Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am watching Monster Quest on the History Channel. They just mentioned that a hurricane hit more than 10 yrs ago that flattened more than 100 homes & multiple pet stores.

They used this example as a possible explanation as to why an anaconda was found in FL.... that split open and died from eating a whole 6 foot alligator.

Thought this was a cool story to remind people that FL has issues with more than just irresponsible pet owners who release snakes into the wild.
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www.heatsherps.com

it was a burmese python that ate the alligator in the everglades....and yes we do get some pretty bad hurricanes around here, but as we all have seen so have some of our surrounding states as well they have been rocked pretty good in the last couple of seasons.......joe

well if you're refering to the picture i think you are then that's not an anaconda it's a burme's python, and people have been letting them go in florida for a long time. a very very long time as well as red tail boa's and ball pythons in some cases. As well as some exotic species of lizards that have populated the everglades, it's also been done with fish quite a bit. Oscars, silver dollars, pacu, and piranah are just a few of the animals that people release there, now i'm not saying that people letting them go is the only way of these animals populating in florida but it plays alot bigger roll than a few pet stores being torn down by a hurricane. And that's assuming that all the animals survived the storm and colapse of the buildings.

Hi Chad
I was not trying to lessen the seriousness of the other problem.

I know it is bad! My cousin is a biologist & lives in the Keys. I get the gritty scoop from him & it ain't purdy!
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www.heatsherps.com

i bet it isn't pretty, there are so many burm's in the everglades, it's just insane i went herping there last year and caught 15 baby burms and 2 sub adults in one night of cruising. is it illegal to own large constrictors in florida?

You have to purchase a state license for $100.

Penalty for no license is =

$500 fine & up to 60 behind bars

PS
I would love to see pix of your herping expeditions in FL! Some of my absolute fave off-topic pix on this board are posted of FL wildlife.
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www.heatsherps.com

is running into a non-native "hot" while trekking in the woods. It used to be you only needed to identify the < 10 native "hots" and you were good. Now, can you imagine walking up on a cobra?
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

>>now i'm not saying that people letting them go is the only way of these animals populating in florida but it plays alot bigger roll than a few pet stores being torn down by a hurricane. And that's assuming that all the animals survived the storm and colapse of the buildings.

I completely agree. Far more animals are released into the wild by owners than any damaged pet stores.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

To be honest, I never thought of that. A very distinct possibility.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

almost appears the gator had a second wind and clawed his way out

It does look like it,but gators have to be very hard to digest. I bet that gator sat in that Burmese for a week or less and the Burm couldn't digest it. That tail had to almost out its mouth

Van
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Forever Trust in what we are,and nothing else Matters

Gators can stay submerged for a loooonnnnng time....

I'd seen somewhere where they said that it didn't claw it's way out but the burmese just burst open like that. The gator had been dead for awhile. I'm sure if it had been able to claw its way out that far it would have gotten all the way out anyways.

Ive seen 2 different shows one on the discovery channel and the other on national geographic on that exact picture a year or more ago. Both shows had pretty much the same opinon that after the burm ate the gator while digesting they think another gator came along and possibly took a bite and in the struggle the burm burst open. And another thing the gator that was being digested had what appeared to be a bullet wound in the skull.
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

I was under the impression that this RATHER OLD photo was taken in Africa. That is not a burmese at all and is infact an african rock that had eaten a crocodile instead. Seems to me that the newspaper that printed that was dying for a story and broke some copyright laws!! Then made up its own story!! Beats real news. Maybe they should be the national Inquirer. I'd report that to the editor of the newspaper as the author should be fired for that kind of garbage. Lee

Well if that's the case there are going to be a lot more than central Florida news crews in trouble cause when this happened it was all over national news as well as Florida news. But im pretty sure this is from the glades. You have a link to the older article?
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B Sleeper

1.0 Chocolate Lab
0.1 ?? Normal Ball python (yet different)
1.0 04 Het Albino
1.1 06 Het Albino
1.0 06 Het Pied
1.0 06 Pastel
1.0 07 Pastel

Just recognize it from a google search. I think it pops up every time there is python in the search. But it has been around for a good 18months to 2 years. picture gets boring after a while. How long ago did the original article show up. Look at the snake skins looks sebae to me. lee

Sry havent checked in the forum in a bit now id say it came out about 2 yrs ago. I think. Give or take a few months.
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B Sleeper

1.0 Chocolate Lab
0.1 ?? Normal Ball python (yet different)
1.0 04 Het Albino
1.1 06 Het Albino
1.0 06 Het Pied
1.0 06 Pastel
1.0 07 Pastel

That is a couple years old

Here's the deal - Hurricane Andrew flattened many parts of South Florida. Both private residences and commercial institutions were all affected. Many Roadside and professional Zoos lost EVERYTHING. Mammals, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, etc. Everyone is focusing on the Burmese Pythons, but what about the feral Monkey populations? Parrots? Fish from every jungle on this Earth? All have their environmental impact. Personally, most of Florida has been so fragmented and plowed over, I don't understand what the big deal is? Habitat has been so altered that the "natural" Flora and Fauna are all but gone, and the opportunists have taken over. What was expected to happen? I say protect the few pockets of undisturbed habitat left, and stop using taxpayer dollars to try to protect and "restore" fragmented, ecologically dead, habitat. All someone has to do is setup a tannery in South Florida. Thats about the only thing that will help "control" feral Burmese Pythons. There here, their established, and they aren't going away. Play the blame game all you want. If someone were to pay per pound, or by the foot, I'm sure alot of herpers wouldn't mind helping to thin out the population.
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South Central Herpetological

Well said there, I agree completely. We have monkeys running loose here near Lakeland and no one says anything. They say its too hard to catch them, so they are just letting them run loose, why are snakes the only ones getting the press for this. If they are a problem, then open a hunting season for them, they do it for deer, alligators and lord knows what else. They tell us all the time not to harass the alligators, you could face jail or a hefty fine I think, but they open the season up every year to legally kill them, although unfortunate that they have come to the fate that they have, why not open a season for snakes as well. Just my 2 cents.

I just watched a news story last week about all the Iguanas. As far as the Parrots go, as far back as 30 years ago, I remember seeing Parrots all over south FL. I think Eric is very correct in his assessment.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

"Here's the deal - Hurricane Andrew flattened many parts of South Florida. Both private residences and commercial institutions were all affected. Many Roadside and professional Zoos lost EVERYTHING. Mammals, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, etc. Everyone is focusing on the Burmese Pythons, but what about the feral Monkey populations? Parrots? Fish from every jungle on this Earth? All have their environmental impact. Personally, most of Florida has been so fragmented and plowed over, I don't understand what the big deal is? Habitat has been so altered that the "natural" Flora and Fauna are all but gone, and the opportunists have taken over. What was expected to happen? I say protect the few pockets of undisturbed habitat left, and stop using taxpayer dollars to try to protect and "restore" fragmented, ecologically dead, habitat. All someone has to do is setup a tannery in South Florida. Thats about the only thing that will help "control" feral Burmese Pythons. There here, their established, and they aren't going away. Play the blame game all you want. If someone were to pay per pound, or by the foot, I'm sure alot of herpers wouldn't mind helping to thin out the population."

The thing that strikes me as odd is that where ever there are people, the habitat is altered irreversibly. Not just from ourselves, but from our pets, and I'm not talking about reptiles. The most "overlooked" introduced species are the domestic pets, cats and dogs. Cats especially have a HUGE environmental impact, but because you don't see them killing crocodiles no one really sees them as a threat to the natural species.

I can look outside my window and spot numerous species of plants and animals living in the "wild" that shouldn't even be on this continent. It makes me laugh that people who try to blame reptile enthusiasts for renegade snakes in Florida are the same people who let their cats run around outside to and kill local wildlife.
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