Giant Burmese python discovered in Florida (+video)

Originally posted by GoOfYFoOt
reply to post by Ophiuchus 13

 

You're confusing pythons with anacondas...

Pythons are rather docile compared to other large herps...Here is one that was only 12' long. That's me with her.

edit on 8/14/2012 by GoOfYFoOt because: added photo

edit on 8/14/2012 by GoOfYFoOt because: (no reason given)

YEs I am filmilar with the anacondas but I STILL feel there are some that are not detected YET. MAy need some good music to charm them up from their homes but I understand what your saying, also cool pic.

Originally posted by Soulreaper54
reply to post by GoOfYFoOt

 

that thing is huge! you are one brave soul

Actually, bravery and stupidity are two very different mindsets...
When I first took possession of her, I had the daunting task of going into her cage, placing her into a large duffle bag, and zipping it shut whilst keeping her in it, all the while her three roommates were checking me out and sizing me up...They were 9' and 10' snakes, themselves.
All of this because my friend found himself incarcerated, and was unable to care for them, anymore.
He found homes for the smaller three, but I was tasked with removing her first, so the new owner of the others could collect them. Unfortunately, our schedules conflicted, and due to the time sensitivity of the whole thing, I had to pull her out, all by myself.
I had visions of being found lifeless in there, with snake spaghetti all over me...

OK. Now you can call me names...

reply to post by GoOfYFoOt


Aw, well that's too bad. Bob isn't a very honest fella either.

But, either way, still makes for one hell of a story!

reply to post by SLAYER69


This is no surprise, not the biggest problem however. Pet lovers who release their pet snakes are the problem. Watch carefully for the new killer python which is a hybrid between African Rock Python and the Burmese. The rock pythons are now breeding with other species and creating a much more aggressive snake, which has little or no fear of humans.

reply to post by mamabeth


Wasn't the hide, the gator or gators in general can as you know hold their breath for quite some time. While being ingested the gator tried to claw its way out. Their hide is very tough and resistant to the snakes stomach acids. Looked for the pic's of this incident but couldn't find it.

reply to post by DOLCOTT


Just type "python vs gator" in your favorite search engine. Plenty come up...

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
Interesting catch though I wonder what they did with the eggs?

Omlettes, anyone? They're fresh!

Originally posted by The GUT
How many Floridians do ya' think put their homes on the market when they saw that article?

Adaption? I don't think I like the word anymore!

Many Floridians put their homes on the market because they couldn't afford to make their mortgage payments due to the economy, shortage of work, and high interest rates on their mortgage.

Originally posted by DOLCOTT
reply to post by mamabeth

 

Wasn't the hide, the gator or gators in general can as you know hold their breath for quite some time. While being ingested the gator tried to claw its way out. Their hide is very tough and resistant to the snakes stomach acids. Looked for the pic's of this incident but couldn't find it.

Pics or it didn't happen. FAIL.

Originally posted by DOLCOTT
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

This is no surprise, not the biggest problem however. Pet lovers who release their pet snakes are the problem. Watch carefully for the new killer python which is a hybrid between African Rock Python and the Burmese. The rock pythons are now breeding with other species and creating a much more aggressive snake, which has little or no fear of humans.

I have had some experience with large constrictors and want to emphasise your post.

My understanding is that there is an established Burmese population which while potentially a huge problem for the eco-system and a vague danger to pets and small children is not really the threat that the media has made it out to be.

African Rock pythons are something else entirely. They are much more aggressive towards people and have the potential to grow larger than even the Burmese pythons. They are also one of the only species proven to be man-eaters.

For the record ATS member GoOfYFoOt seems to be very well versed on this topic, I raised a Burm from a hatchling and I agree with everything he has posted regarding python behaviour.

Originally posted by Skywatcher2011

Originally posted by DOLCOTT
reply to post by mamabeth

 

Wasn't the hide, the gator or gators in general can as you know hold their breath for quite some time. While being ingested the gator tried to claw its way out. Their hide is very tough and resistant to the snakes stomach acids. Looked for the pic's of this incident but couldn't find it.

Pics or it didn't happen. FAIL.

superman2012 posted the link on the first page...post by superman2012

The pic is kind of gruesome but here is the link again...
Photo in the News: Python Bursts After Eating Gator

reply to post by SLAYER69


C'mon Slayer, they're just tryna live man...

but in truth it is messed up that people are even able to get their hands on a python as a pet. They are raised and then thrown back into the wild when they become too big for their owners to handle, and that is no good.

There are so many retiree's living in Florida, they would deff not be able to get away from one of these things(funny yet horrible thought). With luck, they won't begin to breed with other species' and adapt to colder climates.

Damn,
Mike

Not sure if this is "Breaking Alternative News", but it is still pretty cool about the record size and all that. I live in FL and they are always finding weird pets that got loose. My friend claimed he saw a monkey jump off a mailbox and run into the middle of the road while he was driving. Another car stopped too and they were like, "Was that a ******g monkey?" I have never seen any monkeys or giant snakes . I have seen some huge gators in relatively public places and boars have dug up my father's yard in the night (ninja pigs). He lives in a suburban neighborhood, too. He got revenge, though and I ate free ham for weeks...

We have coyotes all over the place where I live. I even saw an armadillo the other day here in TN. Just waiting for the temperature to rise another couple of degrees to bring in the alligators. Here's pics and video of the Burmese Python and it's eggs in Florida. It's too bad they had to kill it.

radaronline.com also has a story with pictures and video - Pics and video of Burmese Python

As a Floridian, I have to just laugh a little. I love Burmese Pythons, what a whopper! But ecologically speaking, they could really mess up the ecosystem; but not as much as them filling in half the swamps like they did to put up these little cement boxes we live in. It's from crates breaking open in Miami, not people letting all their snakes go wild. As far as being scared, lol we had a giant poisonous pre-historic lizard "dragon" loose living under my neighbors porch one year that had escaped, everything crazy thrives here lol. The most dangerous things in the woods are the boars imo!!!

As someone who makes more money breeding snakes than my normal 7-3:30 job over the year, I should have some input. I keep many snakes, I don't however work with burms, but have many friends that do and have countless hours of experience with them.

For starters the story of "bob" is complete bull. That story doesn't have anything close to resembling snake behavior.

Also the burm problem in Florida was mostly caused by hurricane Andrew destroying breeders facilities/houses and pet stores. The year after Andrew is when there was an enormous rise of wild burms in the everglades. Irresponsible owners are only a fraction of the problem.

Of course to solve the burm problem, instead of just hunting them and just killing them (im not opposed to that, they are an invasive species), law makers of course had help. They recently passed HR511 or what we call in the reptile trade the Federal Python Ban Bill. It stops the interstate travel of 4 species of snakes, including burms.

So before hand when irresponsible owners got in over their head and ended up needing to get rid of the snake, they could sell it for quite a few hundred dollars and send it to someone who could actually take care of it. Now they can only sell them in Flordia, so now they are MORE likely to release them because they cannot get rid of it any other way.... good job DC.

Despite it being a flordia only problem and despite none of the other species on the list having wild breeding populations in the wild anywhere, they still passed the bill. solving zero problems and making things much worse.

heres a short 5 min video on the ban. it was basically a conspiracy again the reptile world, fits right in with ATS

first thing that came to mind when i read this thread was...
"must be those growth hormones metastasizing through the world that makes this python so sizable past it's average size".
i don't know man, just a random thought...
any inputs?

Seriously, why do these stories always come out of the South? I haven't recovered from the Wild boar/pig thread from last year.

Thank goodness all I really have to think about are bear, cougar (maybe a wolf) and a rattlesnake here and there. Well, then there is Bigfoot...

Originally posted by GoOfYFoOt
reply to post by Ophiuchus 13

 

You're confusing pythons with anacondas...

Pythons are rather docile compared to other large herps...Here is one that was only 12' long. That's me with her.

edit on 8/14/2012 by GoOfYFoOt because: added photo

edit on 8/14/2012 by GoOfYFoOt because: (no reason given)

You are correct, Anacondas are far more dangerous... Might have something to do with being much larger.

I don't really see a good case can be made that the Burmese is a gentle giant. It is one of the more aggressive pythons, especially if there is moving pray involved. Does it deserve the highly bad press? I could say yes, and I could say no, It does seem it will change the apex predator in FL.. the ultimate outcome we wont really know unless we are sure it preys on the same level of predator it replaces. The problem it seems, is that they also prey on what seems to be small to medium size alligators. if that continues to happen, there will be no alligators large enough to prey on them. and they appear to bread much faster. I am simply going of what I heard, and haven't really looked into it, so if I am wrong, please, make me deny ignorance