Posted by:
Wirlwindboaz
at Fri Jul 17 23:16:49 2009 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Wirlwindboaz ]
I'm curious about the subterranean hibernacula that will be provided for the snakes,the types of food they'll receive, and the duration/time frame of this Study.
Will the subterranean hibernacula be large enough for the snakes?
Will they be the size they would find "naturally", since Burmese Pythons can't dig them for themselves?
Since not many animals in the US dig burrows that are large enough to accomidate a Burmese Python, How did they decide on the sizes/depths of the subterranean hibernacula.
Will there be enough so they and "all" have a place to possibly escape the cold?
Will they make it so that only some of them will have a subterranean hibernacula and others won't? After all, there's no guarantee that they'd "all" be able to locate one for the Winter?
Will they provide adequate food for "each" animal? Since finding food in the wild is sometimes difficult, you'd have to have some of them "go hungry".
Will they be offerd food that they would find in "nature". I'm not talking farm raised rodents and such. I'm talking about "wild prey". Some wild prey carries parisites and disease. In order for this to be a valid "Study", they'd have to be exposed to what ever nature throws at them. Are you going to capture wild prey items for them to eat?
Lastly......How long will the Study last? Snakes have a slow metabolism and even if they do survive the first Winter, they may not survive a second. It can take a long time for disease to take down such a large animal. Failing health might take them out in a second Winter or prehaps a third.
One more thing....
Hopefully these animals will be treated humanely. I'd like to think their health fails, they'll be taken out of the Study and receive medical care. Once removed, they can be "counted" as a death, but not have to die.
I have a feeling that in order for this Study to be truely valid..... The Pythons will need to ride it out to the end. What even those end results might be.
When the Study is finished, where will the results be published? I'm sure that there's a LOT of people that will be wanting to see the end results.
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RE: Burmese Python Study @ SREL questions - Wirlwindboaz, Fri Jul 17 23:16:49 2009