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maybe old news...

but this place is slow anyways....
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........JY

What a joke and a means to spread baseless fear.

Nelson's an ass!

I live in central florida and have several thoughts on the "hunt"

first, I don't think it will be very effective.

second, I don't see how the person in the prior post can intelligently say "senseless fear." how would you like to have your kids playing in the backyard with a full grown Burmese or rock python??? think about that one for a minute :/

pythons are found around here on a regular basis. I know there are a lot of responsible reptile owners out there. there are also some idiots that think they want a big snake. they buy a baby burm or rock, and once it gets 10-15 ft decide it's too big to handle and let it go. i'm not sure if the main cause was the hurricane years ago or people letting them go and them escaping. either way, it is a major problem that is spreading. it is totally throwing off the ecosystem let alone the fact of the danger to humans.

not sure what the answer is. I don't like the idea of killing reptiles. on the other hand, they are non=native and are causing damage. I think it's easy to say that it's not a problem when it's not in your back yard. there have been numerous pythons including a 13ft'er found in my area along with numerous other non-native critters such as a 5ft water monitor. have kids? how would you like them to be playing out back and run into them???

just my 2 cents from someone who lives in florida and has kept and bred numerous reptiles as a hobbyist, including the large boids in the past, for the last several decades.

jonathan

The term that he used was "baseless" which I believe is correct. I live in south Florida and to my knowledge , there have been 0 attacks from a non captive python on people in Florida ever, so baseless is accurate. I have two small children and their risk of being hit by lightning, stung by an insect, bitten by a stray dog, bitten by a raccoon, bitten by a shark or even hit by a falling coconut is much greater than being attacked by a wild python.I also am against non native invasives, but feral cats, coyotes, Bufo Toads are doing much more damage to our local eco systems than Pythons. Nelson is just a consumate politician grandstanding for what he deems an easy victory.

I stand corrected. the post did read "baseless".

I will still disagree with "baseless fear" for instance, they found a 13 ft burm under a porch in a residential neighborhood last year. are you trying to say that an adult burm or rock python has no potential to be a danger? yes, I know there are plenty of dangers in florida such as gators, sharks, ect... I still go swimming in the ocean and the lake I live on. what gets me are people that say there is no potential danger due to the non-native invasive species and act like they are as innocent as a garter snake. about the time they found one in your backyard where your kids play you might have a different point of view.

jonathan

have you looked at the estimated numbers of burms and rocks that are in the everglades? with the clutch sizes, plentiful food supply, and lack of predators once they reach adult size there numbers are expanding rather rapidly with no signs of slowing down. how long before they expand their range? feral pythons have been found as far north as the panhandle.

Estimated by who? PETA? HSUS? Senator Nelson? Or by people who have actually looked for them and found none or extremely limited numbers...ahhh there's the kicker.

How many people are attacked by wild cats and dogs? Lots of adults and kids killed every year from dogs. Yet puppy mills are doing a great job mass producing them. I don't see senator Nelson putting a stop to anything like the breeding of large dangerous dogs? His backers wouldn't hear of it...
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Matt Lerer
Ghi Reptiles

I'm just wondering how long it take for the claimed 150,000 or so giant pythons reproduce into millions and start invading the entire southern portion of the United States.

Senator Nelson is a joke!
Serpents-Den.com

Hey Jonathan,

Nobody drives to the Everglades to release pythons...it just doesn't happen. They are not all over. If they were they would be filling the news channels every night and they just aren't. The small number of Burmese that are in the Everglades are from there from hurricane Andrew. You wouldn't believe how many Burmese have been 'planted' for television shows...it's a fact. 700 people looking and no pythons found?
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Matt Lerer
Ghi Reptiles

matt,

I don't doubt that some pythons have been planted for television. anything to get ratings. I also doubt that people drive all the way to the everglades to release any critters. Miami is right on the edge of the everglades though. I also wouldn't be surprised if the numbers were expanded. I went camping, hiking, and fishing in the everglades for 5 days and never saw one.

I do believe that the facts are exaggerated by the press and ect... on the other hand, I believe that some people, especially in the reptile community like to downplay the facts. some people like to talk like the situation is as potentially harmless as a couple leopard geckoes being in the wild.

there are many critters that have been released/escaped though. hence the 13ft burm found under a porch/house, the 5ft water monitor found in a subdivision, ect... I find it hard to believe that all the nature shows are making up finding eggs that have hatched. they do occasionally turn up, hence making the news when they do. I believe that there are numerous ones that we don't see for everyone that we do.

i am a huge reptile fan and think they are wonderful creatures. i believe that some people downplay the facts just because they also have a passion for them.

jonathan

The reason that people are "downplaying the facts" is because the facts are bogus! It's a sensationalism created by the media and people like Senator Nelson! Are there Burms on the loose? Sure there are, but not 300,000 like I heard! When this "Python Hunt" is over, people are gonna look like dopes! To date, there are 1000 people scouring the Everglades 24/7 for 2 weeks and have found a grand total of 11 animals!

Here are the facts. Burmese pythons cannot tolerated temps lower than 30 degrees, they die or get sick then die. Burmese pythons will never expand further north than naples, it gets below 30 degrees every year and they will die. Every 10 yrs or so there is a cold snap that reaches the everglades and will kill the majority of the animals. Burmese pythons don't lay clutches of 100 eggs and clutches of 40 or more are very rare with the wild pythons and only a very small number of those will live past 2 yrs, there are too many predators for snakes less than 6 ft long down there. HSUS and PETA are huge financial contributors to Sen Nelson. I fished at least 15 times a month in the everglades for 6 yrs and never saw a python, even when looking for them and I am a very experienced field herper and several of those times I was with someone that caught them in their native lands. The savannah river ecology lab delayed publishing their findings of cold mortality until the Lacey Act ruling after a request from HSUS. Burmese pythons don't belong in the everglades just like cats, dogs, most fish you find down there, Bufo toads, roads, drainage ditches, cane fields and PEOPLE. There are many much more dangerous things in miami than burmese pythons like gangs, drug dealers, drug users, cars, 5 gallon buckets (yes appr 5 children die every year after drowning in 5 gallon buckets), stray dogs, cats, raccoons, sharks, jelly fish and spear guns. My recommendation is everyone south of naples is forced to move north, take a bull dozer and level and remove any trace of people in South florida and allow the ecosystem to recover naturally. If everyone that says burmese pythons are dangerous to the ecology of the Glades isn't willing to move NOW they need to quit using that as a debating point. I do not have a problem with people going and killing and removing these feral animals. I do have a problem with false "facts" being spread as true facts.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

I like the 'pet' python they are holding. There are up to 150,000 Burmese pythons in the Everglades but nobody can find any? Man these giant maneaters must be real good at hiding. I'm embarrassed to say Nelson is a representative from our state.
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Matt Lerer
Ghi Reptiles

I hear senators make good gator bait!!
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Dale....dgoins222@yahoo.com
www.LibertyReptiles.com