Reptile & Amphibian Forums

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/1424007.html

New python sparks fears of a `super snake'
If you thought Burmese pythons were dangerous newcomers to the Everglades, officials had some bad news Wednesday: Some even nastier cousins have been discovered.
BY ANDY REID
Sun Sentinel

Fears of a new ``super snake'' emerging in the Everglades grew this week during a hunt to track South Florida's invasive python population.

A three-day, state-coordinated hunt that started Tuesday had, by Wednesday, netted at least five African rock pythons -- including a 14-foot-long female -- in a targeted area in Miami-Dade County.

Those findings add to concerns that the rock python is a new breeding population in the Everglades and not just the result of a few overgrown pets released into the wild, according to the South Florida Water Management District.

In addition, state environmental officials worry that the rock python could breed with the Burmese python, which already has an established foothold in the Everglades. That could lead to a new ``super snake,'' said George Horne, the water district's deputy executive director.

In Africa, the rock python eats everything from goats to crocodiles. There have been cases of the snakes killing children.

``They are bigger and meaner than the Burmese python. It's not good news,'' said Deborah Drum, deputy director of the district's restoration sciences department.

The concern is that a hybrid python could pose even more risk of large constrictor snakes overwhelming the Everglades -- where they thrive without a natural predator.

The state estimates that thousands of Burmese pythons have spread through the Everglades. Some came from people releasing exotic pets they no longer wished to care for; others are thought to have escaped during hurricanes and then bred new generations in the wild.

The string of unusually cold temperatures in South Florida flushed more of the snakes out of the wild and onto flood control levees.

The snake hunt targets an area near the intersection of Tamiami Trail and Krome Avenue in Miami-Dade County. It includes representatives from the water management district, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Everglades National Park.

Three of the African rock pythons found this week were captured, and two got away. One had a circumference of 31 inches. Another was bearing eggs.

The African rock python typically has a ``nastier disposition'' than the Burmese python, said LeRoy Rodgers, a water district scientist.

``These are animals that are hot predators, and now there are two species to worry about,'' she said.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Miami-Braces-for-Supersnake-81508612.html

The possibility of "supersnakes" -- vicious African Rock pythons breeding with dangerous Burmese pythons -- invading Miami may soon be a reality, after five of the ill-tempered African species were found earlier this week slithering through the county.

A state-coordinated hunt turned up the Rock Pythons, including a 14-foot long female, in a remote area of Miami-Dade, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

The find makes it inevitable that the species is breeding in South Florida, and very likely that they could be breeding with the Burmese species.

An article in National Geographic this past September first explored this interbreeding possibility, warning that the effects on the ecosystems of Miami and South Florida could be devastating.

The rock pythons are "so mean, they come out of the egg striking," Kenneth Krysko, senior herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville said. "This is just one vicious animal."

"We can't rule out the possibility that the introduction of genes from a different species might do something that would allow [the rock pythons] to be even more effective at persisting in Florida and perhaps expanding," wildlife biologist Robert Reed told the magazine.

Meanwhile, snake hunters are still out in South Florida, trying to eradicate the area's non-native python population. Dozens of the snakes have been captured and killed since the state began its licensed hunting program to try to contain their numbers, believed to be in the tens of thousands.

It seems to me I read this same exact story about 3 or 4 months ago. They really trying to hit hard on this python thing since this freeze. And to think some guy on one of the slantinel blog posts thinks I'm paranoid.

You should just direct the person or persons that are calling you paranoid to this forum. Then maybe they will see how many more paranoid people there are and for just reason.
-----
Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~