re: Invasive pythons have nearly eradicated small mammals in the Florida Keys

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The python is quickly becoming a real issue in the Glades however. If they allow actual hunting and killing of them they might slow down the invasion.

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It seems like between hiring professional hunters, bounties for non-professional hunters, and the tylenol thing, you'd be able to put a dent into it.

We had someone lose/let loose a bunch of ball pythons in St Aug last year. They were crawling around some neighborhood. But it gets too cold up here for them and their larger cousins.

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Guam could be of assistance on this since they have been using carrion bait with Tylenol to repress their brown tree snake problem. Pythons aren't carrion eaters though, they hunt live prey.

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i've been there and those snakes literally fall on you from trees. it sucks

It's pretty weird to have an animal that is totally non-interactive with humans or domesticated in any sense at all as a pet. Zoo animal, laboratory, whatever, yea sure. A snake or a spider as a pet? Yea dude, it's weird.

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Get around snake freaks and they talk baby talk to snakes like it’s a kitten or a puppy.

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I’ve been around a lot of other snake people in my lifetime, and I’ve never met one who baby talks to their snakes.

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Something like the tylenol thing could work, but then aren’t you killing native species as well?

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If you could plant the Tylenol on rodents that are too big for native species to hunt then maybe that works.

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As far as hunting them, the majority of “hunters” are driving up and down public roads searching with spotlights, whereas the real thriving populations are in areas only accessible by boat. You’ll never have enough serious hunters to put a dent in it.

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Especially when there are 50-100 eggs being laid per year per female.

My cousin works at the FWC, he used to deal with invasive species, now he is over all crocodilian management in the state. He doesn't seem very hopeful at all that the python problem will ever be solved.

They do have a method where they catch and put trackers on females so they can locate the nests. But still, the numbers are so out of control, its hard to imagine that it will be fixed anytime remotely soon.


And while pythons are the biggest problem, there are plenty more, like nile monitors, and tegus that are exploding in numbers in south Florida.

Nile Monitor



Tegu

frick small mammals.

I don’t know why anyone would want a snake or lizard as a pet.They’re fine at a zoo but in my house,frick no.

I hope those pythons don’t mutate to tolerate cold weather and make it to Louisiana.Armadillos seemed to have done that and are moving north.

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Never understood either, just like those freaks who have tarantulas as pets. It’s a sign of a serial killer

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t’s funny how people justify their fears - like the guys who are afraid of snakes and spiders justify it by saying those who aren’t afraid are “freaks” or are “weird”. Maybe we’re just not pussies.

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guess I'm a freak.
I have 2 snakes, a tarantula and a scorpion.

pythons will top out at under 5' (with a very extremely rare possibility of maybe 6').

according to google neither the tarantula nor the scorpion are lethal. they are allegedly no worse than a wasp sting (both pain and venom toxicity).
but I'm not going to test that one just in case.

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As far as hunting them, the majority of “hunters” are driving up and down public roads searching with spotlights, whereas the real thriving populations are in areas only accessible by boat. You’ll never have enough serious hunters to put a dent in it.

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The snake hunters are not interested in getting rid of them