hard to go anywhere in South Florida and not see an iguana, so this kind of detail around Leonida feels genuine. Yes, iguanas are really that common. But so many people keeping them as pets? No way.

It’s extremely unlikely anyone is dressing up an iguana and letting it roam around freely in their yard. Rarely has a species incited such malice from a local population. To say most people hate iguanas in South Florida is an understatement. It’s a hatred shared across political lines, age demographics, and religious affiliations.

Pet iguanas are a small detail that many people will probably never catch. It’s something only locals can really know. It’s like how real New Yorkers can point out the smallest inaccuracies in movies set in NYC, or how my friends in Tennessee know the writer of Iron Man 3 has probably never really been to Chattanooga because of how much snow is on the ground in December.

Why GTA 6’s Smallest Details Still Matter

Even Satire Has To Be Based On Familiarity

GTA 6 screenshot with a character with a pet iguana on their shoulder circled in red.

Sure, GTA has never been about realism, but it still mirrors our own world in a gonzo, satirical fashion. That means certain aspects of the games have to be accurate in order to at least feel familiar. Otherwise, it’s not a mirror — it’s just a window.

The people and places in GTA 6′s trailers succeed there. They feel like (albeit slightly) exaggerated versions of people I know or at least have passed on the street. None of those people, even exaggerated versions of them, would likely keep an iguana as a pet.

If anything, they’d likely fall into the category of people who catch and eat them, swearing they “taste just like chicken.” If that sounds like hyperbole, it isn’t. I’ve met plenty of lifetime locals, mostly in the Florida Keys, who’ve told me this exact thing while wholeheartedly trying to get me to taste it.

I’ve lived in various places across South Florida the past twenty years. I’ve lived in Surfside, in North Miami, in the Keys and in land-locked Loxahatchee, near the beach and far away from it. If there’s one thing most Floridians can agree on, it’s that iguanas shouldn’t be kept as pets.

There are exceptions, like the various exotic animal farms spread across the state, but it’s still a noticeably inaccurate part of GTA 6 that jumps out. It’s the one part that I see and go, “Oh, this person hasn’t actually been here.”

For trailers that have been praised for how well it’s captured the spirit of South Florida, these pet iguanas just don’t feel as true as the more ridiculous people and events shown off. That’s probably commentary on real-life Florida more than on Grand Theft Auto 6, but it’s still worth noting.