Ball pythons an Invasive species?!

[observer]

It's also difficult to imagine ball pythons becoming a major problem, if they somehow managed to establish a population somewhere. The US has a well established population of similar-sized rodent eating snakes. Ball pythons would be in competition with them, but their lifestyle doesn't lend itself to their being more successful than the natives. They aren't go-getters the way many of the natives are. I think our raccoons, skunks, and opossums would make short work of them.

While I realize this is an older article, I would like to point out that there are more and more Ball Python sightings in the "wild", stretching from Florida, Georgia and across the Gulf Coast States to Texas. Just recently one had escaped form a careless, irresponsible owner here in my area of the Greater New Orleans area, and has been sighted living in the sewer system and in a few other people's yards, even in these last few months where we have been going through some very cold temperatures that this region produces, in the low 40's and even high 30's. They adapt, and breed and can and are becoming an evasive, invasive nuisance creature.

Oh, and we have a rather large population of Raccoons, coyote, gators, etc. They aren't keeping them at bay.