Quote Originally Posted by emilio
Irresponsible Burm owner's in South Florida are partly to Blame , poor snake's get thrown away in the glade's all the time.Estimate's are in the Hundred's and maybe that's low.
This was an issue before FL Burm owners, FL incidents just put it in the worldwide media spot light and brought a lot of negative publicity to the issue. That picture with the gator showed this snakes overpowering a 6ft gator, and it wasn't in another country on the Discovery Channel, it was in our backyard!

I said this would happen last year when that Burm killed that gator and pics of it went around the world. Not too mention the others that got on the news shortly after, swallowing cats and found near playgrounds where kids played. People went into panic mode thinking some giant snake was going to swallow their kids! Not too mention the effects it was going to have in the Everglades.

Irresponsible herpers in general are to blame. When you've got a 16ft Burm or 5ft monitor in a 400sqft apartment in NYC under less than healthy conditions, it's a problem. When some kid carries a rattle snake to school and it bites a classmate, it's a problem. When a boa is lose in a buildings plumbing and crawls out of a toilet while grandma is taking a dump, it's a problem. When a loose boa swallows grandma's puppy while it taking a leak, it's a problem. Selling snakes to kids (especially the giant snakes) just because they have $50.00, is a problem.

Of course when compared to dog and cat incidents, snakes are zero on the radar!! But you must remember, snakes are one of the most hated and feared creatures on earth to the general public.


Personally, I'm fairly happy with the Florida law since it does not restrict all boas & pythons in general. Some states have banned all non-native snakes, no permits, just outlawed!

I agree, it is a problem for all of us! Whether your state is thinking about this or not, it will sooner or later. If a law has been passed in your state that works with herpers, we need to support it! If it's not working, sooner or later they may ban all our boas & pythons!

I think the herp community in general is still in a denial stage, where most feel it won't effect them so who cares.