Slithering hell -Snakes that eat crocs fast becoming super-predators of the Florida Everglades

dailymail ^ | 23rd July 2009 | Michael Hanlon

[JoeProBono]

They emerge, improbably huge and menacing, from the fetid quagmire which they have made their home. And when these cold-blooded killers hunt, nothing is safe.

Cats, dogs, deer, even the terrifying alligators that used to rule supreme in these morasses, have fallen prey to a creature that can grow to gargantuan proportions. And they will kill humans, too.

Just last week, one 17ft monster strangled a two-year-old as she slept in her cot. It sounds like an urban myth, or the plot of a lurid B-movie. But this particular horror story is real. For many, too real.

[JoeProBono]

So hungry I could eat a...sheep: This python bit off more than it could chew after dining on a pregnant sheep in Malaysia

[Salamander]

Bullet.
Head.

Problem solved.

[CitizenM]

I have a great friend, one who is a wonderful, caring person and loves animals. She has a python. I hate it, but try not to say much, except that it scares me to death. How can I get her to understand it is not a pet and she should get rid of it now before it causes her greif? She got it in January and feeds it live rats. She takes it out of the acquarium, lets it slither around, wraps it around her neck, even sleeps with it! She also has cats, a dog, a hamster, and a turtle that roams around the house. I am so afraid the snake will find one or all of them a great meal someday. Any suggestions that won’t ruin our friendship?

[american_ranger]

Find a new friend. This one is future dead.

[wardaddy]

you get older and you don’t put up with friends you don’t really like or have to change

you have family for all that sorta “fun”

[Gator113]

Have you tried poisons?

Sorry, but that’s just too creepy.

[guitarplayer1953]

After the first hamster comes up missing I'd gently tell that it will go for larger and larger prey as it gets bigger.

[Prodigal Son]

A boy's best friend: Sambath Uon from Cambodia refuses to go to bed without his 20ft Burmese pet python aptly named Lucky

(this also from the article)

I think this kid is going to get to know his friend Lucky inside and out one day.

[chuckles]

She needs to realize that the end of her ownership of the snake will be cutting it's head off after years of care and feeding, losing her other animals to it for a meal, or an agonizing death for herself or another family member, and then the snake will have it's head cut off after years of care and feeding.

There is no "good" ending for said snake. The other options could be avoided by killing the bastid right now.

A reminder of the woman that had the chimp for 30 years that chewed the face off of her friend and ended up shot after a lifetime of being her bed partner might also shake her out of her psychotic episode. Get a dog. They are at least warm and fuzzy.

[EEDUDE]

Honestly?

A frozen rat with 0.5 grams of cyanide should do the trick.

It may sound cruel but you may save someones life.

[TnGOP]

This is a little off the subject, but here goes:

Does anyone know whatever happened with the planned restoration of the everglades (improving the water supply)? I remember hearing that Gov. Bush was working on a plan that even had the blessings of some environmentalists. I never heard whether it was ever implemented, and if it is working.

Any freepers in Fla have an update?

[JoeProBono]

“A strategy called the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was enacted to restore portions of the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee River, and Florida Bay to undo the damage of the past 50 years. It would take 30 years and cost $7.8 billion to complete. Though the plan was passed into law in 2000, it has been compromised by politics and funding problems.”

[Sherman Logan]

Just last week, one 17ft monster strangled a two-year-old as she slept in her cot. It sounds like an urban myth, or the plot of a lurid B-movie. But this particular horror story is real.

Not really. The baby was killed by an idiot parent's pet that got out of its cage, not a free-roaming snake. It was in Tampa, not the Glades, so exactly the same thing could have happened in Detroit. And the critter was 6 feet, not 17.

[bkepley]

-A frozen rat with 0.5 grams of cyanide should do the trick.

They only what’s alive.

[bkepley]

oops

-A frozen rat with 0.5 grams of cyanide should do the trick.

They only eat what’s alive.

[Jack Hammer]

You mean a reporter lied??? I can’t believe it!

[TnGOP]

Thanks for the update. I could have guessed what happened to the plan. Should’ve known.

[Houghton M.]

Pythons don’t do frozen, do they?

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

Fatally stupid, I’m afraid.

[Ann Archy]

Your friend is too stupid to be your friend.