Burm tests in SC

[kc261]

What concerns me with these reports of these escapes burmese python populations is when the leave out the burmese and just say python. There are many many python species but most people are only aware of the really big one that ate some guy in some country so they think that all pythons are huge and dangerous. Not mentioning the species hides certain facts.

Yes. I think a lot of people have no idea there are different species of pythons. I took my daughter to a pet store recently when we had a little bit of time we needed to kill. My daughter wanted to hold some of the reptiles, so we ended up looking at a boa. I asked the employee how big they get and was told "pretty big, but not as big as a python". Further discussion made it clear she thought the word "python" was synonymous with "giant snake".

[TheresaBearden]

Remember that these are pythons that were captured in Florida, if they hadn't been saved for the experiment they would have been put to death anyway.

They would have been humanely put to death. My husband and I have been keeping/breeding burms for years and I have seen first hand the suffering a burm can endure from an RI.
While I understand that to appease the government and those concerned about the spread of the burms into the rest of the US, information would have to be presented. I do not however agree with this "experiment". Gathering data and facts from those of us who have kept burms and doing intensive studying into our care and husbandry would yeild some very conclusive results.
Once again I do agree that the information needs to released to stop the panic associated with the supposed spread of the burms but I do not agree with the steps being taken to do so.
If we were to keep our burms in enclosures outside during the winter here in SC and someone with knowledge of reptiles were to find out and report us-number one the snakes would be seized from us and number two-we would be fined with animal cruelty.

[Ben Biscy]

If we were to keep our burms in enclosures outside during the winter here in SC and someone with knowledge of reptiles were to find out and report us-number one the snakes would be seized from us and number two-we would be fined with animal cruelty.

i rescued a burm kept outdoors past the prime of summer. the snake did not pull through, even after extensive bills. the guy who kept the snake no longer has any animals (thanks be to god).

it's too true though; propaganda is ok, lets watch the snakes suffer. however, if you are KEEPING ONE, then you are doing something wrong. "we" can kill them in the name of science, but YOU cannot kill them as you are responsible to keep them healthy....

[Mendel's Balls]

I don't doubt that he actually said what he is claimed to have said in the article, what I would like to know is how he said it and the tone of voice used.

Your right quoting out of context happens all the time with media members.

[Mendel's Balls]

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1875

There are already studies that dispute the models laid forth by the USGS survey research.

See http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0002931

[West Coast Jungle]

There are already studies that dispute the models laid forth by the USGS survey research.

See http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0002931

Thank for that link it is an excellent evaluation of the situation and possible future scenarios. This needs to be stapled on the foreheads of the paranoid folks pushing these bills based on myth and not scientific fact.

[Mendel's Balls]

Thank for that link it is an excellent evaluation of the situation and possible future scenarios. This needs to be stapled on the foreheads of the paranoid folks pushing these bills based on myth and not scientific fact.

Your welcome.

[GenePirate]

I wouldn't call Witt Gibbons a 'so called' Scientist. He's been in charge of the Savannah River Ecology Lab for quite some time, several decades I think. And is a very well respected herpetologist who has authored several papers and booklets on reptiles from serious studies to identification guides. Some people here may even have read his works without even knowing it. I believe he wrote, or wrote a large part of, the Boy Scouts Reptile merit badge guide.

I remember watching him give a talk about 15 or so years ago on one of his projects involving the study of snake ranges and tracking their movements using PIT tagging techniques. It was a very interesting talk, but what I remember best was his quirky sense of humor. The type of humor that would be very easy to misrepresent in a printed article. I don't doubt that he actually said what he is claimed to have said in the article, what I would like to know is how he said it and the tone of voice used.

Yeah, I'd have to agree with you--although no offense to BHB. I LOVE SnakeBytes, can't get enough actually--but scientists can be a quirky bunch and can make, or attempt to make, unorthodox jokes from time to time. I wasn't there, but I can see where the reporter may have included in the article only the portions of the interview that she actually understood, and spun it to get that sensationalist response with the poodle and fangs quotes. Some folks like to stir the pot. Responsible journalism does not include sensationalist dead poodle jokes, and we don't know the context in which this comment was originally made. The good doc should not have said it to a reporter, and the reporter should not have exploited it.

[Darkice]

Im so glad i live in Nebraska. The big bad Burms wont be able to eat me and my family up here.

[dc4teg]

though what im about to say may sound crazy but i think they are doing it for two reasons to see if the species will thrive (probly not) and they released them in a nuclear facility land to see if thier is any effect from nuclear waste (it is also a dumping site) so if they do live they will be monsters 80+ feet