Florida Alien (animal) Invasion

oldschool45

oldschool45

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I was watching Alien Invasion Florida (on Animal Planet or National Geographic) last night. And in pure media fashion they are showing all of these people who see a Nile Monitor Lizard, Anaconda, Python etc. standing around and afraid(paralyzed in fear) until Animal control/authorities show up to catch the critter.
My wife walks in watches a few minutes rolls her eyes and says “people just grab a shovel, kill the critter then use the shovel to bury it.” I love my wife!:D
I’ll refrain from making commentary about the mindset that some people have when faced with the unexpected. If this belongs somewhere else please move it.
Just in case. Are we wrong about s3’ing the problem animal?
 
:thumbup:not at all,i was watching the same show last night and getting really irritated with the yet again panzee media and society we constantly see on tv. they said they have a problem with the population of pigs and snakes and since i tend to like killing both, the solution is someone buy me a plane ticket and 150 rounds of 44mag and 12gauge,problem solved:Djust keep bringin the ammo:p
 
No, you are probably right. But, it is a lot easier to say from the comfort of your living room.
 
If It's Feral, It's In Peril.

i'm an Aussie, we have major problems with invasive feral pest species over here.

cats, dogs, pigs, foxes, goats, camels, buffalo, scrub bulls, cane toads.....

kill 'em all i say!
 
I watched that as well.
If i seen a python, yea kill it, dont wait for animal control. But if i was walking along and one of them giant rats..(the largest marsupial in the world..they say were running around after hurricain andrew) ran past me; i might have to check my pants. That thing was bigger than my german shepard.
 
Hlee, no offense taken. It might take me a second or two to recover from the wtf moment but I used to live down there and am going back next month so Grandma can see her grandson. Wildlife down there has sent my pucker factor through the roof. Lets see; using gator trails to go between fishing holes (yep, during nesting season), just missed stepping on a ginormus diamondback sunning itself while walking to a fishing hole (nods head, cleans diaper again), reached over a 6’ nurse shark to grab a 4# spiny lobster (that too), know that the text books are dead wrong about the max size for the green moray eel (down 120’ off the wreck the Rebel), yanked a 6’ gator (3’ of tail) into a small bass boat so my friend could get a closer look/picture:D
 
Even the snake lovers remove the pythons. Florida is seriously a problem. We went down there every year to specific spots to catch: Basilisk (Peru), Monitor Lizards, Guanas,black Spiny tail Iguanas, Green Iguanas, Tokay geckos, Madagascar Day Geckos, Jackson's chameleons, veiled chameleons, spectacled caymans, over 6 different species of anoles, and found them all! My favorite story is the dead spitting cobra found in Ocala.

http://www.invasive.org/species/reptiles.cfm
 
VictGerbSogCamill said:
But if i was walking along and one of them giant rats..(the largest marsupial in the world..they say were running around after hurricain andrew) ran past me; i might have to check my pants. That thing was bigger than my german shepard.
Click to expand...

please check thy facts.

i doubt very much that it was larger than a full grown Red Kangaroo.
 
Joezilla said:
Even the snake lovers remove the pythons. Florida is seriously a problem. We went down there every year to specific spots to catch: Basilisk (Peru), Monitor Lizards, Guanas,black Spiny tail Iguanas, Green Iguanas, Tokay geckos, Madagascar Day Geckos, Jackson's chameleons, veiled chameleons, spectacled caymans, over 6 different species of anoles, and found them all! My favorite story is the dead spitting cobra found in Ocala.

http://www.invasive.org/species/reptiles.cfm
Click to expand...

COOL site Joe! Thanks!:thumbup:
 
Most folks just plain suck.... THere I said it.. Its odd that in a place like Florida.. where there are numerous alligators, and venomous snakes.. that a monitor lizard should freak someone out..Its hot.. there is ample food and under growth seems to make perfect sense... But what do I know I'm just a semi rational person living in a sometimes mad world...We have some Coyotes living in Manhattan now... everytime one gets spotted people act like its one of the horseman of the apocalypse....
 
oldschool45 said:
Hlee, no offense taken. It might take me a second or two to recover from the wtf moment but I used to live down there and am going back next month so Grandma can see her grandson. Wildlife down there has sent my pucker factor through the roof. Lets see; using gator trails to go between fishing holes (yep, during nesting season), just missed stepping on a ginormus diamondback sunning itself while walking to a fishing hole (nods head, cleans diaper again), reached over a 6’ nurse shark to grab a 4# spiny lobster (that too), know that the text books are dead wrong about the max size for the green moray eel (down 120’ off the wreck the Rebel), yanked a 6’ gator (3’ of tail) into a small bass boat so my friend could get a closer look/picture:D
Click to expand...

Hey Oldschool, how big you think that moray was (or is)?
 
Florida is a strange place when it comes to civilized people and the wilderness. many of the people down here are snow birds and from third world countries, they all live within a few miles of huge shopping malls, they live in air conditioning. They may take a day trip to the Everglades National Park when relatives visit from out of town.

Most of them are terrified of the southern ring necked snake,
RingneckinHandThumb-122x154.jpg


I never heard of the giant marsupial rat, but then we we're out of touch, we didn't get the power back on until 4 weeks after Andrew, the only thing scary down here was us, at least to two legged looters.
 
My wife was watching when the guy caught the large snake by hand with much effort and took it off to "humanely euthanize" it. She wondered out loud, "what's wrong with using a 12 gauge instead?"
 
I guess the Burmese python is a growing problem down there. They were introduced into the wild from the pet trade; some escaping from their owners, some being let go and many escaping when hurricaine Andrew went through. They are invading the everglades and damaging the balance to the ecosystem and further endangering some threatened bird species. These things get 10' long and lay 60-90 eggs at a time.

They are fair game! I was speaking with a state wildlife conservationalist in Fort Myers who cares for injured birds of prey like owls and the American Eagle and she said they can kill all the pythons they want and send them to her. She struggles each month trying to pay for food for her predetory birds.

It's a pretty interesting situation. I wonder what Burmese Python tastes like? There could be an oportunity here!:p
 
Joezilla said:
Even the snake lovers remove the pythons. Florida is seriously a problem. We went down there every year to specific spots to catch: Basilisk (Peru), Monitor Lizards, Guanas,black Spiny tail Iguanas, Green Iguanas, Tokay geckos, Madagascar Day Geckos, Jackson's chameleons, veiled chameleons, spectacled caymans, over 6 different species of anoles, and found them all! My favorite story is the dead spitting cobra found in Ocala.

http://www.invasive.org/species/reptiles.cfm
Click to expand...

I'm in Ocala and never heard about the dead spitting cobra. What was the gist of the story?
 
Hate all reptiles and rat type creatures would put bullets in them myself rather then have them live trapped and put somewhere else.

I live in Maine tho so I don't see much besides grass snakes.
 
Maqua,
Looked as big in diameter as a basket ball and judging from the container that he was in he was 8’+ long. This was back in 1995 or 96. The Kentucky Newport Aquarium has a tank full of them and had their max size listed as between 6-7’. Our biggest fear lobster diving (Spiny not Maine) was grabbing in a hole for a lobster and finding an eel in it:eek:
I just read online that their max size is around 8’ so it was just on the upper end of the height & weight tables.
 
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