Another Bad Year for Invasive Pythons?

[WingedWolfPsion]

Another year of climate change weather, and another bought of freezing for Florida.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weath...how_2012-01-04

How do you guys think this will affect the population of Burms in the Everglades?

[zeion97]

What Little population is there is and has been effected. Yes, a few will survive by going underground but the truth is almost ANY animal will. I'm not going to go all into my opinions of it as I already have.. But truly the weather will never "Kill Em all" a few will survive, but the truth is how much of a "effect" good and bad they're having has been reduced.

[Raptor]

What Little population is there is and has been effected. Yes, a few will survive by going underground but the truth is almost ANY animal will. I'm not going to go all into my opinions of it as I already have.. But truly the weather will never "Kill Em all" a few will survive, but the truth is how much of a "effect" good and bad they're having has been reduced.

Burms don't have the survival instinct to hibernate.

[freelancer]

I'll be in prime Burm habitat this weekend in the Everglades, volunteering for some trail maintenance in the area they are known to frequent the most (pine land). I'm curious about how many I might actually see out there, depending on whether it's warmed up by then. I've seen a couple over the years.

[RobNJ]

Burms don't have the survival instinct to hibernate.

But they should have the survival instinct to seek warmth...which in the cold is generally underground or any places that have accumulated a good amount of organic matter...rotting trees, leave/stick piles, etc...

The cold will help curb the population, but I don't think they'll all die.

[zeion97]

But they should have the survival instinct to seek warmth...which in the cold is generally underground or any places that have accumulated a good amount of organic matter...rotting trees, leave/stick piles, etc...

The cold will help curb the population, but I don't think they'll all die.

That's what i meant by a few will survive. It's long heated debate and it always will be. We shouldn't be focused on this in America though... We have more pressing issues.....

[RobNJ]

We shouldn't be focused on this in America though... We have more pressing issues.....

I wholly disagree...of course we have more pressing issues, but this needs to be a point taken seriously...not just pythons in Florida, but invasive species as a whole. It doesn't need to be front page news, but to some degree there needs to be a strong effort made.

[zeion97]

I wholly disagree...of course we have more pressing issues, but this needs to be a point taken seriously...not just pythons in Florida, but invasive species as a whole. It doesn't need to be front page news, but to some degree there needs to be a strong effort made.

I agree, it needs SOME news, but not as much as we give it. No where near as much as it gets. "invasive" species that needs to be taken care of is Feral cats. -_-; I look outside and see multiple cats. And to be taken seriously, we can never take it seriously until our government decides to be truthful on how much of a "crisis" we truly have. You can dis-agree, that's your opinion. And that is mine. I really want to hear some news from people in Florida who live near the glades. All we ever hear is news from people who disregard snakes as even be "animals" just consider them aliens.

[wolfy-hound]

On Python Hunters, after the cold snap last time, they found many larger snakes dead. They are often found dead in spots that were not the "warmest spot" showing they don't know to seek warmth as much as we think they would, I believe.

That said, some will no doubt survive. It will only take a few breeding size snakes to repopulate over years. But with the numbers knocked even further down, there's more of a chance to wipe them out completely.

After all, we have managed to hunt other animals to extinction and to near-extinction, including alligators according to history. If we can drive a reptile as elusive as the alligator to near-extinction, I have hopes we can indeed eliminate the burms, if we can put out enough effort.

It's a hope. Maybe a small one, but a hope nontheless.

[Raptor]

On Python Hunters, after the cold snap last time, they found many larger snakes dead. They are often found dead in spots that were not the "warmest spot" showing they don't know to seek warmth as much as we think they would, I believe.

I'm also going off a study. Several large constrictor species were in enclosures that had outside access. Inside was heated, outside wasn't. People doing the study kept having to drag the snakes back inside because it was cold enough to kill the snakes.