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WUFT (Gainesville, Florida) 26 September 13 How A Gainesville Biologist Plans To Solve Florida’s Python Problem (Colette DuChanois)
A wildlife biologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Research Center in Gainesville is one step closer to solving Florida’s python infestation.
John Humphrey designed a trap to catch pythons with Tomahawk Live Trap. The costs for the trap were covered by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, an agency of the USDA. Humphrey says each trap costs roughly $80 to purchase for testing.
“It took me about an hour to think of the design and it took me a couple days to actual make a mockup of the design,” said Humphrey.
Humphrey said researchers had been trying to build a trap for pythons but they kept running into the issue of trapping non-target species, such as armadillos and raccoons.
“To me it was a pretty quick response in how to deal with this because the one thing about pythons that is unique compared to any other native snakes is that they’re larger, heavier and longer than our biggest native snakes on average,” he said.
Humphrey is testing the trap at the National Research Center in Gainesville using captive pythons that are held in outdoor pens.
“We are constantly trying to better and improve and find out the limitations and the strengths of this trap and how it can be used in the field,” Humphrey said.
One trap has already been placed in the field in Miami to help with a boa constrictor problem in the Deering Estate area.
“The bulk of the python problem is down in the Miami area across to Naples, in a line, somewhere around the I-75 corridor,” he said.
Though it may be ambitious, Humphrey hopes to capture all the pythons in Florida.
“It’s my opinion that this problem has been going on for 20 plus years and it’s very likely that is going to take that long or longer depending on funding,” Humphrey said.
The patent for the trap’s design was first filed three years ago. It was issued on April 3.
http://www.wuft.org/news/2013/09/26/how-a-gainesville-biologist-plans-to-solve-floridas-python-problem/

SKY NEWS (London, UK) 26 September 13 Everglades' Pythons: New Trap To Catch Snakes
[COLOR="#006400"]Photo @ URL below: (USDA Wildlife Services)
Wildlife officials will test specially designed snake traps in the Everglades in a bid to control the growing python population.
The Burmese python regards the Everglades as an all-you-can-eat buffet, where native mammals are easy prey and the snakes have no natural predators. According to a study, mammal sightings in the area are down sharply.
Officials have already tried radio tracking collars, a massive public hunt and even snake-sniffing dogs to curb the invasive species.
Now they will try snaring them in a five-foot-long cagemade from galvanised steel wire, with a net at one end.
A field station for the National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) will focus on a natural enclosure that contains five pythons.
They will try baiting the traps with the scent of small mammals such as rats, which they will try camouflaging as pipes or other small, covered spaces where pythons like to hide, said John Humphrey, a biologist at the research centre.
Humphrey developed the trap in collaboration with Wisconsin-based Tomahawk Live Trap, which is working on a licensing agreement to sell the traps along with other snake-handling equipment such as tongs, hooks and secure bags.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) received a patent for the trap in August.
Carol Bannerman of the USDA's Wildlife Services and Animal Care, told Sky News it is also working on a plan to combat an infestation of brown tree snakes on Guam.
The test would involve dropping dead, frozen mice containing doses of acetaminophen - an active ingredient in popular pain reliever Tylenol - from helicopters where the snakes are most prominent.
http://news.sky.com/story/1146924/everglades-pythons-new-trap-to-catch-snakes

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR (Boston, Massachusetts) 26 September 13 Burmese python trap: Will it work? (Jennifer Kay)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture received a patent in August for a trap that resembles a long, thin cage with a net at one end for the live capture of large, heavy snakes.
Researchers say Burmese pythons regard the Everglades as an all-you-can-eat buffet, where native mammals are easy prey and the snakes have no natural predators. The population of Burmese pythons, which are native to India and other parts of Asia, likely developed from pets released into the wild, either intentionally or in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Wildlife officials are racing to control the python population before it undermines ongoing efforts to restore natural water flow through the Everglades. According to a study released last year, mammal sightings in the Everglades are down sharply in areas where pythons are known to live.
The Gainesville field station for the National Wildlife Research Center, which falls under the USDA, is preparing to test the trap in a natural enclosure that contains five pythons.
Over the coming months, the researchers will try baiting the traps with the scent of small mammals such as rats, and they will try camouflaging them as pipes or other small, covered spaces where pythons like to hide, said John Humphrey, a biologist at the research center. Future tests may use python pheromones as bait.
"There's still more to be learned, there's still more to be tested," Humphrey said. "This is just one of your tools that you have to put together with other things to get the problem solved."
The trap was developed to catch exotic snakes without ensnaring smaller, lighter native species, Humphrey said.
The 5-foot-long trap is made from galvanized steel wire with a tightly woven net secured to one end. Two separate triggers need to be tripped simultaneously for it to close, which should keep it from ...
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