CAPE CORAL, Fla. - Monitor lizards are taking over the city of Cape Coral. There's thousands of them! Experts blame the economy saying foreclosures make the problem worse.

These lizards are moving in as fast as people are moving out. They're making themselves at home near foreclosures and even swimming in canals in backyards.

If you live in Cape Coral, chances are you may have a new neighbor you don't really want.

"There's a lizard. I see him a number of times a week," Bob Campbell said.

Monitor Lizards are invading Cape Coral, and trapping them just got more difficult. Foreclosures are being blamed; fewer people means fewer sightings.

"We have a healthy breeding population in the Cape. There are fewer and fewer being taken because there's less people reporting them," trapper Mike Walsh said.

69 monitor lizards were trapped in 2007, 45 in 2008, and so far this year, only 18 have been caught. There are thousands more making themselves right at home.

Walsh said, "The best estimates out there are somewhere between 5,000 and 7,500."

The carnivores can grow to 22 pounds. They're good climbers and good swimmers with long, sharp claws and strong jaws. They're known to be mean. Mike Walsh said they are as dangerous as alligators.

"They are very aggressive and will feed off of small dogs, small cats," Walsh said.

That's something Bob Campbell said he doesn't have to worry about.

"She's pretty large. I think she'd probably do more damage," Campbell said referring to his dog. If his dog was any smaller he'd "probably be concerned then, especially if it could get into the backyard with the dog."

If you see a monitor lizard, avoid it, and it will avoid you too.

You can call Mike Walsh to trap a monitor lizard at (239) 470-3978.