Reptile & Amphibian Forums

In late 2003, the St. Petersberg Time had a long article about the Nile monitors around Cape Coral. Comments, antine?
Enter the dragons

-----
Scott Robert Ladd
1.0.0 Iguana (Rex)
1.1.0 African Giant Plated Lizard (Clyde, Cassie)
1.0.1 Uro mali (Wizard, Dizzy)
0.1.0 Corn Snake (Amber)
0.1.0 Red-Eared Sliders (Emerald)
0.0.1 Musk Turtle (Sausage)
1.1.0 Parakeet (Thor, Zeus)
1.4.0 Homo sapiens (Scott, Maria, Elora, Becky, Tessa)
blog: http://chaoticcoyote.blogspot.com/

I get the feeling as time goes by, humans get dumber and dumber.

What the heck do people expect or biologists expect. Humans derange the habitat, then expect specialize native fauna to use unspecialize non-native habitat????? Only moly, how dumb. Native reptiles require native habitat. Different types of native reptiles require different types of native habitat. Not Urbanized deranged habitat, such as canals with non-native fish, frogs, and insects, with the major predator being humans and their dogs and cats. Good on them niles for making the NEW fla. their new home. FR

Its interesting he feels so strongly to say he hopes they will be illegal to own. They are not fit to be kept by people etc.

Then you can also read one of them he caught a 5 footer he keeps in a cage in his back yard. A wooden cage. I hope the nile does not escape. Hope he brings it in if a hurricane blows by.

I agree it is wrong that some places give false information when selling them. Last I checked you should punish them though not everyone.

You can read between the lines a bit as it says people would not worry about them if they simply said they were running around, add they are eating owls then a few get angry, add in they are going to move to nexting grounds or rookeries in sanibel and alot of people get upset. I guess you could continue where they left off by saying add in large teeth, sharp claws, feeding on beloved pets. More and more people will be upset. Add in they could harm humans or infants and everyone or almost everyone will be upset. hmm a tactic to persuade something or someone into ones favor perhaps??

Lastly they bring up Komodos they say so people can relate to them. Since not everyone knows what a nile monitors is. However when saying Komodo they also add in the Komodos 10 foot size and note that they are known to eat humans. Is that info. in there to stir something? hmm

If they want to stick with what is known. There are niles loose in FL. don't know how many. We of course know they arrived by humans they cant exactly swim here. They may or may not be having damaging effects on the local flora and fauna. They obviously want nothing to do with humans at this time or they wouldn't need to hunt so hard for them or trap them.

What they should be doing is finding out everything they do not know instead of running around chasing theories. But in my opinion all of these articles and theories are only sent out to stir things up and bring in help and funding.

IMO the area they are in is not the best habitat for any animals. It is a growing booming human habitat with a growing population building of houses and buildings etc.. Which is probly why the niles have found it so easy to live in.

I really do not like how he speculates that "someone is going to get hurt". No kid is going to run up and grapple with a 5 foot nile, unless he owns one and pretty much knows what he's doing. Nobody is going to get hurt. Period.

Niles do not pose near the danger of the native alligators, which aren't terribly dangerous anyway. The danger argument is prejudicial and deliberately misleading to achieve a political goal.