Reptile & Amphibian Forums

...burms are cool.

I figured I'd contribute something more than debate so here are some pics. Hope you enjoy.

A burm in situ crossing the road in ENP. Photo by Jason Folt.

One of our former telemetered snakes that we needed to recapture in order to change the transmitters before the batteries died.

Python spotted from helicopter. See it?

From a different angle and cropped. See it now?

When we landed and walked into the tree island we found it retreating down this hole:

But we got there just in time to capture/remove it...

Nesting python. In situ.

A better shot...

After shooting a scene catching pythons from the PBS/BBC shows...

And here's a boa from the FL population. I think they're pretty nice looking.

And a younger one:

Under a building on a tree island in the everglades...

...we found this:

Python eggs:

And here's another non-burm, but a close relative (in situ, dead):

And after being extracted:

Would have been a nice-looking animal:

And another Python species. This one was found in Broward county, FL:

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the pics.

Mike

Those boas are beautiful. They look like Colombian Bcc. Just a guess. Are they Leticia/Deering Estate animals?
From what I see, you've got a pretty good handle on it down there in S. Florida. No need to get all hysterical. They're not going anywhere. That habitat is unique to S. Florida, certainly not Main St. U.S.A. Maybe that's it. Maybe those pythons are encroaching on the land that developers have their eye on.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Nice pictures Mike. Look like those African Rocks are taking a beating. Just wondering, are you guys coming across any native species of snakes such as indigos, everglades rats etc?

Dan

I think the sebae took a hit similar to the one the burms experienced but they are still out there. I know of 3 live individuals found in an equal number of weeks.

Indigo sightings are scarce in the everglades. I know of a few DORs and one live sighting over the last 4 years. That said... they turn up in one area close to the park with relative frequency.

Here's one I found north of the lake:

Yellow/Everglades/Eastern rat (whatever you want to call them in today's messy genetic environment (in the field and in the literature) are more common:

Mike

Your pics are great loved the python pics below thanks. We have gone many times to Glades never saw a python but we saw an Indigo by a golf course and lots of rats/corns ,etc.

Mike, Lia knows my daughter lives in N Miami Beach. I've been visiting her here for a week, flying back to Md. tomorrow. We went fishing off 75 Thursday. Saw a few gators (very dark ones)but nothing else. Saw 2 very dark (black) iguanas, no others.

She lives behind Greynolds Park. Last time I was here in August, there were literally thousands of iguanas. Herds of 2 dz or more. Now??? NONE Nor any anoles. Nothing. It's like dead city. We went to the Key Biscayne lighthouse. No small lizards of any kind. Is this happening everywhere down here? Of course we saw no burms in the glades.

I was just talking about this same subject with a friend tonight he was doing work on his house and only found 4 or 5 anoles (all greens no browns) he is in Orlando. I have seen less than 10 since the freeze only one that was possibly a brown anole. I'm north of Orlando. I haven't been in town lately so I haven't seen for myself what the population is like there. I will be real curious to see what shows up later this spring. I'm certain Brown anoles have survived but based on past winters this freeze definitely put a dent in the population. I'm kind of hoping it did the same to the much more insidious cuban treefrogs.

In Austin TX, I would occasionally see Brown Anoles from nursery pots, plants from Florida.
They never made it through the winter. Even mild winters. Even with plenty of human structure radiating heat for shelter (as is hide behind the shutters).
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

I do nursery work from time to time to supplement my income. I also hoard plants. lol.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

The one's that made it here made it by going as close to the ground as possible while under structures and the house geckos close to structures which gave out some heat like light fixtures seem to have made it .

I found a few brown anoles in middle of cold spell under a water trough I was cleaning as it uneven ground and they actually went there.
I didn't disturb them and cleaned the trough few days ago and they were gone seemed to have made it while the green anoles from what I saw simply stayed high on branches,etc and that may have killed many.

I always found the greens weak and they just dont handle any change well at all .Last sumer we had think over 30 days of close to 110 degrees and I found dead greens while the browns reproduced in numbers.

Funny we have not seen a green anole since the cold storm and we had them in yard by the tree's.

The brown anoles are here though yes took big loss but yet enough and the house geckos took a BIG toll but still around.
The yard went from a dozen or more house geckos at night who gather by backyard wall light to eat insects to 2 or 3 tops.

Not 1 iguana have I seen yet go figure still Cuban tree frogs made it.

Pat Reynolds a FWC Inspector told me that by their estimates that 65% of the Iguanas were wiped out by the freeze. I believe it was a higher percentage than that even. I'm guessing that at least 80% were killed by the freeze along with many other herps...
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com

I agree as find 65% way to low. We had 6 iguanas in area that I saw . They stay in same area though not close to each other but now all are gone and 2 we saw floating dead in canal after cold spell.

Tom, it has to be higher than 65%. There are NONE in Greynolds park, that we could see.

Does this mean that Rodda is as stupid as we thought? I still think his next job should be handing out towels in a bus station bathroom but I’m not even sure if he’s qualified for that.