Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, all the numbers are in! 1600 contestants scouring 1m acres 24/7 for 1 month! Final count: 68 snakes??? Ooooops! Maybe there aren't 300,000 killer Burmese in the Everglades after all! Thoughts?

This python issue has been mismanaged from day one. The numbers have been inflated to play with the population fears.

I think there were never that many snakes in the Everglades. A couple of years ago the official numbers were 100,000. Some snakes had been tagged to track them through the swamp. Then we had a VERY cold winter here in S Florida (green iguanas would drop frozen from the trees). Eight out of every ten tagged pythons died that year. By logic, then that year died at least 80,000 pythons in the Everglades. (But I don't think there were 100,000 to begin with).

Florida Wildlife Commission then authorized a hunting season, but instead of an open season to try to capture as many as possible (as they would have done if they were really serious about eradicating the pythons from the park), they regulated the number of captures and the months that they were allowed to be captured. In fact they were protecting the pythons from being exterminated (of course, they realized that a permanent python population in the Everglades would be a stable source of income in hunting fees and licenses).

Now they created this Python Challenge, and the results show that there weren't as many snakes as they said. As many as 1600 hunters took part in the hunt (the Florida Wildlife Commission says that they are satisfied despite the low number of pythons captured during month-long event) and they only bagged 68 snakes..Where are the thousands that are said to roam the Everglades?

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Sed et serpens erat callidior cunctis animantibus terrae quae fecerat Dominus Deus...

Actually, we had two really cold winters in a row, with multiple freezes. Any pythons that weren't underwater probably didn't make it. Hate to see snakes die, but the faster the burm issue goes away the better. kurt d.

I live here in south Florida, and refuse to apply for a permit or give the state any money for some dumb round up ..There is 1000's upon 1000's of burms in the glades.. In areas they have no clue about... They are focused on all the wrong places... These snakes are thriving far east of were they are looking..I have literally had nights were i have caught 10 within the past 6 moths.. Will I participate in a stupid round up? NO... If these so called scientists and FWC officials knew what they were doing they could do it themselves.. That's what they get paid for, but no they reach out to the public because they are uneducated fools..Most of the people come from out of the state to get the "thrill" of catching a Burmese not to help... Please go back to your start we have enough vigilante people coming down here crowding the glades....

My rant for the day
Stephen Brenner
steven72503@yahoo.com