Posted on 08/04/2023 7:33:30 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
The Florida Python Challenge draws in hundreds of participants each year from as far away as Canada, Belgium and Latvia who are charmed by the prospect of fame and fortune, including up to $30,000 (£23,600) in prize money.
Recent Python Challenge winners include a deaf science teacher who bagged a nearly 16ft snake with his bare hands, a father-and-son duo who rapidly despatched 41 snakes and a 19-year-old who said he would use his $10,000 prize to buy better snake-spotting lights for his truck.
..."Once it slithered out in the road, I got to see the massive size of this thing and realised we're getting into a fight a little bit more intense than I thought we were getting into," he says.
After they caught it, the snake was declared the largest in the state's history.
Some of the snakes he kills are brought to school to show his curious pupils, who are also deaf. Sometimes they dissect them as a class project.
"My students are always really excited when I do that."
... Authorities encourage people around the world to buy python leather from Florida, and discourage hunters from eating them due to their high levels of mercury. But that advice doesn't stop a few dedicated hunters from making everything from python jerky to snake-egg cookies.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Are these pythons edible (I mean “tasty” edible)?
It's just when I saw that snake stretched out, I saw a lot of filet mignons side-by-side.
I am sure they taste like chicken.
Perhaps a pair of boots or a golf bag.
“Are these pythons edible (I mean “tasty” edible)?”
“Tastes like chicken” Cody Lundin
I’ve had gator, rattlesnake and frog legs, they all taste like chicken. Maybe it’s a reptilian feature. But the article does also point out that these Florida pythons are high in mercury which I did not know and probably will not indulge, and probably will never have the opportunity to indulge either.
I think the humane thing to do is capture as many of these pythons as possible, then release them unharmed along the border between Texas and Mexico. A similar program should be implemented for alligators.
[[...”Once it slithered out in the road, I got to see the massive size of this thing and realised we’re getting into a fight a little bit more intense than I thought we were getting into,” he says]]
Why? I beleive the bounty is for the snakes dead or alive if im not mistaken? Don’t understand why the snake hunters risk anything by capturing them alive in many cases.
And yes, I know the article says these two kill their snakes- but some hunters don’t.
How far north can these things live?
She looks like that starved tropical fruit vegan.
A friend of my dads had one, a big one. It got out of it’s enclosure, not cage, full room. Curled up with him while he was napping and squeezed him to death.
Mercury content is the issue eith eating them. They likely taste pretty good.
Used to be you could make thermometers out of them.
The obvious way to fight them is to get Chinese genetic engineers start making bigger aligators instead of viruses.
and discourage hunters from eating them due to their high levels of mercury.
Am I the only one who now needs a giant python thermometer?
Since post 15 beat me, I guess I’m not the only one.
—”I saw a lot of filet mignons side-by-side.”
I’ve never thought much about python anatomy ...
But suspect three would be many, many rib eyes and not many filet mignons???
Sounds like a great product with renewable resources.
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