Everglades Python Challenge

It's pretty bad actually. I heard on the news the other night the pythons are starting to move north some as their food sources start to dwindle. Luckily I'm pretty far north of the Everglades but still close enough to be somewhat concerned of them encroaching on our area. They have found some in my area in the wild but not nearly as many as they find in the Everglades. I think they really should stop all sales of pythons in the US as they should not be brought in. However, our Laissez-faire politics in this state were way too late to prevent this. Too bad we all have to suffer for the actions of the idiots who release these animals and the state government which is against regulations until it's way too late.

 

Banning importation would not have stopped this. Burmese pythons have been captive bred for a while. Same with reticulated pythons. Some of their color morphs are just wild.

Reasonable regulations aren't uncalled for, but make them onerous and people will just ignore them. They also need to consider that private collections play a part in saving rare species. Let's not repeat what Hawaii did with the Jackson's chameleon.

In the '70s a shipment of Jackson's escape from a pet shop. The lizards thrived. Since the vast majority flora and fauna on the islands are introduced, this wasn't a big deal. They probably ate a lot of German cockroaches. So Hawaii became the major source for Jackson's chameleons instead of Africa. With a shorter transit time and ancestors that already survived one long trip, the Hawaiian lizards were hardier than the African imports. More survived.

In the '90s there was a concern that the chameleon were eating young native birds. So the state banned exportation of the lizard, and made plans to eradicate the lizards. They did so without any studies or proof that native bird populations were being impacted by the chameleons(sound familiar). Unless the department responsible for wildlife control got more funding or the eradication programs put on hold, the inspections of inbound planes from Guam could have had budget cuts. It is proven what a brown snake will do to an island's bird population.

With passing regulation without data backing its need Hawaii; killed revenue from chameleon exports, might have increased the chances of a brown snake getting onto the island, and increase capture pressure on the chameleon's native population. Fortunately, there are several breeding operations supplying captive bred lizards to the market. Most of which are in Florida.

I am not saying the python is in anyway similar, far from it. Just saying reactionary legislation can do more harm than good. Also keep in mind that loose dogs and cats put negative pressure on native populations.

 

caught this on the telly the other nite. i could also see myself capturing pythons...not!

 

The pythons are wiping out the natural wildlife here. It's a FACT. It is also a FACT that many people when their Python or Boa gets too large for them to take care of end up releasing them out in the wild.

They do not know how many pythons are in the Everglades but the estimate is 5K-180K.

Awe crud, it's worse than what I thought. That's just as of 2007.



One thing you can say about cats and dogs is that they aren't decimating the indigenous species here. The Python is.

Burmese pythons in Florida - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Listen to the NATIVE Floridian, these pythons are a huge problem and need to be taken care of. I hope our endangered species will be able to survive. These things are eating anything and everything they can.

 

Yes, but a python could see itself capturing you.

 

exactly!

 

If it wasn't clear for my closing paragraph, I agree with you about the pythons and the tegus and the snakeheads. They are all efficient predators which don't have natural control on their numbers in their released habitat.
It is unfortunate that people did not truly consider what was required of them in owning these animals. But do you think such people would have cared if it was illegal to own such a pet to begin with?

Invasive species isn't just a Florida concern. One of the snakehead species found in the wild hales from Siberia. Pa wildlife officials are tasked with killing Quaker parakeets or Monk Parrots on sight. If one breeding pair got out, they would push the native song birds to the extinction edge. Guess what, there are two or three colonies of them in NYC. People there are just dandy with them. Then there are all the rodents and bugs.

So people outside your state understand the problems you are facing.

 

I apologize if I sounded snippy in my previous post. It was unintended. However, it seems as we are losing the battle here in Florida.

 

If I may inject some levity into the serious topic of invasive predators:

Dave Barry on man-vs.-snake Everglades smackdown - Dave Barry - MiamiHerald.com

On small islands, the procedure is simpler (but still not simple). Cage up the animals you want not to die, move 'em off, and distribute some quick-decay poison. Rats have been extirpated from a few islands in this way, including 1 or 2 Galapagos islands. Oh, last step, re-release your caged birds or whatever.

 

When Florida provided state bounties for the Florida Cougar, it pushed that population to the edge of extinction. (Actually a little over. FL cougars have a LOT of Texas Cougar in them).

A bounty of $500/python would a) cost a fortune and b) probably be the most cost effective approach if enforced correctly. (e.g. only over a TBD day period, otherwise python breeders would be going nuts) Winners would also get their own cable series; "Python Porkers" or some such title.

 

You' all are approaching this the wrong way:

Q. So how do you prepare python?

A1. Battered and deep fried son, its the South.
A2. Smoked, pick around the bones.
A3. Soaked in vinegar/wine sauce like herring.

Do the Chinese have any delectable snake dishes?

Bob Wilson

 

In China there are wines with a variety of 'medicinal' things in them. The big glass wine jug with a snake on the bottom is a common restaurant fixture. In Vietnam, fresh snake blood is good for virility. Not the snake's, though.

 

You would need to put wine in something like 55 gallon drums to be able to put a full sized python in the wine.

I almost bought a bottle of wine with a snake in it in Guìlín but didn't because I thought US customs wouldn't let it in. I should have tried.

 

XS, you are quite right about US customs. One of the rules is 'no meat' and they interpret that quite broadly. For example, they will not admit a bag of 'donkey-skin flavor' dates because donkey is meat.

Anyway, love your Pinyin tone markings on Guìlín. Fechan hao.

Back to the pythons, yes we need a cookbook. The careful sous chef could strip out a couple of meters of linear meat, and that would make an impressive kebab.

 

Nǐ tài kè qì le

I must confess I have to look up the tones, the first thing to escape my Western mind was the tonality and it's been 17 years since my one semester of Mandarin.

 

He said I was being too polite. Too kind. Something like that.