Everglades Pythons

[blindpig]

www.cnah.org/news.asp?id=178

Burmese Pythons are now breeding in south Florida, the result of escapees and releases. Now a beagle is being trained to track them down.

If this were not bad enough, I've heard rumors that Anacondas may be there too. As the story goes certain shithead reptile dealers were importing gravid females, keeping them until they dropped young then releasing the female(nobody in their right mind wants 15' of pure meanness, the babies sell.)

[Botany]

1. Stupid pets for stupid people

Idiots!

[wryter2000]

2. Anacondas

I don't think anacondas are mean. They're dangerous because they get so darned big -- up to 30 feet. They're huge, but quite gentle. There's a teeny lady researcher in central America somewhere who studies them. She and her helpers routinely trap the huge animals, measure them, and release them. It's a trip to watch her with a huge snake dangling between her and her coworker.

I understand burms have a reputation for being jumpy and difficult among herpers. They get pretty huge, too.

On the whole, snakes are a lot more placid and gentle than most mammals. I'd sure rather encounter an anaconda in the wild than a bear. It's no coincidence that most "hands on" TV animal people handle reptiles rather than mammals.

OTOH, I despise the sort of "humans" who treat reptiles as disposable. :mad:

[Botany]

3. Sooner or later .....

..... constrictors will constrict ..... you can not teach them not to do that
behavior ...... why anybody would want 100 + lbs of squeezing muscle is
beyond me.

[blindpig]

5. same way I feel about motorcycles

but different strokes for different folks.

[wryter2000]

6. I totally agree

Some animals are NOT pets. And, of course, exotic animals shouldn't be released where they can mess with the local ecosystem, anyway. Even if they aren't dangerous to humans. I just don't think they should be described as mean. Some people go out of their way to kill snakes that are quite beneficial. Those rattle snake roundups result in a population boom in rodents, and they carry horrible diseases.

My two constrictors will never get bigger than 5 feet. They can sure squeeze, but they can't kill anything bigger than a rat.

[blindpig]

4. I don't know........

Ever dealt with a fresh off the boat anaconda? I've met a few A-holes. Of course, capture and treatment in transit and captivity might well have something to do with that. Though not nearly psychotic as some tree boas.

[wryter2000]

7. Sounds like you've had more experience than me

I only have two corn snakes. They're totally gentle animals.

There are a-holes in every species, esp. homo presidentus americanus. :evilgrin:

[blindpig]

9. well............

I've been at it for 'bout 35 years. Currently have 6 adult pythons and 2 boas, 5-9'. All rescues. Big snakes really aren't my thing(I'm a turtle guy)but that's how things go.

For the record, I'm dead set against the trade in wild caught herps. Back when I was coming up it wasn't so bad, herpers were stone cold geeks and demand was low. There was a lot more habitat then. The mass marketing of herps, so-called herpetoculture, has been a great drain to species already under pressure. Buy captive bred.

[wryter2000]

10. I'm with you

With all the great breeders out there, there's no reason to take a reptile out of the wild.

[XemaSab]

8. They had an article about this

in the NY times last year. Had pictures of a GIANT python fighting a GIANT alligator.

[Dogmudgeon]

11. More to the point ...

... what effect will big snakes have on the ecosystem of the Everglades? Can the Everglades sustain a population of Pythons and Anacondas without a major disruption in the native fauna?

The 'Glades is a big place, but you never can tell with imported animals. Look at the effect Gypsy Moths have had in the northeast USA.

--p!

[NNadir]

12. Exactly. The biggest ecological disaster in the US was introducing

the Asian Chestnut to North America. Because of an importer parasite that came with the Asian Tree, the American Chestnut, once the most important tree in Eastern forests was almost rendered extinct.

[blindpig]

13. bad business indeed

Large predators without any biological controls could indeed be trouble. Short of human intervention the only thing I can see controlling them is temperature. An unseasonally cold winter might knock them back, perhaps wipe them. But if the local climate gets warmer.....Which all might be moot if sea level rises a couple feet.

A happy, cheerful morning to you!