Giant Burmese python discovered in Florida (+video)

reply to post by SLAYER69

Yep. Serious business down there.



There is a prolific exotic animal business in this country. Some of these breeder farms were hit by Hurricanes over the last few decades. Since then a population of many different types of snakes including Pythons and Boa Constrictors have been quietly breeding in the most perfect environment around. Swampland like the Everglades.

Efforts to eradicate them are ongoing. Most of these that are captured are euthanized after data is taken. The population is growing exponentially. Now it is past the point of eradication. One reason they are so hard to kill is that they thrive in their environment of water and grass where they hide under the vegetation. Trapsing around in swamps, poking saw grass with sticks is the only way to stumble over them in their dormant phase between feedings. When they are hungry again they come out and move through their environment like ghosts, swimming in the water channels, climbing trees, laying wait for long periods for any hapless critter to wander by.

Miles of water ways, swampy forests and glades are perfect cover for them. They are masters of the ambush and they eat anything that moves. They are also prolific breeders and don't nurse their young. Whether live born or hatched, throngs of young are as skilled and dangerous to the local wildlife as their parents from birth.

Given that it is so hard to penetrate the glades to find them, the breeding of these hungry top predators will go unchecked as they spread from their nurseries, seeking new environments with prolific game. Gonna be a growing problem for now without any viable solution in sight.

Python populations spreading

Originally posted by OUTofSTEPwithTHEworld
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?

17 foot isn't anything unheard of for a burm, I got a buddy with a 19 footer.

Originally posted by CalebRight14
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...*remove text to shorten it*..... 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

edit on 14-8-2012 by CalebRight14 because: (no reason given)

I have dealt with over hundred different burms and only a select few have been aggressive, it is by no means normal for them to be aggressive, you are 100% wrong there. As someone with experience with them I can easily see why they are called gentle giants. Of course in the wild they are going to kill and eat what they can to survive, you would do the same.

reply to post by ohhwataloser


That's just it. The people who freak out over these animals have never owned one. They have never allowed themselves to conquer their fear and hold one, at a pet store or exhibition.
I have owned many constrictors from Balls to Red-tailed boas and three burms. "Kemo" in the pic was the largest.
I had an albino burmese, once, that had a bit of a mean streak but she was young then and outgrew most of her tendancies to strike at movement. She is the only one that ever bit me. It was entirely MY fault. I had just fed her and instead of letting her rest after the physical toll a feeding takes out of these animals, I was in a hurry and reached for her in her feeding area, too soon. She was really fast, and caught me on the thumb. As soon as she realized that I wasn't another rat, she let go.
That is a common mistake that new snake owners make. They often stop handling their pet after the novelty wears off, or in the case of larger breeds, once they get too big to handle easily. They begin to, or always have fed them in their cages. Once the snake realizes that food is associated with their cage being breached, they strike as soon as the door or lid is opened.
Then you get all of the stories of "Pets Gone Wild"...How their docile friend suddenly attacked them!!!

Deny Ignorance...

That thing is huge! Good way to disrupt the local eco system too. People should be more mindful about exotic pets. They seem to be escaping all over the place. Where I live, they are having a horrendous time curbing the population of the Asian carp. It is raising hell among the homogenous fish. Anybody seen the neighbor's Mastiff?

It's curious to me, as to why people participate in a conspiracy site, and question everything from MSM, but when the story is about something that most folks can't stand or understand, then they accept every syllable as the gospel truth?

Am I the only one that questions this contradiction? This hypocrisy in beliefs?

Originally posted by ohhwataloser

Originally posted by CalebRight14
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...*remove text to shorten it*..... 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

edit on 14-8-2012 by CalebRight14 because: (no reason given)

I have dealt with over hundred different burms and only a select few have been aggressive, it is by no means normal for them to be aggressive, you are 100% wrong there. As someone with experience with them I can easily see why they are called gentle giants. Of course in the wild they are going to kill and eat what they can to survive, you would do the same.

I almost didn't reply, because I was open to being corrected, and said outright I didn't really know. But didn't like the tone of your post. after I reread it, you just corrected me.
I looked into it, and it seems I was wrong. A few people have died from their Burmese pythons, but mostly do to their own fault. Obviously, if you want a pet that can potentially kill you, you need to take care how you care for it. The same could be said for Pit bulls, Great Danes, or whatever.

I admit, I assumed they were aggressive based of what I saw on TV. I don't think they are good pets for most people, because they will outgrow most people, but seems like a dedicated snake lover might find them as good pets.

I don't think this matters to what they might do to the FL ecosystem.

This is me saying thank you, I was wrong, and I thank you for making me look into it, and deny my ignorance

The first thing that needs to be killed off are parasites. But, bringing over huge snakes are a problem.

reply to post by CalebRight14


Sorry if it sounded bad, I just hear a lot of reptile misinformation in general and I just have to correct it as bold as possible.

Also another tid bit, reptiles are extremely misrepresented on TV, animal planet, history channel, and other like it are horrible about it. You see a snake trying to kill someone, I see a dumbass provoking a snake to bite him, then yelling and crying like a baby when it wraps around his arm because thats when they do when you grab onto them....if you just pick them up, guess what they do? not a damn thing. then after his "close encounter with death" he left with pinhole teeth marks that bleed for a whole 10 minutes....then hes fine

I could go on and on about how misrepresented they are so ill just stop now.

But as far as the eco system, it's no one fault, but it is a potential problem for the current eco system. As i said I dont have a problem with them being hunted, they are an invasive species. Other argument tho, At the same time at no point in time has an eco system ever been static, which allowed evolution to happen. So if the burms do take it over.... well this has been going on since the beginning of time....

Well it's good to see his thread take on a life of it's own.