Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are some pics of a 14+ foot Burmese Python I caught on Sepetmber 18, 2009 at approximately 1:10am 15 miles in Everglades National Park!

Thanks,
Greg
GRAZIANI REPTILES INC.
(863) 465-2228 Office
(863) 441-1408 Cell
info@grazianireptiles.com
www.grazianireptiles.com

Python Hunters

Looks like it is really good condition.

What are you doing with them once you've caught them?
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1.3 Albino Burmese Pythons
1.0 Green Burmese Python Het Albino
0.1 Granite Burmese Python Het Albino
1.0 Albino Boa Constrictor
0.1 Hypo Boa Constrictor
0.1 Het Albino Boa Constrictor
1.2 Purple Albino Retic
1.0 Tiger Retic Het Albino
0.1 Sunfire Retic Het Albino
A lot Ball Pythons
A lot of Corn Snakes
A lot of King & Milk Snakes
0.1 Savannah Monitor
Yes I have the space for these reptiles and yes I am a responsible keeper and breeder!

The animals caught in the ENP are turned over to park personnel (Skip Snow) alive.

Thanks,
Greg
GRAZIANI REPTILES INC.
(863) 465-2228 Office
(863) 441-1408 Cell
info@grazianireptiles.com
www.grazianireptiles.com

>>The animals caught in the ENP are turned over to park personnel (Skip Snow) alive.

Skip Snow is a wildlife biologist in ENP that is actually doing investigative, nonbiased, scientific research. He's not a propaganda ridden, sensationalism-seeking junk scientist. Not that I have a strong opinion, lol! But seriously, he is a legitimate researcher trying his best to learn the truth about the Burms in the park.

Some of the comments and public statements he has made do not make him sound like one sometimes....I'm an aquaintaince as well...He has personally aided Senator Nelson over and over again when he has done his flamboyent wrapping himself in a Python skin news reports....
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

We need to see more politicians wrapped up by a big python...

I can tell you this him and his party will feel the heat come election time. There are thousands of herpers here in Florida as well as friends and family members who will oppose them at the polls for these shenanigans. They don't realize the political clout we have YET....
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Tommy I agree with you here and it isnt just the Python keepers either.
Tom

Is he related to you, Laura? Ha! Ha! Just pickin' at ya.

I'm with Tom - "Some of the comments and public statements he has made do not make him sound like one..."

"Not that I have a strong opinion." Me neither. Ha! Ha!

Wish I had the time to go back and dig up some of his obviously-biased comments. Especially at the time Rodda released his propaganda bombshell.

OK, I'll play fair. He may very well be "a legitimate researcher trying his best to learn the truth about the Burms in the park." It's just that "his best" doesn't appear to include an open mind.

So, it's "snowing" in the Everglades?

(Shame on you, HH!)

Later!
Mike
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Unfortunately we can't vote Mr. Snow out of the Everglades but he may melt himself OUT with some of his statements..It's been a really HOT summer...LOL
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

You all need to join the 9-12 movement and help take our country back from these power grabbing politicians.

Dan

"Taking the country back" is all well and good, but they were elected by a majority. Remember Pogo..."We have met the enemy, and he is us".

Alright, alright, but he's not like those guys doing the SREL project and the Gibbons fella. No one is happy about the Burms in the Glades so it seems everyone has an agenda, but I still say he's better than some of the others out there. Maybe the lesser of two evils, .

So if you hand a big Burm over to Snow, he opens the gut and finds common rats, he's going to report rats. If you hand it over to Nelson's groups, he would report small children, tourists, and endangered wood rats.

And perchance if Nelson were reporting the erronious info Skip would stand by and say nothing even though he full well knows it's false info. I stand by my opinion. How about the HUGE outcry about one Key Largo Woodrat in the stomach of one Python. He made a huge deal out of that even though OVER 1,000 WILD FERAL CAT'S ARE FED AND MAINTAINED AT THE OCEAN REEF CLUB ON N. KEY LARGO AND ACCORDING TO A PAPER PUBLISHED BY THE UNIV. OF FL. ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RAT'S DEMISE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Search on line Ocean Reef Club and wild feral cats and you'll see what I mean. There's a $100,000 fee paid by residents for their vet. care and feeding even though their incredibly damaging to the ecosystem and is proven not supposed as with the Pythons. Damn they should release Python's there to eat the cats. This has BEEN A WELL KNOWN PUBLISHED FACT FOR YEARS AND I HAVEN'T HEARD ONE SINGLE WORD ABOUT THEM FROM ANYBODY INCLUDING SKIP SNOW. If he were truely interested in saving species he would be spearheading an effort to eradicate the cats but alas they don't give grants for that kind of REAL PROBLEM THAT IS WELL DOCUMENTED BUT NOT SENSATIONAL..AGAIN I STAND BY MY OPINION..
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

I would love to have someone present evidence disputing anything I've said here about the HUGE feral cat problem. Also I would hope that many of you research this little known fact yourselves so you can peruse the same papers I did. Frankly, it's shocking that NO ONE CARES BUT YET PYTHONS ARE IN THE NEWS DAILY AND THE INFO ON THE CATS HAS BEEN REPORTED FOR YEARS WITH NOTHING DONE ABOUT IT...It's interesting NO one has responded as of yet...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Tom,

I don't think anyone here disagrees with you about the feral cat issue. Neither would anyone argue about the incidence of dog bites compared to snake bites. But in our society, a python ban would be far more likely than a cat or dog ban/ strict regulation.

My pet cat Elvis is the best cat on the planet. I don't want to ban cat's just eradicate or try to on the feral ones. With cat's that are being fed with regular medical care this would be possible without killing them. It's as dumb or even dumber to consider a cat ban but targeting destructive colonies is possible and should be attempted. The very scientist involved with the Pythons are very aware of the Key Largo Colony of cats and something could and should be done...thanks...One of my questions has ANYONE googled and perused the info I've provided about the cats?
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

Feral cats should be shoot on sight with .22s and air guns. The damn things are a major issue around here, and are a right pain. Feral dogs are even worse locally, with the agricultural community...they get into cattle and sheep with abandon.

Myself and 3 other adult men were attacked by a pack of 6 feral dogs last week down here. We had to hit them with sticks, rocks, and one coconut to drive them away. One small person would have been in serious trouble. Oddly enough we were walking down a canal bank looking for the dreaded Burmese Python...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

There was a feral dog pack in a town not far from me (close to Orlando) that was terrorizing the neighborhood. It was pretty rough. We have quite a few feral cat colonies around Central FL as well.

I think managing feral cats is perceived as an expensive and insurmountable problem. It's easier for the politicians to go after the herps that most of society is prejudiced against in the first place.

I didn't Google the local of your particular colony, Tom, but I've been to the keys quite a bit and have seen a number of feral cats.

The only reason I mentioned them is because the study cites them as SOLELY resposible for the demise of the Key Largo Wood Rat. The one in the belly of one Python get's senstionalized by Skip Snow and he makes NO mention of the 1,000 plus cats that are the reason they're endangered in the first place. THIS IS THE IRONIC MANIACAL FACT THAT MAKE'S NO SENSE UNLESS YOU HAVE A VESTED FINANCIAL REASON TO.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/06/15/State/Cat_fight_in_the_lap_.shtml

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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

I would love to see an open season on feral cats. But, it's not up to me. I don't think that kind of thing would fly in today's society. I don't think it's fair to ban herps without banning cats along with them. Translation: I don't think herps should be banned. That said, there is a problem and we need to find a solution.

Mike

"One of my questions has ANYONE googled and perused the info I've provided about the cats?"

I have, Tom. I was well aware of this issue even before you brought it up (see my post here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Burmese_Python), however, I didn't know about the Ocean Reef Club... thanks for mentioning that. I guess, though, there is no grant money or political will to tackle the feral cat problem.

It would be nice if some credentialed zoologist would contribute some rebuttal to the wikipedia Burmese Python page.

Tommy its crazy im a few days late on this but wow... Drop a burm or two in there...
Tom

BY THE WAY MR. SNOW REPORTED THE WOOD RAT BUT NOT THE HUGE CAT PROBLEM. PERHAPS SOMEONE SHOULD ASK HIM WHY HE'S NOT INTERESTED IN THE CAT'S WHICH ARE DOCUMENTED DETROYING THE WOOD RAT, AN ENDANGERED COTTON RAT, AND FURTHER DOWN IN THE KEYS ARE EXTERPATING THE FEW DOZEN MARSH RABBITS LEFT. ALL OF THIS HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF NUMEROUS PAPERS WITH A PLEA TO DO SOMETHING WHICH TO DATE HAS FELL ON DEAF EARS...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

The primary reason that Skip does not seem to have much input on the feral cat population is likely that Key Largo is outside of the Everglades NP, although part of the larger Everglades ecosystem. There is also little fear of cats, so it does not sell well to the public and the news can safely ignore the problem. There is also not a real identifiable problem with feral cats in the ENP to the best of my knowledge(probably due to the large predators). The feral cats seem to be denizens of the developed areas. There is also very little discussion of development on degradation of the ENP, but it is an ongoing issue. I don't fault Skip for these not being in the headlines, I blame the lack of real journalists. Face it, the presence of large snakes is more likely to make the news than a feral cat (unless they are rabid and attacking tourists), as most people are frightened of even the smallest of snakes.

Skip is a good guy and a very thorough scientist. He reports the truth. But, I will admit, he is not very sympathetic toward the pet trade. He simply wants to fix the python problem and when you know the source is the pet trade then that seems like the logical place to start making improvements. I agree. However, I don't think we need to ban all exotics to improve the situation. I don't even think we need to ban burms. In fact, if the pet trade would start policing itself and owning up to some responsibility, I would be in favor of preventing any legislation that makes it harder to keep pets. We KNOW there is a problem. It only takes one visit to a local importer to see dozens of escaped animals (and/or their offspring). It doesn't matter whether the hurricane damaged enclosures... the pet trade is still the source. And, there are plenty of escapes/releases that were not caused by the hurricane (I'm talking about herps in general). Face it... this is a problem caused by the pet trade and you would expect there to be SOME consequences. This should at least be a wake-up call to responsible folks in the trade to start putting pressure on others to make sure they are running a tight ship. It sucks that one or two bad apples can spoil it for the whole bunch but that's what's happening and we need to pressure those bad apples.

Mike

"Face it... this is a problem caused by the pet trade and you would expect there to be SOME consequences. This should at least be a wake-up call to responsible folks in the trade to start putting pressure on others to make sure they are running a tight ship. It sucks that one or two bad apples can spoil it for the whole bunch but that's what's happening and we need to pressure those bad apples."

I see the whole ENP Burmese Python issue as not so much of an ecological problem, but more of an opportunity for animal rights activists to alarm the public to further their own agenda, i.e. banning the keeping of all animals as pets. Furthermore, I see the animal rights strategy being one of "divide and conquer", where pet owners are led to blame each other for what's happening, instead of the real enemy, which is HSUS, PETA, Defenders of Wildlife, etc.

I agree there a few bad apples in the pet trade and there is a need for some of the bad apples to become more responsible pet owners, but I believe most of the bad press and legislative actions we are now seeing is because of the spreading of propaganda and vilification of pet owners, and political lobbying, by large, wealthy, well organized animal rights organizations.

I believe that animal is now being used for radiotelemetry, though I could be mistaken.

Mike

>>Looks like it is really good condition.
>>
>>What are you doing with them once you've caught them?

The animals basically are turned over to authorities and then they are slaughtered.
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Wraith/Zephyr

What would have done with them? There's already plent of giants that get need homes out there...

You know, I'll bet they're tasty, deep fried. HEY....they're gonna kill them, anyway. Donate them to a soup kitchen.

Only half kidding.

That one wasn't one of them there Burm/Arocks that's makin' a super python, was it?? I hear tell that next they'll crossbreed with Diamondbacks rattlers to make a 14' pizzen snake!

You could probably get two maybe three bucks a pound for python meat. The Glades being the toxic wasteland that it is.... I wouldn't eat anything from there. Seriously, The mercury levels could very well be unsafe.

Ernie Eison
WESTWOOD ACRES REPTILE FARM INC.

Ernie!!!

I see you are using some of the information I've told you! You must trust me!

Mike

having eaten snake...too many damn ribs to make it worthwhile, and the meat's not that tasty. I'll stick with chicken...