More people pile on the python hate...

[Entomancer]

http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/121128.html

Pretty disappointing, especially when you consider that these people are attempting to look intelligent/educated.

The brown tree snake got to Hawaii by accident, there isn't much room for tropical snakes in the US aside from small areas around Florida, and there are far better ways of controlling irresponsible owners than outright banning things.

 

[The Snark]

But you never hear a peep from conservation groups like that about the millions of people out popping birds with the good old .22. (Nest shooting is very popular among both adults and kids as young as 5 in many rural areas.)

 

[LV-426]

I personally think that the average house cat is the most destructive thing to native wildlife.

 

[Shrike]

The brown tree snake got to Hawaii by accident

Brown tree snakes aren't established in Hawaii. Do you mean Guam?

 

[Entomancer]

Oh, yeah, I meant Guam.

The other thing I realized after I posted this is that Burmese pythons probably get to be too heavy to climb trees after a certain point, which means that unlike the brown tree snake, they won"t be climbing trees to go after nestlings.

 

[Shrike]

Oh, yeah, I meant Guam.

The other thing I realized after I posted this is that Burmese pythons probably get to be too heavy to climb trees after a certain point, which means that unlike the brown tree snake, they won"t be climbing trees to go after nestlings.

I'm sure they can climb quite well given the need (which probably doesn't arise very often). However, at a large adult size, I would think a Burm would find small to medium sized animals such rats, opossums, raccoons, and foxes much more appealing than bite sized bird nestlings. Some scientists think the expanding python population will have a substantial impact on these prey species.

http://www.pnas.org/content/109/7/2418.full

Like you, I don't think an outright ban is the right answer. I wouldn't necessarily have problem with a permit system for ownership being utilized, although I admit this would still have a substantial impact on the pet trade. At least it would surely cut down on impulse buys.

 

[zonbonzovi]

http://myfwc.com/license/wildlife/nonnative-species/python-permit-program/

Just curious if anyone's come across the statistics on how many have been removed via the permit program? My meager search didn't turn anything up except for uniformed media outlets.

I was surprised to not to see some others on the hunting list, like Iguana iguana

 

[lizardminion]

I wish fools like these would just stop breathing. Omg, leave the reptile community ALONE!

Edit: The communist idiots who wrote this article failed to realize that Hawaii ALREADY has a law that PROHIBITS ANY SNAKE OF ANY SPECIES AS A PET. (Even garter snakes.) Complete dumb@$$es.

 

[pitbulllady]

These are prime examples of people who want nothing more than to absolutely control everyone else, to impose their will on the rest of us. Florida and Hawaii are both unique situations that DO NOT APPLY TO THE REST OF THE US, with regards to tropical non-native snakes establishing breeding populations. Hawaii already has, as Lizardminion mentioned, laws prohibiting the importation and ownership of ALL snake species. South Florida has the only place in the continental US with the right climate for large tropical constrictors to establish, and that state, too, has laws in place to try to deal with its situation. There is no point whatsoever to include the rest of the country, except at the behest of HSUS and other AR groups, as a means of getting yet-another foot in the door towards eventually eliminating ALL animals from our lives. That's their goal, and they are achieving it with frightening speed and success, in no small part to articles like this, which portray certain animals as deadly threats to our safety, the environment, whatever. Bird watchers dislike feral cats, but they know it's difficult to turn the hatred and fear of the general public against an animal widely perceived as a cuddly pet, so it's easier to go after animals still feared and misunderstood, so the snakes become the scapegoats. It's also ridiculous to keep bringing up the Brown Tree Snakes on Guam, animals which were NOT introduced there as a result of the pet trade, but by accident, when snakes from Australia stow-awayed on WWII cargo planes. Guam also is highly unique, in that its bird population evolved in the total absence of land-based predators, UNLIKE the birds of the continental US, which not only have had to deal with predatory native mammals like foxes, bobcats and weasels, but many native snakes that eat birds and/or eggs. A Black Rat Snake is much, much more likely to feed on birds and their eggs or nestlings than a Burmese Python, and is much better designed to do so!

Meanwhile, a recent study, yet-another in the list of studies on the effects of cold temperatures on Burmese Pythons, contradicts the "predictions" made by the USGS Reed-Rodda report, which is the sole source of python-ban data. The latest study points out the flaws of the claim that Burmese Pythons will expand to inhabit the entire southern third of the country due to "global warming". You can read a synopsis here: http://usark.org/featured/new-python-cold-study/ . The hearing on the current house bill to add more snakes to the list already under the Lacey Act was held yesterday; I have not yet heard of the outcome.

pitbulllady

 

[The Snark]

Oh, yeah, I meant Guam.

The other thing I realized after I posted this is that Burmese pythons probably get to be too heavy to climb trees after a certain point, which means that unlike the brown tree snake, they won"t be climbing trees to go after nestlings.

Errm, maybe, maybe not. My cousin, living on the Border of Daintree National Park, Aus. had a bit of a python problem in regards to vanishing chickens. The problem was his kid grew too old and decided there were other things to do in life besides chase pythons out of the trees in the middle of the night.
Anyways, cuz solved part of the prob by moving the predominant python problem into his house, turning it loose in the open beamed ceiling.
So far so good. Keeping the python domesticated only required keeping it burp belch fed. It took up residence around the late 1970's and for all I know is still there. Any anyways, since my cuz and I share the same laziness gene he installed a cage affair affixed to the side of his house with a smallish dead tree in it. It had no top and was accessible to the python space above. Then all he had to do was keep the cage well stocked with python feasts.
The upshot of all this is, the last I heard about 7 years ago the python has no trouble at all climbing down and grabbing a snack then heading back up into the rafters. S/he has an upwards diagonal gap of about 5 feet and a total vertical climb of about 15 feet which is negotiated with surprising ease.

The only drawbacks to the arrangement were the rafter stringers needed a little extra support over the years so they have a hefty 4x4 post in the middle of their living room. And of course, on occasion, one gets some python loops dangling into the people zone but giving said loops a few slaps sends them back up where they belong.

While I realize that Antaresia aren't quite Burmese, 200lbs and 20 foot+ would have a similar effect, or lack of, in the climbing department. But that is besides the point. From observation, the big pythons only appear ultimately lazy. They are extremely powerful animals that can go anywhere smaller snakes can go, if motivated. (Like a tree filled with roosting chickens)

PS Trivia. Did you know they don't constrict their food?

 

[pitbulllady]

Errm, maybe, maybe not. My cousin, living on the Border of Daintree National Park, Aus. had a bit of a python problem in regards to vanishing chickens. The problem was his kid grew too old and decided there were other things to do in life besides chase pythons out of the trees in the middle of the night.
Anyways, cuz solved part of the prob by moving the predominant python problem into his house, turning it loose in the open beamed ceiling.
So far so good. Keeping the python domesticated only required keeping it burp belch fed. It took up residence around the late 1970's and for all I know is still there. Any anyways, since my cuz and I share the same laziness gene he installed a cage affair affixed to the side of his house with a smallish dead tree in it. It had no top and was accessible to the python space above. Then all he had to do was keep the cage well stocked with python feasts.
The upshot of all this is, the last I heard about 7 years ago the python has no trouble at all climbing down and grabbing a snack then heading back up into the rafters. S/he has an upwards diagonal gap of about 5 feet and a total vertical climb of about 15 feet which is negotiated with surprising ease.

The only drawbacks to the arrangement were the rafter stringers needed a little extra support over the years so they have a hefty 4x4 post in the middle of their living room. And of course, on occasion, one gets some python loops dangling into the people zone but giving said loops a few slaps sends them back up where they belong.

While I realize that Antaresia aren't quite Burmese, 200lbs and 20 foot+ would have a similar effect, or lack of, in the climbing department. But that is besides the point. From observation, the big pythons only appear ultimately lazy. They are extremely powerful animals that can go anywhere smaller snakes can go, if motivated. (Like a tree filled with roosting chickens)

PS Trivia. Did you know they don't constrict their food?

Every python or boa I've ever had constricts its food, even food that's been dead and frozen in a freezer for several weeks! This is one of the biggest aggravations about feeding day-it takes so freakin' LONG to feed the snakes because if two snakes are housed together, they must be separated for feeding, and it can take up to three hours for a single snake to completely ingest its meal, with the majority of that time being spent "killing" an already-dead feeder rodent. Now, my Spotted and Ball Pythons usually get right down to business after just a few minutes of constricting, but being smaller snakes to begin with, I guess they are hard-wired to eat as quickly as possible before some bigger predator comes along and makes a meal of THEIR meal...and possibly them as well, while the big guys like the Burms, Retics and Common Boas are confident that nothing is going to bother them while they're eating. I have one yearling BCC who never fails to take at least two hours to eat, and almost always swallows her prey backwards, which, if this were live prey, would surely result in her being mauled since the bitey end of the rodent would be left uncontrolled.

pitbulllady

 

[The Snark]

:sarcasm: constrict their food... well errm.... maybe. Okay, I was weird. Watching adult pythons eat chickens is weird too. They are so massive they have trouble getting things coordinated. -> Now where did I put that bird?

I visualize PBL standing next to her feeding cage, pensively glancing at her watch every minute, pacing up and down, tapping her foot and eventually doing the King Julien, yelling 'How long is this going to take!???'

PBL, I didn't post that (constrict...) to pull your chain. I got distracted by a tour bus trying to pass a rice harvester and didn't finish