Community | January 15, 2010 | 29 comments

New 'Super Snake' python hybrid may be on the rise in Florida

source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/new-super-snake-python-hybrid-florida.php

Image
julesrs007
Florida has long battled an invasive population of Burmese pythons in the Everglades. But a new species of invasive snake--the African rock python has recently been found on the loose as well.

At least five rock pythons, one that measured 14 ft long, have just been captured in Miami-Dade county. Now, experts' fears are mounting that the Burmese and African rock pythons will begin breeding--and give rise to a new, dangerous 'super snake.'

The African rock pythons were initially thought to be a few escaped pets that could be contained--but the recent spate of discoveries shows that they may indeed be a brand new breeding population in the Everglades. Which is bad news.

The LA Times reports:

state environmental officials worry that the rock python could breed with the Burmese python, which already has an established foothold in the Everglades. That could lead to a new "super snake," said George Horne, the water district's deputy executive director. In Africa, the rock python eats creatures as large as goats and crocodiles.

There have been cases of the snakes killing children.

According to local wildlife experts, the rock python is "bigger and meaner than the Burmese python." Which is precisely why fears are stirring that a hybrid python may be on the rise in the Everglades.

Thousands of Burmese pythons already thrive in the area, with no natural predators to keep them in check--now imagine if they were bigger, stronger, and nastier in disposition. It would indeed present a very real threat not only to Florida's ecosystem, but potentially to families with children in the area.

Burmese pythons have already been known to occasionally attack children--and scientists consider the rock python even more dangerous. LeRoy Rodgers, a water district scientist, is concerned about both of them: "These are animals that are hot predators, and now there are two species to worry about." And now, counting the possibility of a 'super snake', maybe there will be one more.


Visit linked page for photos, video ...
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/new-super-snake-python-hybrid-florida.ph...


STOP THE DESTRUCTIVE THREAT OF INVASIVE SPECIES!

PLEASE SAY 'NO!' TO THE WILDLIFE TRADE.

PLEASE END THE EXOTIC (& USUSALLY ILLEGAL) PET TRADE.


Poor gentle manatees. As if human beings (& their boats), pollution, warming oceans, climate change & habitat loss was not enough.
  1. groups:
    Community,   Green,   Animal Videos and News,   Endangered Species Videos & Endangered Species News,   2 more
  2. tags:
    Environment,  US,  Florida,  Extinction,  5 more
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29 comments // New 'Super Snake' python hybrid may be on the rise in Florida

  • Kari_Hudnall
    • 0
      Kari_Hudnall  

    • Wow really? Two completely different species of snakes hybridizing? not likely... A Burmese and a Rock python would not look at each other as a potential mate.... it's not like they meet in the swamp and said "hmmm I cant find another like myself (even though according to Unofficial sources they are ALL over) so lets get frisky!!! " yeah no... Articles like these make people who clearly do not have any knowledge of reptiles LOOK ignorant...

    • 1 year ago
  • TypicalStereotype
  • FlexSF
    • 0
      FlexSF  

    • If I were a super snake I would consume all of the republicans that live west of interstate 95, and then spit them out! Their coffee tables have large glass bowls filled with marbles.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ari_Liston
  • brit50
  • ras_menelik
  • gungadinn
  • phukitol
  • smallgod
    • 0
      smallgod  

    • Exotic animal sales are out of control in Florida. When I adopted my skunk at an exotic pet store in Broward, the place was run ridiculously - they sold poisonous snakes and didn't even keep records on the persons to whom those snakes were being sold. The workers pushed all sorts of ridiculous (and many illegal) pets on people including baby alligators, certain types of monkeys, pythons, foxes, and many poisonous snakes and spiders.

    • 2 years ago
  • Admirable
    • 0
      Admirable  

    • On the plus side this should drive down the cost of snakes for strippers in Florida... Exotic dancers could reap a windfall!!!

    • 2 years ago
  • ETmusic310
    • 0
      ETmusic310  

    • Waiiit holdup let me get this straight: so these two big ass python snakes are about to stark f*cking and create a new race of super aggro snakes that kill all the children?? damn. thats not cool. why couldnt the snakes simply be prude and non angry?? and why the eff arent there hunters out there to murk these mofos??

    • 2 years ago
  • Niccole_Osborn
    • 0
      Niccole_Osborn  

    • How scary! I'll have to look up who are the rock pythons natural predators. Could those possible be put into the everglades? Everglades is so beautiful, but now knowing this super snake might be around I don't know if I'll feel safe visiting it again. I hope this can be put under control. Dangerous.

    • 2 years ago
  • smallgod
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  

    • I think that this photo is in Angola. I have another shot showing that the snake had swallowed what looks to be a goat or some other large animal. This caused it to get hung in the fence.

    • 2 years ago
  • lighterslayer
  • megagrigg
    • 0
      megagrigg  

    • Wow another African animal that will end our civilization...Africanized bees.... now this snakes.... why did it have to be snakes... i hate snakes..... may be some day they'll make a bipedal hominid from Africa and they will come to destroy America.. and Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh will enlighten us to their danger.... This Africa sounds dangerous and mean... Americanized bees are much more agreeable as are the Americanized pythons

    • 2 years ago
  • calm_incense
    • 0
      calm_incense  

    • My humble opinion is that damn near everyone in the US who has bought a pit bull to keep as a pet is a relatively tactless moron in a community of fellow douchebags, supported by a cash-hungry network of opportunists who would probably be doing something equally disturbing with their energies were it not for the existence of the former.

    • 2 years ago
  • pandaman2105
    • 0
      pandaman2105  

    • this is horrible!! just the thought of it freaks me out.

      may seem difficult, but:
      could a group of largely protected experts find some and immediately capture them and take them to their native lands??
      like have traps wherever they may be, with good bait, and collect the trap by lowering a hook down by helicopter, so there would be no risk of meeting another one on the ground. by the way it sounds, they seem to be in every bit of wilderness or not so densely populated areas.

      eating everything, attacking children? some way to get them out of there, without killing, must be devisable.

      if they really don't want a "super species", they will figure something out.

    • 2 years ago
  • outtheinside
  • calm_incense
  • hardknockxpert
  • cmdinc
  • hardknockxpert
  • Guyatthebusstation
  • good_stuff
    • 0
      good_stuff  

    • Yes, invasive species and destruction of habitat bad. So is freaking people out about nothing.

      Personally, I'd never let my chiild explore in the everglades alone. Even if there were "super snakes", I would be much more concerned about aligators. The author acts like these invasive snake are the only danger. At least if a snake at your child it would take the time to suffocate it, and once eaten you'd be able to see it in its stomach, right? Gators just drown their prey and then start ripping off limbs if they can't fit it in their mouth. Naturally, much worse.

    • 2 years ago
  • think_free
  • sidewayssquare
  • frank_runyeon
  • julesrs007
    • 0
      julesrs007  
    • Image

    • VIDEO - http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/python-pet-problem.html

      Pythons are destroying Florida. It sounds like the plot of a cheesy horror movie. But this is no horror story. This is real life. Pythons from Burma are destroying the fragile Floridian ecosystems by munching down anything they can find. These giant snakes will eat birds, raccoons, opossums and even five-foot alligators.

      The ravenous pythons are natives of Burma. They are shipped to the States and sold as pets. Like human children, the python starts out all small and cute, but it soon grows into a large, hungry adult with a mind of its own. The python owner, fed up with the reclusive lifestyle that accompanies giant-snake ownership, may decide to be rid of the snake and set it loose into the wild. The snakes take advantage of their freedom by gobbling up all the other animals.

      Anyone who owns an exotic pet should take a lesson from this. Don’t let your exotic pet loose into the wild. Some animals will die in the wild, but it’s even worse when they thrive and destroy the native ecosystems. If the pet becomes too large to or to dangerous to handle, you should call the Humane Society or see if you can return it to the pet store where you bought it from.

    • 2 years ago
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