A Burmese python with a tracking device led Florida officials to a sex party

I swear the title is not mine!

Also I thought burms bred in the fall/winter, the females ovulated and produce eggs in the spring, and incubate the eggs during the warmer months. Once gravid the females usually want nothing to do with the males. So, why would 8 males be hanging out with one gravid female?

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/...king-sex-party

A Burmese python with a tracking device led Florida officials to a record-breaking sex party
Posted By Linzie Lawton on Mon, Apr 16, 2018 at 4:34 PM

An invasive Burmese python with a surgically implanted tracking device led Florida researchers to the largest python "aggregation" ever found in Collier County.

A couple of days before Valentine's Day, a male python (or sentinel) nicknamed Argo was fitted with a tracking device and led researchers with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida to a 100-pound female python about to lay eggs.

The female was captured, and Argo was then released to be tracked down again. Just three days later and about a half-mile away from the first location, they found the horny snake attending a record-breaking snake sex party, also known as an "aggregation."

The researchers found Argo with a gravid female weighing about 115 pounds and seven other male Burmese pythons. The eight were the most snakes ever found in one place within Southwest Florida and the western Everglades, reports the Naples Daily News.

The Burmese python problem has became such an issue in Florida that the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission allows for the killing and removal of Burmese pythons without a permit. In fact, the FWC encourages people to remove and kill pythons from private lands whenever possible.

Interesting method of tracking down these snakes, I suppose its quite effective if they grabbed 8 with one male.

Python sex parties...now I've heard everything.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

So, why would 8 males be hanging out with one gravid female?

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Perhaps there was one or more other females in the area as well that were better at hiding?
Glad they were able to remove the large gravid female! Wish them the best of luck with the eradication/tracking projects.

Well personally I think it's time to make the call. Burmese pythons will never be eliminated from Florida, why not just leave them alone? Seems like a futile effort if you ask me. It always breaks my heart to hear of snakes being killed.

I know garter snakes congregate to mate, perhaps Burmese pythons do as well, now there may be proof!

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Well personally I think it's time to make the call. Burmese pythons will never be eliminated from Florida, why not just leave them alone? Seems like a futile effort if you ask me. It always breaks my heart to hear of snakes being killed.

I know garter snakes congregate to mate, perhaps Burmese pythons do as well, now there may be proof!

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Because if they don't at least keep the numbers at a reasonable low, they will wipe out the animals that actually belong there, and outcompete the native snakes.

Think killing these pythons is tragic? Allowing them to cause the extinction of the native snakes is even worse.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Well personally I think it's time to make the call. Burmese pythons will never be eliminated from Florida, why not just leave them alone? Seems like a futile effort if you ask me. It always breaks my heart to hear of snakes being killed.

I know garter snakes congregate to mate, perhaps Burmese pythons do as well, now there may be proof!

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I'd rather loose some Burms than letting them decimate the ecosystem, just look at how the Brown Tree Snake damaged Guam's ecosystem.

Oh, and on a side note. I find this rather interesting, if I recall correctly Garter Snakes and Anacondas mate in a similar fashion

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

Well personally I think it's time to make the call. Burmese pythons will never be eliminated from Florida, why not just leave them alone? Seems like a futile effort if you ask me. It always breaks my heart to hear of snakes being killed.

I know garter snakes congregate to mate, perhaps Burmese pythons do as well, now there may be proof!

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Putting pressure on the invasive populations helps native populations of animals that are being outcompeted and eliminated to stay in the game. Scientists are also still working on better techniques to catch the pythons. One of the latest is synthesizing pheromones to lure in males and implanting estrogen into males to make them attract other males as if they were female. Getting a % of the pythons is still far better for the ecosystem than giving up.

Kill em all. And make boots.

On a similar note, the invasive tegus and monitors are quickly becoming a bigger problem than the pythons in Florida. They already have a wider range to the north than the snakes do.