Giant pregnant python caught in Florida - Page 2

jason · 08-15-2012, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshmallow

I saw this snake on television. What makes people think they are doing the right thing by releasing their pet snakes into the wild? Burmese pythons don't belong in Florida. Nature didn't put them there. Someone whose snake was no longer cute did.

Sadly it was more then that. South Florida was a main entry point for exotic animals being brought into the U.S. When Andrew hit it allowed a lot of them to escape into the wild. They have made it as far north as Tampa already. A few times a year you will hear about a large one being caught here. I think the largest so far is around 7 feet or so. There was a 5 foot albino caught about two hours east of me a few years back too. Chances are they are already further north.

No natural predictors here for many of them.

dinosaur · Yesterday, 06:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hummingbird

I HATE when people introduce non native species into our environment.

I have to disagree with this but only partially. Not everything is pythons and kudzu. I live in Indiana where the native Indiana rabbit is incredibly rare but the cottontail is plentiful (introduced). Although the Whitetail Deer is native it had to be reintroduced here. And we grow the best tomatoes here in the Midwest, not a native to this continent.

On the other hand, some guy who cuts his pet loose in the wilds is a bit different from an active environmental study performed with due diligence. Exotic dangerous animals should be controlled and registered to their owners but it is a costly process. Still, accidents like the python could occur.

In Indiana the sellers of exotics are registered but the buyers are not recorded. Recently a cougar got loose in my area and attacked one of my horses. The horse survived but there's a woman about five miles from me who's dog did not. There have been several farmers in the area who's beef calves have been killed and there have been multiple sightings of the beast.

If I see it I shall attempt to convert it into a hide and a barbeque. But this is a dangerous animal and the fact that anyone with a pocketfull of dollars and a capped pickup truck can purchase one and drive away with it is wrong.

ppine · Yesterday, 12:12 PM

Introduced species cause lots of problems, but we benefit from them as dino has pointed out. It is hard to imagine that roses and apples are not native to the Americas as examples, but native to China. Think about native plants the next time you work on the landscaping in your yard.

The complex ecosystems of Florida especially in the south have been changed forever by the introduction of large exotic predators. The Everglades have been jeopardized by water issues for years, bu this is probably far worse. My condolences to the residents of the state of FL.

Hikenhunter · Yesterday, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hummingbird

I HATE when people introduce non native species into our environment. Look at Kudzu. That stuff has pretty much taken over the south. This summer, they found an alligator in one of our local lakes. Since we have cold winters, it had to be this year.

Yea we have cold winters here too but they just pulled a three foot gator out of a pond about a mile from here. Must have been released recently but I can't understand why any one would do that.

Boboque · Yesterday, 07:52 PM

Do you think alligators and other reptiles could become assimilated to a colder climate north? I understand them becoming endemic in Florida and the Southern states, but in the northeast? We live in Kentucky and this last winter wasn't even cold enough to destroy the bugs it usually does during the winter. I could see them hibernating as our snakes do and then recovering in the spring and summer.

JeepThrills · Yesterday, 11:06 PM

Did it bother anyone else that they killed her? It seems like they could have put her in a zoo and studied her instead of putting her down.

dinosaur · Today, 06:52 AM

I would loved to have studied her...............tail over a barbeque pit.

campclose · Today, 03:45 PM

They did not kill it did they? What the heck are they going to do with the python? I hope not let it back out. Holy cow! I hate snakes and the thought of a snake that big gives me the creepie crawlies.

Waynefire · Today, 04:05 PM

That has to be a huge snake! I already hate snakes, but this is another reason to hate them even more when it is three times as large as me! I would travel to the Everglades, but I do not think I could ever live in the area because of all the snakes I would have to combat!