Burmese pythons continue to reproduce and spread into suitable habitat throughout Florida, and the invasive population can continue to spread into suitable habitat further north outside of the sunny state—especially if climate change continues to increase northern temperatures (e.g., the plant hardiness zone map has shifted as northern temperatures warm; for example, “the Southern magnolia, once limited largely to growing zones ranging from Florida to Virginia, now can thrive as far north as Pennsylvania. Or that kiwis, long hardy only as far north as Oklahoma, now might give fruit in St. Louis.”)

Certainly, public education and awareness, in addition to new regulations are needed. Recently in California, “a 23-foot, 130-pound python was on the loose in a San Luis Obispo residential neighborhood for hours before the county sheriff’s search-and-rescue team located it sunbathing in a nearby backyard.” In Florida, the problem has become so serious that trained volunteers are needed to capture reptiles that are slithering out of the Everglades into residential areas. In order to learn how to capture the reptiles, which can inflict a painful bite, “a dozen mostly fearless students last week learned how to capture the enormous natives of Southeast Asia that have begun invading the Florida Keys.”

Furthermore, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) wants to “block sales to inexperienced pet owners, who in many cases have either released the snakes or let them escape when the creatures grew too large,” because the snakes are blamed for disrupting the already damaged Everglades ecosystem by competing with alligators and devouring endangered species. Certainly, snakes are efficient hunters, and it isn’t just the large snakes eating large prey that should be of concern, since juvenile pythons certainly have an impact on small animal populations. Increased conflicts between humans and the gigantic snakes will be another obvious problem too. At least these Burmese pythons don’t grow as large as some extinct “constrictors, [that weighed] more than a ton and [measured] 42 feet long.”

More on this topic from The Conservation Report:

1. INVASIVE SPECIES: 12-foot Burmese python found in Florida
2. INVASIVE SPECIES: Burmese pythons, an invasive species in south Florida, could spread to one third of United States
3. INVASIVE SPECIES: Invasive Burmese pythons spreading rapidly across Florida and populations could spread northwards into suitable climates

On the Net:

1. Everglades Burmese Python Project
2. USGS Maps Show Potential Non-Native Python Habitat Along Three U.S. Coasts
3. USGS Maps Show Potential Non Native Python Habitat Along 3 US Coasts
4. Python Invasion of U.S. Unlikely, New Study Says
5. Invasive Pythons Squeezing Florida Everglades

Image Found Here

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