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NPS website for the Everglades

From my understanding, these numbers include animals that were found dead, and then removed. Right now, they're averaging about one per day. If we are to believe Senator Nelson's ASTRONOMICAL claims of over 150,000 of these animals, it would take 410 years to remove them all if there was a way to keep their population from growing and we kept at the one per day pace. Now THAT'S some serious federal funding!

The other way to achieve the goal in less time would be to beef up the number of people doing the trapping. We have 30 volunteers plus the staff, so let's estimate around, what, 40 people or so...? Let's assume the population is about 30,000 just for the sake of example (it's closer to the low side of the estimates of 5,000-150,000+). At the rate of one snake per day spread over 40 people, we'll need almost 3,300 volunteers and staff to eliminate the Burmese python problem in one year.

So, there are two options. Does either sound realistic? I think not. Burms are there to stay if the numbers are high.

Now, if the numbers were closer to 5,000 or 10,000, and the cold killed half, we're now looking at 2,500-5,000. If we're going to ACTUALLY make a dent in the population, this year needs to be the year we do it. The "strike while the iron's hot" mentality.

At 5,000 burms left, we'd need approximately 550 volunteers and staff to wipe them out (if we maintained the current collection rate and it remained steady until they were all gone - which is unrealistic but this is just an example).

So, if the populations really are as low as some estimate, and the cold really did wipe out half, there is a somewhat reasonable chance that SOMETHING could be done to REALLY impact the population of these burms in the ENP. We just need a LOT of people to do it. And we need to do it now.

Another tangent here...

I've heard that many of the burms being found alive seem to be in good health and not suffering from respiratory disease. Can anyone here confirm this? Tom? Mike? Greg? It makes sense to me because my guess is respiratory infections are likely the result of an overabundance of bacteria in the air and cage in captivity. Something that wild populations don't deal with. Plus, even if temps drop down to 40 degrees in the wild at night in the ENP, when the sun comes out, the surface temperature of a rock will probably reach close to 100 or possibly even higher during the day. This is not an extreme that we allow for in captivity. So, our results in captivity do not always translate to the wild.

To illustrate this, I took my temp gun out today and measured the surface temperature of my yard, in the sun. It was 96.5 degrees. The Weather Channel said it was 64 degrees at the time. Something to remember, temperatures reported by weather agencies are ALWAYS taken in the shade, a couple of feet off the ground.

Just some thoughts for the day Toss in some of yours too!

jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously

Jonathan Brady
DeviantConstrictors.com
Deviant Constrictors picturetrail

I have also seen on the very hottest days that it can be startlingly cool on the ground under cover and a snake that was caught in the cold that can’t move into the heat will probably stay pretty darn cold all day if it stays where it was, which is usually deep into the ground cover. Those corpses will never be seen either until a fire someday reveals the old dried bones.

The real plan is probably to pave it all, it’s the only really sure way to get rid of the “problem” once and for all. This problem didn’t really start until Broward was officially built out about six years ago. The public is being sold that the Everglades is a money pit that is not really worth saving and I wouldn’t doubt someone is deliberately seeding these pythons to close the deal. They want to build on that land. Funny, Broward is built out and nobody ever released a python there…

If we are taking the position that truth, real science and common sense should prevail, why not just leave them alone? First
and foremost, there's no evidence that the burms are injurious. Why does "our side" keep acting like there is a huge problem by the burms just being in the Everglades? This is not based on truth or real science, and it feeds the fear and hysteria. Second, eradicating the burms is impossible. (See Tom's post below.) Besides that, we humans have an incredibly poor track record with eradication attempts!

I say we should be promoting the truth - that the pythons are just as likely to be good for the ecosystem as they are injurious, and that we CAN'T eradicate them.

I guess I'll never be a good politician.

very good points! Historically, we have always failed miserably when we try to play Mother Nature and in fact have always caused more damage than we were trying to fix. The Everglades is a perfect example of this!!
Burke Reptiles

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Tom Burke
www.BurkeReptiles.com

Evidently wild horses are cool, constrictors bad. There are also plenty of examples of other types of free ranging live stock on public land. Sport fish (brown and rainbow trout) and even some non-native game such as various cervidae and fowl that have been purposely introduced into regions that historically were not part of their range. I guess it all depends if they are socially acceptable and economically viable. I know that pythons are low hanging fruit when compared to a grazing herd of 900 pound mustangs.

With regards to large constrictors and their utilization in other economic sectors weren't they farmed in mass numbers as a source for powdered calcium early last century? And, if this example and others are true what happened to them? Could it be a reasonable hypothesis that their presence in other economic sectors has contributed to their establishment? If the glades have been isolated up until the need to expand urban sprawl or justify federal grant dollars would we have known about their existence before? I think it is doubtful that they existed for long before their presence was discovered, but when considering all the facts I would like see the objective researchers consider these things before they throw around politically loaded accusations that the problem is solely the fault of irresponsible pet owners.

The problem is irresponsible land developers. Always has been and always will be. Indigo snakes can not maintain a viable population within a thousand acres of a paved road. They are fearless active diurnal hunters. A python is not and can survive in those exact areas where the indigo can not. That is the story here. Python or nothing. Or take out the road. Stop the idiocracy, we are going to have pythons instead. You made it so.

And the developers and their pet politicians are loving this-no one is going to make them give water back to the glades while this circus is in town...
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Jungle Carpet Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase, Striped Desert, Newport, and Coastal California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

>>With regards to large constrictors and their utilization in other economic sectors weren't they farmed in mass numbers as a source for powdered calcium early last century?

Wha........????

Powdered calcium from animal sources is made from oyster shell. What's this about with constrictors???
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0.1 Peruvian rainbow boa (Amaru)
2.0 Brazilian rainbow boas (TBA)
0.3 Honduran milksnakes (Chicchan, Chanir, Hari)
1.0 Thayeri kingsnake (TBA)
2.7 corns (Cetto, Tolosa, TBA)
1,000,000.1,000,000 other critters

I maybe smoking crack, I had read a reference once about this but I can not locate it now.

Over the years Parks and Wildlife has spent quite a bit of taxpayers' dollars to "improve" game for sport with introduced exotics and man made hybrids. No doubt about it.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

They did one story about a woman killed by an anaconda next to a swimming pool, so I'm surprised a Burm story hasn't been done. Hmm....maybe she was already dead...can't remember the whole story.

anything involving David Caruso seriously.lol. Does anyone take him seriously(please pause for a moment while I whip off my sunglasses.) I think it would actually hurt the cause of the anti-python people.

I kinda like him. He reminds me of Peter Falk in Columbo. The tilt of his head...same mannerisms.