Pythons in Florida

[Jiggybass]

We do have snakes, but nothing large, and nothing you'd ever come into contact with unless you live in specific areas. Our snakes are generally small and harmless. The only dangerous snakes we have are a couple species of rattlesnake, but like I said, unless you are on a hike in say, the Rocky Mountains, or the Wainfleet Bog (Niagara reigon), you'd never see one.

Come to think of it, dangerous animals aren't a real problem here, unless you live in seriously rural areas (bears, wolves and whatnot)

...and also in the parry sound/sudbury area there's rattlesnakes here too. They weren't huge, but them being longer then me standing up was not cool.

I agree with bears and wolves, at the beginning of the year we had two occurrences of a bear coming onto our college campus.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/killing-pythons-and-regulating-them/

Check out some of the writers here. This winter seems to have proven that the pythons cannot survive past South Florida. I see them as a permanent population now. Extermination seems to ignore the fact that the ecosystem has now been changed.

 

[FL Knifemaker]

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/killing-pythons-and-regulating-them/

Check out some of the writers here. This winter seems to have proven that the pythons cannot survive past South Florida. I see them as a permanent population now. Extermination seems to ignore the fact that the ecosystem has now been changed.

Mid Lake Okeechobee is the snake Mason/Dixon line. They cannot survive north of that. Also, the cold winter we're having has killed off many of them along with the transplanted fish like Oscars, Peacock bass, various Cyclids and Catfish. Most of these fish cannot survive past the same boundary as the Pythons. No worries that the Pythons will creep up into Georgia

 

[Bassist Jay]

All that I know is that snakes scare the pooh out of me!

 

[Steve]

I lost most of my concern about Pythons when they caught this rattlesnake a couple of blocks from my house a few weeks ago.

 

[Gard]

I lost most of my concern about Pythons when they caught this rattlesnake a couple of blocks from my house a few weeks ago.

Fun with perspective, I see...

 

[Ziltoid]

This topic is awesome, I learned much more about snakes then I would ever expected to! haha

We don't have much snakes over here that I recon, there's small "deserts" and place in Ontario and in the west were you can find rattlesnakes I think and that's all I've heard of. Apart from some varieties of Colubrid's I think we have 8 or so of them.

I'm kind of scared by venomous snakes, I know there's no reason to be unless I put them in defensive mode, but the idea that they could kill me so easily takes over my reason. I consider all snakes venomous until someone or some infos proves me otherwise...I'm a big chicken.

On a side note I'd be more then happy to see more of your snakes pictures Snakeman you can also give infos about them, I find this subject really interesting.

I might have a pet snake someday I like them, but I'd have to do a big/long research to find the right kind before. or maybe lizards they're very cool to.

 

[MiniMoose234]

I love snakes. I used to have one, albino cornsnake. really beautiful animal.
The thing that bugs me about all this, is that people want to ban all reptiles and stuff as pets. The burmese pythons, and to a less publicised extent, nile monitors, were released by the people who go them, and didnt know anybetter and let them go.
I think if we have some kind of regulation on who can get the larger snakes, with like a test or permit or something, it would solve the majority of the problem.

On another note, a friend of my mom gave her a book about pythons as pets when she picked up her kid from the elementary school my mom teaches at, cause she remembered i loved them when that teacher taught me in second grade.

 

[MiniMoose234]

first Pic is a pair of Ackies or Varanus acanthurus they are a dwarf species of monitor lizard high energy and a blast to keep although their basking spot needs to be in the 104 or 105 degrees farenheit range

second pic is Diablo he is a red phased Amazon Tree Boa or Corallus hortulanus and yes they are arboreal (live in trees)

Third Pic is Kallah she is a Jungle Carpet Pyhton however she is a hybrid of two seperate forms (Morelia spilota cheynei) and Morelia spilit spilota which is actually called a Diamond Python

fourth pic is Bruno and Brutus Mmerican alligators or Alligator mississippiensis we have 5

fifth pic is Spot he is also a colored phase of the Corallus hortulanus of Amazan Tree Boa

sixth pic is Emily (my baby) She is an Emerald Tree Boa or Corallus caninus very nasty long sharp teeth (designed for holding prey while hunting in trees, a good bite from her would do muscle, nerve and tissue damage)

seventh pic is Lemon Drop she is a Green Tree Pyhton or Morelia viridis and she is from the Sorong area of Irian Jaya or west Papua New Guinea (this is a pic of her in Juvenile form)

eigth pic is another Amazon Tree Boa she is also a colored phase beautiful red and orange we call her ketchup

inith pic is another amazon Tree Boa his name is Hunter and I'm hoping to get some awesome offspring once he breeds ketchup (Amazon tree boas are highly polymorphic) which means they come in many many colors and you never know what the heck your going to get when you breed them....you breed two reds and end up with no red babies....their genetics are insane

last pic is Lemon Drop once she came into her adult coloring...you can't quite see it but the dorsal markings are very blue as is her tail.....in the wild they use their tail like a lure (wiggles like a worm) and when something goes for it wham dinnertime.....

I am big softie for Arboreal snakes....and this is not even 1/20th of what i own snake wise....

i can post more if anybody wants to see

Ive looked into the Ackies, i heard they are relativly easy to keep for monitors, is this true?
And i LOVE the carpet python, always wanted one, but just like many other things, being almost 16 makes things challenging haha

 

[Steve]

Fun with perspective, I see...

The perspective was 7 feet 3 inches long. I think the paper said the world record was 9 feet or so for an eastern diamond back.

 

[Buslady7803]

I lost most of my concern about Pythons when they caught this rattlesnake a couple of blocks from my house a few weeks ago.

That is ONE big freaking rattler. I never seen one that big before!! I hope they didn't kill her...

 

[Gard]

The perspective was 7 feet 3 inches long. I think the paper said the world record was 9 feet or so for an eastern diamond back.

I had to shoot one at my grandmother's house, just west of Orlando, back in the early 90's that was over 6', hard to be exact, I'd just shot it with a 410. They get BIG, no doubt.

I hated to harm the critter, but it was holed up next to the house, and she had two dogs that were harassing it. Snake or dog, didn't have much choice.

 

[FL Knifemaker]

I had to shoot one at my grandmother's house, just west of Orlando, back in the early 90's that was over 6', hard to be exact, I'd just shot it with a 410. They get BIG, no doubt.

I hated to harm the critter, but it was holed up next to the house, and she had two dogs that were harassing it. Snake or dog, didn't have much choice.

I really don't worry about the Rattlers, it's the Coral snakes that bother me. They can get in anywhere. My dogs have killed several of them over the years right in my back yard. I had to kill one that got into my Florida room a few years go. I tried my best to trap him in a garbage can but the little MFer was snapping at me...................Out came the shovel....................WHOMP!!!!

Also, the water mocs around here are VERY aggressive and will come right in the boat when I'm fishing. I probably hate those bastards the most Nothing like having a peaceful day on water turn into chaos, having to beat one to death with a fishing net

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I really don't worry about the Rattlers, it's the Coral snakes that bother me. They can get in anywhere. My dogs have killed several of them over the years right in my back yard. I had to kill one that got into my Florida room a few years go. I tried my best to trap him in a garbage can but the little MFer was snapping at me...................Out came the shovel....................WHOMP!!!!

Also, the water mocs around here are VERY aggressive and will come right in the boat when I'm fishing. I probably hate those bastards the most Nothing like having a peaceful day on water turn into chaos, having to beat one to death with a fishing net

That's a pretty little snake, too bad it packs some nasty neurotoxin!

 

[FL Knifemaker]

That's a pretty little snake, too bad it packs some nasty neurotoxin!

Yes indeed. My Boxer was stiff as a board for 3 days. The Vet gave him a shot but I don't think it did anything. We had to carry him out in the yard to P He finally got back to normal. The snake bit him in the in the lip which the Vet said was probably better than being bit near a major blood vessel.

 

[Gard]

I really don't worry about the Rattlers, it's the Coral snakes that bother me. They can get in anywhere. My dogs have killed several of them over the years right in my back yard. I had to kill one that got into my Florida room a few years go. I tried my best to trap him in a garbage can but the little MFer was snapping at me...................Out came the shovel....................WHOMP!!!!

Also, the water mocs around here are VERY aggressive and will come right in the boat when I'm fishing. I probably hate those bastards the most Nothing like having a peaceful day on water turn into chaos, having to beat one to death with a fishing net

Mocs are NASTY!

I got bit by one in a similar fashion - in a pirogue crawfishing - when I was much younger and a LOT stupider. Fortunately, it appears to have been a "dry" bite, and I had little reaction to it (got nauseous for a few hours afterward). Very aggressive bastriches. There are few things I will just kill outright, but they're on my short list!

The good thing about the corals is that they're relatively slow, not so much an ambush/strike hunter as an ambush/get lucky one. They're still as dangerous as any snake in the US though. The biggest danger with those is sticking your hand in a pile of leaves or brush and not seeing it...wouldn't want to have THAT experience!