Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HERALD-TRIBUNE (Sarasota, Florida) 06 September 08 Manatee homeowner finds giant snake (Patrina A. Bostic)
Myakka City: As a wildlife trapper, Matthew Hunt has captured his share of snakes.
Usually, they are in the 3- to 6-foot length and no big deal.
But on Thursday, Hunt got a call that a Myakka City homeowner had discovered a snake in her driveway.
What Hunt found was shocking: a 10-foot albino Burmese python.
"It's something that would scare you if you stumbled upon it at night," said Hunt, a field supervisor at Nuisance Wildlife Removal in Ellenton.
The company received a call about 9:30 p.m. Thursday from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office to respond to the residence in Myakka City.
The home where the snake was found is off Crosby and Verna Bethany roads in Myakka City in an area of ranchettes and homes on large lots.
The people who found the snake had corralled it into a box.
Hunt had planned to put the snake in a tank he carries, but the tank was too small, so he taped up the box and took it back to his workplace.
Jeff Norris, president of Nuisance Wildlife Removal, said he and Hunt chuckled when they first got the call that someone had found a 10-foot python.
Not until they saw the creature were they convinced. Later, they took a photo of four men holding the snake.
"This is really an usual thing," said Norris, whose Web site is floridawildlifetrapper.com. "I would imagine it was someone's pet; either it escaped or someone got tired of it and turned it loose."
The Burmese python is on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission "reptiles of concern" list and is required to have a microchip placed in it that identifies the owner. Python owners must get a state permit before they can buy the snake.
Nuisance Wildlife Removal is planning to scan the python to determine if it has a microchip and learn who might own it.
Gary Morse, a spokesman for the fish and wildlife commission, said pet owners are required to report when they lose a pet that is listed on the "reptiles of concern" list.
He said if a pet owner is located from microchip information, he or she could be fined.
If no owner is found, the striking yellow and white python could be euthanized, he said.
"You don't just find an albino Burmese python running around," Morse said. "In this case, the snake running around would be a violation."
Morse said pet snakes sometimes become a burden on owners.
"They get expensive," he said. "The owners become afraid of them or they can't handle them."
The agency, he said, is working to form an adoption network that would allow Floridians to adopt non-native pets that owners no longer want.
Homeowner finds giant snake

Yet another beautiful Burm that will surely fall prey to the needle due to the widespread panic that has been brought on lately because of all the misinformation and general lack of knowledge of the general public IN SPITE of all the recent press.Damn shame too.

Mass paranoia is a beautiful thing.
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0.1.0 Burmese Python 12'
1.0.0 Burmese Python 5.5'
1.0.0 Granite Burmese Python 5.5'
1.0.0 Burmese Python 10.5'
1.0.0 Reticulated Python 7.5'
1.0.0 BCI 7.5'
0.1.0 BCI 5'

It's stuff like this that makes me sick. Why put the snake down when it can easly be rehomed.
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Education is Everything.......

I don't think it will put down. Although it said that in the paper, I think someone will come forward and adopt it.

Because it's much easier for them to put it down, now that the new law has passed,anyone who wants to "adopt" it will have to have their permit before hand. I sent in all my paperwork and money back in July and I am still waiting,whenever I call they just say they are behind and are working on it.I still say it's great how they pass the law, double the application fee, give us all these damn hoops to jump through ....and then figure out they don't have the manpower or resources to keep up with the demand.Bureaucracy at it's finest.
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0.1.0 Burmese Python 12'
1.0.0 Burmese Python 5.5'
1.0.0 Granite Burmese Python 5.5'
1.0.0 Burmese Python 10.5'
1.0.0 Reticulated Python 7.5'
1.0.0 BCI 7.5'
0.1.0 BCI 5'
1.1.0 Bearded Dragons

Wow, I got mine fast, like within weeks. But, I already had a Class III. I wonder if that made a difference?