Florida Python Hunt Idea

My son came up with this. Break into Pet stores to get the big numbers, break into private homes to get a big one, or just go to the Zoo for the biggest! Of course, he was kidding, I raised them that way! His comments came after I commented on an internet piece about the hunt. My first thought of this 'hunt' was Robb Russel's comment on here. 'This is the worst time of year to go after them, it's too cold.' Or something like that. As for my kids, someone tried to pull a fast one on my boy's, they laughed in his face. He said, 'your boy's are sharp!', I said 'no, they've been hearing that since they were knee high to a grasshopper.' Sometime's, OK, most of the time, they can't tell if I'm serious or not. I like to tease, ask 330 or LT!

mid 80's here.. snakes will move. they showed guys on tv tonight carrying shotguns, pistols, machetes. what a zoo.. but i think a few big ones were caught this weekend.

oh ya... im an hour from the Everglades

Are Pythons good eating? Wiggler can you believe it was 47 degree here yesterday! No snow in my area. Only in the hi 20's today.

Un-usually warm here too this year. Well it still turned out not good snake weather.

Lundy-

There is no way I am gonna get in a truck drive 400+ miles do a snake job and cross my fingers that I caught the biggest snake to win and get paid!!

Compared to most of you we in Florida live in snake land USA. We got snakes and the further south (warmer lattitudes) you go the better snake hunting country.

What saddens me is we have large, quantities of non-native snakes causing millions of dollars in damages every year in Florida and the BIG plan is to solve the problem it with a contest. I am sure the tourists and weekend snake enthusiasts probabaly think its awesome. But to a guy who does snakes-yawn !! Sorry!

They must be more common on the Eastern side of the Everglades towards Miami. A good friend of mine is in the East Naples Fire Dept. and spends a good deal of time in the woods,fighting brush fires and fishing Alligator Alley or points south. In 25 + years he has never seen one. Does anyone know how common they are in the Collier-Immokalee areas ?

my step-daughter and her husband live off Immokalee Rd area for the last 5 years and the back side of their property is the edge of the "Glades. they have never seen a big snake anywhere down there. They showed guys on the news here last night fully armed ready for battle.... hahahaha i saw one guy carrying one that was probably 3 foot long but really skinny.

ttt

is there no method by which one might trap snakes in great numbers?

Only in Washington,you use pork for bait.

Oh,I think that works in MN too on a much smaller scale.

They seem to be out more often when it is colder. Since they cannot hibernate, they do not slow down in the cold weather. Like the gators, when the water is a bit cooler, they are always on the banks. Drive across Gator Alley right now and you'll see tons of gators. Go during the heat wave and they are nowhere to be found. Pythons are the same way. When it's cooler out, they come out at night and lay on the roads that have been warmed up all day in the sun. These guys aren't tramping through the swamps looking for them. They are spotlighting at night on the roads.

WTWC you are inaccurate in your statment that cold weather wont slow them down , it will slow the down and also kill them if it gets to cold , i breed reptiles i ahve a business you can look up on line , THEY ARE TROPICAL SPECIES THAT NEED HEAT TO DIGEST THEIR FOOD , IF it gets to cold the prey item will rot inside their stomachs and kill them ......

That being said you are correct in saying they will lay on the roads to absorb the heat of the day , and there is realyy no way to trap them !!!
My website is www.rivercityreptilia.com i am not an expert but have breeding and keeping reptiles for 30 years >>>

Thank you. Most of those snakes are dug in - too cold. I said it earlier it was the wrong time of year to get many tropical snakes. To date less then two dozen captured even snakes proved it.

I've got the solution to their python problem down there and have suggested it several times. But nobody listens to me anyway.

The quickest, most effective way to wipe them out is to create a market for them. Tan the hides and make boots and luggage. Process the meat and sell it in the markets. If it's too tough for human consumption, then make it into pet food or fertilizer. Make jewelry from the teeth, garden mulch from their intestines or even door knockers from their jaws. Just anything that might sell.

If folks get the idea that they can make 30 to 50 bucks per snake, they'll start draggin' them out of there like 49's digging for gold!

History has already proven that man will hunt a species to extinction if profit can be made from it.

What I attempted to explain was that gators and pythons aren't hiding in the water when it's cold. My mistake! They are coming to the roads to warm up. That's where they are being hunted. I have talked to FWC about this and that is the very reason they are hunted at this time of year. It is proven that they come to the roads more often. You can check the statistics at www.pythonchallenge.org. As of Monday it was 27 pythons from Jan 12th at 1 p.m. Approx. 1 week and a day or two of hunting. A new figure will be uploaded to the site tomorrow with more I'm sure. If anyone has any questions, you can contact Fish & Wildlife at (850)488-4676 and they can transfer you to the lady in charge of the info on the challenge. They are very helpful.

I never claimed to be a reptile expert, I was just sharing what I've learned from the guys who are hunting them down here and Fish & Wildlife. I'm only 30 minutes from the Glades. I was not trying to disrespect anyone.

I think you've got it correct Muddawg!

WTWC No offense takin i just wanted to clearify a couple things that are kinda put out there alot by the media and other news orgs. , if Florida would get a few days in the mid 30's or 40's it will kill them off , i remember a few years back Iguana's were falling out of the tree's dead onto the roads and stuff because it got real cold down there !! Thats what they need ..

They will never eradicate the python or boa they are there to say , a large female pythion can lay 60 large eggs about the size of a goose egg ., and a boa constricter have live young , imagine what 20 female snakes of both species could produce in a year !! WOW Its staggering !!!