It was a simple sign on Cleveland Heights Boulevard near Hallam Road: “Lost Pet,” a phone number, and an image of the animal.
The image was odd, even by Florida standards – an illustration of a large exotic lizard.
“An Asian water monitor lizard,” Britni Fultz, the owner explains. Slug, the lizard, escaped his enclosure on July 9, 2026, and was missing for 16 days.
Slug is home now after a search that involved a thermal drone, a K-9 tracker, and a lot of community-support.
Fultz wasn’t sure what to expect when they put out the signs, but says, “I’ve never seen a community come together. Everyone was so kind.”
Some people called to see if the sign was a joke, some texted photos of alligators, but most wanted to help reunite Fultz with her beloved pet.
Trey Larson, of Florida Pet Recovery, handled the illustration for the poster and operated the drone search.
Larson advised Fultz that typical photos don’t work in these situations and the illustration generated by AI would be clearer.
In the end, “it wasn’t the drones or the tracking dog or the traps or technology that finally captured him. It was sightings, awareness, phone calls,” Fultz said, “People had to care.”
Search and recovery
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) requires owners of exotic animals to be licensed. As soon as Slug escaped, Fultz notified her contact at the FWC who personally joined in the search effort.
Perry Lawrence, a veteran from Lake Wales offered to assist with his yellow lab, Moose, a former drug-sniffing police dog. Moose and Perry spent nearly two hours searching, their first time tracking a lizard.
During the 16 days search, Fultz estimates, “There were easily a few hundred people involved in the search at one point or another.”
“Kids patrolling on their bikes, neighbors searching on their daily walks with their dogs, HOA directors alerting their residents, local lawn care teams, pool maintenance, delivery drivers, etc,”
There were nine sightings, and Fultz believes Slug traveled more than a mile and a half during his excursion but never beyond of a third-of-a-mile radius from home. Twice he evaded traps set to capture him safely.
Fultz also hired Florida Pet Recovery to conduct a thermal drone search. According to the business’ website, two hours of flight time costs $500 plus an additional $100 if the pet is found by drone.
Fultz declined to estimate the total cost of the search for Slug. She sees it as part of the expense of caring for an animal.
Slug is microchipped. Fultz says he would have been recovered at some point, but she didn’t want him to become a nuisance. At his size and without any potential mates around, she says he wasn’t much of a threat to the local ecology or wildlife but could menace rabbits or backyard chickens. He could also be in danger from larger predators like bobcats, coyotes, or alligators.
Why a monitor lizard?
Slug is a three year old asian water monitor lizard, known for their large size and intelligence. The species is native to South and Southeast Asia. In the wild, their lifespan averages 11 years, but in captivity, monitor lizards can live 20 to 30 years.
Slug currently weighs between six to eight pounds and measures four feet from nose to tail, but “he’s mostly tail,” Fultz said. A full grown monitor lizard can weigh over 40 pounds. Some reach close to 100 pounds.
She has no intention of breeding him. He’s strictly a pet. “They’re incredible. They’re so smart,” said Fultz, “Who doesn’t want a dragon?”
Asian water monitors are currently regulated as a Class III species by the FWC, but Fultz would like to see the stronger regulations of a Class I or II applied to the species.
“Class III kind of covers like all your basic general, like your ball pythons, your corn snakes, all this stuff that kids get,” says Fultz.
According to the FWC’s website, there is no formal list of Class III species, as it includes “any non-domesticated animal that is not classified as Class I, Class II, Conditional, or Prohibited.”
A Class II or I listing requires annual inspections, hours worked with a licensed specialist, and minimum enclosure requirements. Fultz is advocating for these stricter standards.
“His species is not part of the invasive list, and I want to keep it that way,” Fultz says.” I want them to be accessible, but I want them to be accessible to people who are responsible”
The FWC also runs an amnesty program for people unable to care for an exotic animal. The program helps keep people from releasing non-native species into the wild by finding new homes with licensed and experienced owners for the animals.
Trinity Laurino is a reporter for LkldNow, a nonprofit newsroom providing independent local news for Lakeland. Read at LkldNow.com.
