Burmese pythons in Florida are a problem… a massive problem, to say the least. These invasive beasts have completely taken over the Everglades, and since they have no natural predators of their own, they’re able to expand their numbers at a pace that is decimating the ecosystem.
So how did they get here in the first place? In the 1980s and 90s, Burmese pythons were incredibly popular in the exotic pet trade. People would buy them as cute little snakes at pet expos, only to realize a few years later that they had a 15-foot eating machine in their living room. And rather than keeping a pet snake in a living room-sized terrarium, and feeding it a whole rabbit every other week, they just… let it go near their home.
Irresponsible owners started quietly releasing their overgrown pets into the Everglades, which happens to have the exact same tropical climate as their native Southeast Asia.
Destroying the Food Chain
The Everglades is a delicate ecosystem, and the introduction of a massive apex predator with absolutely zero natural enemies completely flipped the food chain on its head. The pythons have decimated native wildlife, especially when it comes to small mammals. Studies have shown that populations of raccoons, opossums, and marsh rabbits have dropped by 85% to 99% in areas where the pythons are established.
These small mammals are the primary food source for larger predators like the Florida panther and bobcat, meaning those native cats are rapidly running out of food. Pythons also eat threatened species, such as wood storks and the federally endangered Key Largo wood rat.
A single female python can lay up to 100 eggs at a time, and because they camouflage perfectly in the sawgrass, tracking and controlling their population is extremely difficult. It’s simply not easy to trek through the dense and swampy Everglades to find them and pull them out. In an effort to stop them, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has basically declared all-out war on the snakes. You can hunt them year-round on private lands with landowner permission, and you don’t even need a hunting license.
The state also employs full-time python contractors, paying them an hourly rate plus cash bonuses for the length of the snake and finding active nests. Every year, Florida hosts a massive hunting tournament that draws people from all over the world to compete for thousands of dollars in prize money to see who can catch the most (and biggest) pythons.
Some birds of prey and raccoons will try to eat their eggs, and bobcats and alligators will get into the mix as well when the pythons are young. But once the pythons start to mature, the tables flip and humans become their only hunters. Mature pythons can be well over 20-feet-long, and they utilize their massive size to constrict, then eat their prey whole… and alligators are on the menu. Even some pretty big ones.
Belly of the Beast
These researchers are seen cutting open an 18-foot python captured in Florida, and the snake has a curiously large bulge in its belly. Clearly, something is in there. The researchers cut it open and find a whole 5-foot long alligator inside the snake. A completely intact alligator, swallowed whole… it’s just insane.
They summed up what was going on best in the post:
“The Burmese python is one of the largest snakes in the world (up to 20+ft). This particular python was roughly 18 ft, and had consumed a 5ft alligator.
*Burmese pythons are required to be euthanized in Florida. This python was euthanized by those who found it, and turned over to a research lab for necropsy and scientific sample collection. That process is shown in this video.
Due to the subtropical environment of South Florida, paired with the Burmese python’s long life span and rapid reproduction, these snakes have successfully invaded ecologically sensitive areas such as Everglades National Park. This poses a threat to a variety of wildlife, due to the python’s wide dietary preferences.””
Yeesh…
Florida Teenager Catches 100-Pound, 15-Foot Python
Many people have hobbies that they enjoy outside of work, like hiking, golfing, scrapbooking (does anyone still do that?), and various other pastimes. Now notice that I didn’t get super specific, because I left out “hobbies” that people in Florida like to do, which is usually doing random things to get arrested and create outlandish headlines, or like these people, wrestling with 15-foot snakes.
I’m not sure why you would choose to do something like this, but some people love the thrill of the hunt, and like to hunt very dangerous creatures. Jack Cronin, a Florida teenager, is one of those thrill-seeking people.
The state of Florida was putting on something called the “Python Challenge” (of course they were), and Cronin was participating in it for the very first time. He had caught snakes before, but had never encountered a python.
Python hunting had long been on his bucket list, and he finally got the chance to do it during his first ever trip to Everglades National Park over the weekend. Once they got there and started searching, things escalated pretty quickly when they set their eyes on a massive python.
Cronin told CBS4 Miami:
“We go over and there’s just a snake’s head sitting there, the size of my head. I shined the flashlight back through the woods to see the body and couldn’t even see the end of it. Then I’m like, of course, ‘I wanna jump on it.’
So I jumped on it, grabbed its head, then the thing went nuts and it turned into a wrestling match.”
I’m no expert on python hunting, but I would assume that you don’t want it to turn into a “wrestling match.” Cronin wouldn’t have known if he was doing it right or not, since he actually had never caught a python before:
“I was like ‘That’s a big snake.’ That was my first python I ever jumped on. I’ve caught little snakes, that was my first python I’d ever seen.”
The colossal snake measured in at 15 feet and 6 inches, and weighed almost 100 pounds. However, Cronin and his friends missed the official weigh in cut off for the Python Challenge by 5 hours, so the python capture didn’t even count.
Whether it counted or not for the Python Challenge didn’t really matter to the Florida teenager. He was just excited to have the bragging rights, and warned all pythons out there that he would be back:
“Man, it’s like an adrenaline rush like no other. We’ll definitely be back out there trying to get another big mama.”
Yeah, because after you have a brush with death with one of the largest snakes you’ve ever seen, you ought to get right back out there and try to do it bigger and better.
Some people are insane…
