No one wants to say there are escaped hots because it fuels the fire of banning the keeping of venomous as well as exotics of all kinds. It doesn’t help when an episode of Animal Police features a sensationalized story of the removal of a king cobra from the Redlands (people down here know where that is) I tend to think the whole thing was made for tv, I’m starting that rumor. No doubt hurricane Andrew blew away a lot of animal importers in that area. I have heard stories and there are lots of things that were lost including exotic birds. Reptiles probably survived. I don’t think people want to report what might be loose out there. Those Burmese could not really have come from people releasing their pet, who the heck would even drive all the way out there to do that? It was more likely some importer that got destroyed in Andrew. You can see exotic lizards in the driveway or parking lot of any reptile dealer in south Florida. They are cheap and they get away and nobody cares. Hots are a lot more expensive and would cause a major uproar. I doubt anybody is releasing them intentionally or accidentally. More likely to be planted and staged by those who want ammunition for a ban. I say, If you do find one, keep it to yourself.

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