I wonder if we could argue with them on a certain "major" point of theirs. They seem to be stressing on the fact that these 9 species are non-native, reproduce rapidly, and have NO KNOWN PREDATORS.

My argument with that is, everything has known predators. Lets look at alligators/Crocs. The single largest reptiles alive on the planet. They produce in large numbers, but anybody who watches Animal Planet can tell you that the survival rate of these babies making it to adulthood is slim. Less than 20%. Because as babies, these little alligators are picked up by birds, raccoons, snakes, etc.

Couldnt we make the same argument? There is plenty of things out there big enough to snack on some of these snakes, not just at neonate size, even well into sub-adult size. Plenty of birds, alligators, mammals, etc could eat them.

So yes, they may be a non-native species that is living in an environment to support reproduction, but realistically speaking, what are the odds of neonate boa constrictors/pythons/anacondas actually making it into adult hood before getting picked off by another animal as lunch?

Just something I happened to think of, I thought worth mentioning

[ Hide Replies ]

• Response from Sen. Durbin - NUCCIZ_BOAS, Tue Feb 2 15:55:20 2010
• RE: Response from Sen. Durbin - jsschrei, Tue Feb 2 16:10:08 2010
• Sad.... - Joel_Thomas, Tue Feb 2 16:41:04 2010
• Today must habe been E-mail response day - LarM, Tue Feb 2 17:05:01 2010
• Just for argument sake..... - NUCCIZ_BOAS, Tue Feb 2 17:20:18 2010
• I completely agree - LarM, Tue Feb 2 17:28:38 2010