Giant Pythons Could Spread Quickly Across South [As if killer bees and kudzu weren't enough...]

FOX ^

[Sub-Driver]

Giant Pythons Could Spread Quickly Across South

Monday , May 12, 2008 By Katie Tweed

As if killer bees and kudzu weren't enough, the southern United States may soon have another invasive species to contend with — giant Burmese pythons capable of swallowing deer and alligators whole.

Approximately 30,000 of the big snakes, which can reach 30 feet and 200 pounds, already live wild in Florida's Everglades, thanks to thick-headed pet owners who've released them into the swamps when they've grown too large to keep at home.

But now the U.S. Geological Survey says Florida is not the only place the Burmese python can thrive.

In fact, the big beasts, which are not poisonous and rarely attack humans, could live happily in the entire southern third of the country, from Southern California to Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley and up the Eastern Seaboard to Chesapeake Bay.

All it would take would be enough pet releases in various locations to create a breeding population.

[King Hawk]

Place billboards in Miami offering one free green card for every ten pythons turned in dead!

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

Reticulated pythons are huge, and most get nasty with age. They are not known to be great pets.

A lot of the people who let snakes go are the ones who think they can handle a retic and find out otherwise.

[kingu]

They're a non-native species. They aren't protected.

I've yet to see reality and sanity stop a lawsuit.

[Doogle]

[EEDUDE]

“What about Chupracabras and fire ants?”

Here in Indiana, I was pretty sure I saw a chupracabra one night out by my barn.

But as I thought more about it, I began to realize that what I’d actually seen was just one of the corn fed gals from the local bowling alley.

Man, that was a relief.

[fish hawk]

Sorry. I flunked Oblique in high school. LOL

[johnny7]

[NRA1995]

Filet of python, python on a stick, BBQ python, python sausage, python fritters......we in The South have a way with dealing with animals.........

You forgot chicken fried snake

[Gamecock]

Snake bursts after gobbling gator

An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps.

[Locomotive Breath]

Man: You sit here, dear.
Wife: All right.
Man: Morning!
Waitress: Morning!
Man: Well, what’ve you got?
Waitress: Well, there’s egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and python; egg bacon and python; egg bacon sausage and python; python bacon sausage and python; python egg python python bacon and python; python sausage python python bacon python tomato and python;
Vikings: Python python python python...
Waitress: ...python python python egg and python; python python python python python python baked beans python python python...
Vikings: Python! Lovely python! Lovely python!
Waitress: ...or Lobster Thermidor a Crevette with a mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and python.
Wife: Have you got anything without python?
Waitress: Well, there’s python egg sausage and python, that’s not got much python in it.
Wife: I don’t want ANY python!
Man: Why can’t she have egg bacon python and sausage?
Wife: THAT’S got python in it!
Man: Hasn’t got as much python in it as python egg sausage and python, has it?
Vikings: Python python python python... (Crescendo through next few lines...)
Wife: Could you do the egg bacon python and sausage without the python then?
Waitress: Urgghh!
Wife: What do you mean ‘Urgghh’? I don’t like python!
Vikings: Lovely python! Wonderful python!
Waitress: Shut up!
Vikings: Lovely python! Wonderful python!
Waitress: Shut up! (Vikings stop) Bloody Vikings! You can’t have egg bacon python and sausage without the python.
Wife: I don’t like python!
Man: Sshh, dear, don’t cause a fuss. I’ll have your python. I love it. I’m having python python python python python python python beaked beans python python python and python!
Vikings: Python python python python. Lovely python! Wonderful python!
Waitress: Shut up!! Baked beans are off.
Man: Well could I have her python instead of the baked beans then?
Waitress: You mean python python python python python python... (but it is too late and the Vikings drown her words)
Vikings: Python python python python. Lovely python! Wonderful python! Python spa-a-a-a-a-am python spa-a-a-a-a-am python. Lovely python! Lovely python! Lovely python! Lovely python! Lovely python! Python python python python!

[Gorzaloon]

I throw him a rat and BANG he hits it with such a force....I love my snake.

I had one decades ago. Yes, the food never knew what hit it. Trouble is that after he/she grows up, you are into rabbits for food. Ours eventually refused smaller animals, regarding them as time wasting tidbits.

The problems began when the pet shop who sold the snake years before began to refuse to sell us "Food" any more, rethinking its morals.

So, she was hungry, we are out driving, and see a 4-H kid selling Easter Bunnies.......Walking away with the box, the little girl shouted to me, "Do you have food?".

"Yes".

But this was really enough. We adopted her to a nieghbor who was an avid hunter, who had a war going with woodchucks. You CAN train them to eat dead food, if it is still warm.

[Red Badger]

Too much cholesterol for me........

[John Jorsett]

If they’d come to Southern California, they could fight it out with the coyotes.

[DuncanWaring]

Think a Gardner Snake could swallow Al Gore's brain?

A paramecium could swallow Al Gore's brain.

[ClearCase_guy]

I imagine some folks with snakes end up breeding their own rabbits. I’ve heard that it’s not that hard. They reproduce like ... well ... like rabbits.

[Hacksaw]

What about all the nutria (that don’t belong here either and breed like the rats they are)?

Remember the rat-hat episode on Seinfeld? Elain tried to replace a lost Mink hat with one made from nutria. She asked the company auditor, "Isn't it a kind of mink"? The auditor replies "no, it's a kind of rat".

[Cyman]

Am I alone or does the 30k figure seem outrageously high. I know that they can breed if they find a suitable mate but 30k??????????? We should be driving over them on roads such as Alligator Alley in the Everglades on a daily basis with that kind of population density.

[Hacksaw]

We should be driving over them on roads such as Alligator Alley in the Everglades on a daily basis with that kind of population density.

I'm not sure - I live in PA - nutria look like big woodchucks to me. I heard some Louisiana eateries are actually selling nutria as a food.

[Richard Kimball]

It can happen. Without natural predators, these things can breed quite quickly. I know that in Texas we have a problem with goldfish in lakes and rivers for much the same reason.

[Bitsy]

Hubby for one likes snake. Blech. He says it tastes like ‘gator. Blech Blech.

We like ‘gator down in the Bayou but you could substitute a good fat python for gator in a sauce picante and it would be just as tasty - every other critter has been stewed in a sauce picante, why not snake.