# Invaisve pythons in fl



## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Postcard from The Everglades - TIME


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

It's very sad and irresponsible that people just dump animals out in the wild like that---these people should never be allowed to buy other pets (I like the microchip idea that traces ownership).


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## billschwinn (Dec 17, 2008)

Frow what I understand from informed sources they have caught 6-8 at last count, general consensus is the estimates are a little overdone, with one news report saying they lay 100 eggs a day! anything for ratings I guess.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Sadly, like the beautiful Alligator, some humans will just use this as an excuse to kill them and make vain lady's hand bags out of them. One of my all-time favorite pets was a Burmese Python, just a lovely animal.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

I have heard estimates of 30,000 seem to be accurate, far from the 100K originally suggested but still quite a problem. Populations won't be venturing much further north but where they do exist they will become more predominant. Manatee County has had a few sightings which I would guess will increase, I for one would be an advocate of a "big hunt" this winter to remove as many as possible.


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## melas (Oct 24, 2007)

markpulawski said:


> ...I for one would be an advocate of a "big hunt" this winter to remove as many as possible.


Yeah I'd be for that as well. As long as the euthanasia was humane and not just simply cutting their heads off and leaving them lay in the swamp. 30,000 is certainly a number that could reasonably be removed. I think we should act now though before it does get out of hand.

I have two large burmese pythons and I love them both. Sweet, gentle animals but they definitely do not belong in the everglades . . .


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

Lots of opinions and theory from Herpers and Fl residents to be found in this thread and Forum:

FieldHerpForum.com • View topic - Worst threat to S. Florida?


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## swampfoxjjr (Nov 13, 2007)

Though I agree, people releasing their pets into the wild when they become unmanageable is very irresponsible, as a southern Florida resident I feel compelled to clear up what might be a slight overreaction to this practice. Again, I do not condone it at all so don't get me wrong. I just want to point out that the truly large animals coming out of the everglades now and the numbers of them are a result of hurricane damage to holding facilities of importers in the early 90's. In many cases the entire facility was destroyed and upwards of 1,000 animals released into the wild.

Little Johny who released his 2 ft burmese in his back yard because he got bored in 2007 does not yield the 20 foot dog and cat killer people are complaining about today. Again, little Johny should not be emulated but spare him the cross. Blame Hurricane Andrew and the Miami port athority's lax practices back then.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

The problem is that there are so many different species now that are non native to florida, its been out of hand for quite a while, i woudl not be surprise if green tree pyuthons are next to be found, they have been sighted in hawaii numerous times, but no know really knows if they are fully establiched, but my guess is they are. 30k burmese is a rather large number, and if not taken care of this coming winter just imagine how many there will be come spring when they all breed.


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## Jerm (May 20, 2008)

*Re: Invasive pythons in fl*

I know Shawn Heflick, he is the president of our herpetological society here in Orlando, and also the director of the Florida International Reptile Expo. I'm glad to see that they are finally allowing removal of these invasive animals. I wish we had a way to get rid of the Cuban treefrog problem along the many other invasive species that now call Florida home, but it is kind of a lost cause at this point for some of them. The pythons are definately one that needs to be dealt with now due to their dangerous nature. I have heard about a fly that lays it's eggs in fire ants and the larvae will eat the ant, and they only attack fire ants, but I wonder if the release of these flys will cause other problems in the future similar to the lovebug issue that we have now. There really is no easy way out once an animal becomes established, hopefully their efforts will atleast help in the long term irradication of the pythons.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

The Cuban tree frog is a MUCH more serious and widespread invasive animal and does more damage than any Python.

Juilo,

The Burmeses pythons have been in the Everglades since the late 1980's.

1980's !!!!

There are upwards of 100,000 of them in the Everglades. If you drive thru the park and other southern roads, you are GUARANTEED to see a few crossing the road almost every single night.

There are a lot of places in the southern part of the Evergaldes where no man has ever set foot, so there is no way anything other than an Army division is going to make a dent in removing them from the glades.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

Wow, i thought this was a recent problem, but obviously its a lot bigger than a lot of us thought. I am sure even if an army goes in, there will still be some lingering animals to repopulate.


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