Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are Burmese Pythons in the Everglades National Park (ENP) an "Out-of-Control" Problem?

There are supposed to be 150,000 feral Burmese Pythons living in the Florida ENP, and they are reproducing at a rate of 100 eggs per year per female!

Sounds scary, doesn't it? Yet, feral Burmese Pythons have been in the ENP for over 15 years and no one has ever been killed or seriously injured by one. They are reportedly dinning on endangered species, yet endangered species are rarely found among the stomach contents of captured animals.

Is it possible that Burmese Pythons eat other invasive animals like feral cats and pigs, which have proven to be a real problem in the ENP?

Burmese Pythons in the ENP are an opportunity!

Burmese Pythons in the Everglades National Park are an opportunity for researchers, like Skip Snow and Gordon Rodda, to get huge piles of cash to "study this problem".

Burmese Pythons in the Everglades National Park are an opportunity for Animal Rights Organizations, like HSUS and PETA, to get priceless media publicity to push for exotic animal bans.

Burmese Pythons in the Everglades National Park are an opportunity for politicians, like Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, to grandstand in front of a terrified electorate.

Burmese Pythons in the Everglades National Park are an opportunity for news organizations, like the Orlando Sentinel, to sell newspapers filled with pictures of "giant constrictors" being captured.

I wonder how much less food would be on tables in Florida had these snakes not eaten the mice and rats which they undoubtedly did?

You no how the AR's splash blood on fur wairing models. Maybe we should be tossing some rabbit urine/sent on these tuff men as they look for Pythons. Maybe they would be fired for having "skin pearcings" against their dress code rules. This is a discusting desplay of total pointless crule treetment of animals with value, that will eat rodents, that restroy value. You could crunch the numbers and estamate how many rodents will be produced and reporduced on and on from this one event. Not to mention the educational factor that if they used them for educational displays.Reptiles shown in grammer,jr. and high schools work.It causes students to study everything that ends in ology. I know I've seen it happen,change peoples lifes for ever. Becoming teachers, zoologest,store owners that make a family living, Kids making their own school money,in a spair roon, to people in reserch,films,travel adventure, and the list goes on. People dont run over native snakes or "shuvle them anymore around Jax. Fl. because their kids wont let them. It took 20 years of getting a herp society together and doing resques, and I saw Jax.Fl. Citizans call us before they would kill them, debunking the "only good snake is a dead one" I saw this happen over time in Duval ct.Fl.in my lifetime from regular folks from every area of town. We need to show the public who we really are. I'd hate to think I and my friends did this for nothing. Somehow we have not convinced the new PC public its a "clean industry" and family orented affair. You cant learn to much about Nature if you BAND IT and vitio games are the new inspiration of youth. Its PC now and well engrained. Where do we start? Vic Morgan, one of the founding members of the Jax. Herp.Society........were next....

When the water district guy was talking abou fencing off the farms and "finding" 150 snakes. All I can think is the farmer scratching his head and saying "you mind leaving a couple of those boomeese pythons behind."
This farmer has never been this rat free, EVER.
At shows when people tell me they have a snake problem I tell them no you have a rat problem. Get rid of the rats and the snakes will leave. ANY farmer who raises produce embraces nonvenemous snakes. Obviously poultry farms do not. Which is why poultry farms are overrun with rodents.
I never met a farmer yet who was concerned with the wellfare of rodents endangered or not.
How about the chart showing all the stuff a burm will consume over a 5-7 year period. I thought where are the feral cats on this chart. Common sense tells you there has to be some nuisance animals on the chart. They are nuisance because their numbers are out of control. THIS will be the prey items that burms will eat first. They aren't going to pass up a perfectly good meal to wait for an endangered animal.
When water boy unrolled that python skin I was furious. Right then I felt like anything should go like having 10 local 5th graders walk in with an alive 12 foot Burmese python. And all those photos of the gator burm homicide suicide match.
HOWEVER one of my favorite comments was in the beginning when Meeks said Burmese pythons grow faster and reach maturity quicker than every other predator in the ENP, including the gator.
Well he was part right the alligator is clearly the slowest maturing of all animals. But all carnivorous mammals and birds will reach sexual maturity well before a wild Burmese.
My wife thought the Vet was the smartest of the panel. But he did say a lot of stuff that did not help. And he was such a poor speaker... When he said look at the way the people on the video are handling that giant burm. That is not the way you hande a dangerous animal. I don't think they understood THIS BURM IS NOT DANGEROUS. I think they thought he was questioning their handling abilities. Plus when he said that he was laughing. I was laughing to. It is funny to think that ANY number of people could so nonchalantly handle a DANGEROUS snake that size. Once again I felt the commitee just saw a crazy old man laughing at a joke none of them got.
Lastly(for now, I promise) I know why Andrew didn't take HSUS to task when she repeatedly said if you remove the Burmese python from the pet industry they will simply shift to another species.
I know Andrew didn't want to throw Burms under the bus. But this was his best opportunity to shred this nonherper. I'm not talking about boas because obviously they shouldn't be on this list. But every other species put together will never reach the popularity of the Burmese. This is when Andrew states that Burms are the ambassadors to the snake world. They are an enigma. What other large predator would allow itself to be lifted and manipulated and photographed and drug around.Only the Burm.
I keep all the giants and I have several tame retics BUT every big snake owner knows Burms are on a whole other level of tameness. This is a slippery slope because you are admitting to a certain level of aggressiveness in other species. Then you explain that this works as a culling process for how serious a potential owner may be. D.C.