You are quite welcome, Bill. I was not as skeptical as some for a couple of reasons. I have removed escaped pythons of 3 varieties from places they were not wanted, like non-herper's yards, on literally dozens of occasions over the last twenty or more years. I could kind of see this coming. Second, my wife is employed by SFWMD & I have been privvy to some of what Skip Snow has been doing for a couple of years now. I must add, though, that all was from press releases, so I did not have access to any info that was not publicized.

I am as disappointed as the rest of you that these animals are established here, although it may turn out to be not as big a deal as some fear. I can remember thirty or so years ago being told by Game & Fish that we were in dire straits from the establishment of walking catfish. They're still here & we have survived. We even seem to be surviving the establishment of Plecostomus & the clown knife fish.

I have Basiliscus vittatus all over my area. They are, to my mind, fascinating critters. I also occasionally see things like Anolis equestris here. Again, neat lizards. True, the native Anolis has probably been displaced by sagrei in some areas, but they are still here in the wetter parts of their range.

Sorry if I rambled. ~~Greg~~

[ Show Entire Thread ]