Reptile & Amphibian Forums

DON'T EXPECT EVERYONE ELSE IN THE HOBBY OR TRADE TO TAKE CARE OF IT.
EVERYONE NEEDS TO SPEAK UP NOW. THEY ARE SERIOUS ABOUT THIS THING...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090528/od_nm/us_everglades_pythons

YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS YAHOO VIDEO!

Now it's up to 150,000 Burms in the everglades???

150,000 lol yeah right! I'm sure there are tons out there, I've caught many but I highly doubt their numbers are that high. The biggest problem our hobby faces is the ignorance and fear of the general population when it comes to reptiles. They say that pet owners are the root cause here but I beg to differ! I'm willing to bet that the number of hurricanes here in the past years have caused many escapes! Hurricanes are one reason why we have populations of wild monkeys, parrots, and a large number of other exotics. The trade SHOULD be regulated but at the same time it needs to be done right! Complete bans will solve nothing and only force the trade underground into a black market. If reptile keepers as a whole were more responsible we wouldn't be facing an HR699 bill! In the end something needs to be done, I just hope it's gone about the right way!
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John Light

I'd much rather have pythons in my back yard than monkeys.

We probably owe our gratitude to the feral python population for KEEPING those monkeys at bay.

The researchers have said more on the line of 300,000 in the wild. They also only collected a few over 300 last year... that is like what?? Six clutches?? HAHAHAA The pythons have been in the wild for a very long time, like since the 80's. The Florida F&G knew about them in the wild then and did nothing and they knew about nest in the early 90's and did nothing. I have very little doubt the numbers are that high if not higher. Every year they will expand their numbers expodentialy. If they are not that numerous this year they will be next year for sure. They are finding huge adult females all over the glades and they are breeding all over the glades.

One good solution is to open up the skin trade and allow hunters in to take them. Issue permits (at a fee) and tags and require all skins taken to be sold with in the US border. No importation of skins and no ban on collection from the Glades. If we are told repeatedly that human take can cause the demise of a certain animal, lets put it to the test. Python skin boots and purses are big bucks, lets get the economy rolling.

By the way, the way HR 669 was written and the new version will likely be the same when it is released, it will omit the burms based on the fact that they are a unstopable problem (paraphrase, can't remember the wording used) which is pretty ironic.

Jason

John, based on living in Homestead this last year I believe the numbers are correct unfortunately. The Pythons are here to stay. This stupid bill proposed by Sen. Nelson is only designed to bring fedral grant money to Florida [pork barrel politics] and will damage the economy and have NO impact on the Pythons. It's a bad bill and will open a "pandora's box" no one wants opened....
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Don't they have dogs sniffing them out? I'd also think a lot of animals would find a baby python rather tasty...and a gator can eat a fairly large one.

They were using Beagles and it's a TOTAL WASTE of taxpayers money. They can't turn Beagles loose because they would become lunch for the snakes. That means areas hunted are limited because handlers have to have them on leashes NOT TO MENTION MANY OTHER PREDATORS WHICH WOULD DEVOUR THE BEAGLES. Alligators, Crocodiles, Panthers, Coyotes, Bobcats, and other critters which abound there would consider them a tasty morsel....
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Tom, I guess it's time to start catching burms for food. Python and Stone Crab??? Sounds good to me. Maybe the Hilton could put it on the menu at Daytona this year

I almost find this funny now after two or three years. I said i knew at least 15 breeders in homestead that got totally wiped out when Andrew came through and more than 800 animals were lost i'm pretty sure it was zack that burned my a$$ for saying such a thing we have got to get these people from using terminology like (unwanted pets let go in the glades) if it were true we would see it in spades all over Florida. its like using the assault weapon word in stead of what is truly a semi auto. there is always going to be the odd one that gets loose. i saw a doa ball python on the next street over yesterday the kid did not let it go just immature and bad caging.
Just keep your eve on Louisiana not every ones collection drowned.