18 foot Python found just north of ENP

[Dallas]

The second largest Python found so far in Florida according to the report.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/06/us/florida-18-foot-python/index.html?...

[Swamp Hunter]

Does anyone remember the Doomsday Machine on Star Trek that ate every planet in sight?  Well this snake is the Doomsday Machine for the fresh water Everglades. It cannot be stopped. It eats everything from mammals to reptiles and I wouldnt be surprised if it eats fish. It irks me whenever someone downplays the problem. The problem is worse than anyone ever imagined and with no real solution. We already know a freeze will not kill them. There are huge areas in the BCNP where some species of wildlife have completely vanished and I would imagine the ENP is the same and its getting worse. They can wipe out an entire deer herd and they often kill without swallowing; not realizing it wont fit down their throat..

We dont hear about the majority of kills because people are afraid to report the incidents because they dont have a permit or they used a firearm. I'll tell you what...you will not easily kill a large snake with your knife.  Do you realize how hard it is to chop off its head with a machete? Even if you manage to kill it, like most reptiles, it can still strangle you after its dead just ask the PETA people! It took 3 grown men to remove a coil from my friend after the snake was brain dead.

I dont know the solution. I have no sure answers. The large snakes have no enemies (maybe a Diamondback but Im just guessing and hoping)  Someone needs to put 2 snakes in a cage for research purposes and see who wins the battle. The large snakes need to be hunted down by man.  We need a more efficient  predator for the smaller snakes. Sure they are eaten by hawks but this is not enough and I would imagine the hawk population is on the decline. A racoon cannot approach a guarded egg nest and survive the encounter and small mammals can no longer hide safely underground.

The wild hogs have been irradicated in the BCNP and they are shot on sight in the ENP because they are not native. Im certainly not a biologist but wild hogs will eat snakes in a heartbeat. I think that saving DeSotos wild pigs will help keep down the population of Pythons. They are also historically 40% of the Florida Panthers diet and they have been here for over 400 years.  Its so sad. 

[Swamp Hunter]

BTW thats my friend Bob Hill and he has killed more than anybody in the Everglades region.  

[Dallas]

Dale, I think you mentioned in another post that there will not be a planned/public python hunt this year. Why would they not have one again? It seems the problem can only have gotten worse since last year.

[SteveS]

Fire is the solution. It won't kill the larger reptiles, deer, birds, or other native species. It will kill the snakes. Controlled planned burns. I have no doubt it will work and is probably the only method that can kill large numbers of these snakes at one time. This one-by-one method isn't doing a thing to control the population. I've heard they are working on traps but I don't know how effective these will be in a place as large as the park.

[Juan Estevez]

This is the picture of the python that was capture (from the Miami Herald)

I'm the one who would stay as far as possible from that monster, call me a wimp.

[Amazon Bill]

Fire will get the ones on dry land that are far from water but won't get them in underground or in the water.  

[Swamp Hunter]

I dont know why it was cancelled.  Many people claim it was a failure because "only" 68 snakes were killed. I say we need to start somewhere. 
http://www.thewire.com/national/2013/02/floridas-python-hunt-didnt-...

Dallas said:

Dale, I think you mentioned in another post that there will not be a planned/public python hunt this year. Why would they not have one again? It seems the problem can only have gotten worse since last year.

[Swamp Hunter]

 We can add whitetail deer to the list in some areas

Rabbits and foxes have disappeared, while raccoon, opossum and bobcat populations have dropped as much as 99%, researchers at Virginia Tech University, Davidson College and the U.S. Geological Survey reported in 2012    

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/16/us/florida-python-hunt/

 

[Jim Peele]

Just back from a paddle from Hells Bay put-in up to Canepatch and back.  On the way out, I saw a rather large python in the middle of the water near marker 115 on the Hells Bay Canoe Trail.  It's head was between the size of a baseball and a softball.  Don't know how long it was, but it moved very powerfully out of my way as I paddled through.  

[SteveS]

Grrrrrrreat.

[Swamp Hunter]

Why didnt you kill it with your penknife? I have been trying to spread the message. Pythons are out there. They are everywhere. The "Doomsday Machine" follows the food supply. Thanks for helping to spread the message here Jim.  They will not fall out of trees into your canoe as they spend most of their time underwater. Sometimes you will see the head as they will periscope... most times you will not see them at all. I guess your canoe was too large to strangle and swallow....

Jim Peele said:

Just back from a paddle from Hells Bay put-in up to Canepatch and back.  On the way out, I saw a rather large python in the middle of the water near marker 115 on the Hells Bay Canoe Trail.  It's head was between the size of a baseball and a softball.  Don't know how long it was, but it moved very powerfully out of my way as I paddled through.  

[Swamp Hunter]

Steve. I gave it some thought before replying. Sure a few may be caught out of water but fire will not kill pythons any more than fire will kill alligators.

SteveS said:

Fire is the solution. It won't kill the larger reptiles, deer, birds, or other native species. It will kill the snakes. Controlled planned burns. I have no doubt it will work and is probably the only method that can kill large numbers of these snakes at one time. This one-by-one method isn't doing a thing to control the population. I've heard they are working on traps but I don't know how effective these will be in a place as large as the park.