The fossil of a python dating from about 15 million years ago has been discovered in Bavaria, first time proof that the reptile lived so far north, according to German palaeontologists.
They deduced from a group of seven vertebrae that the python had measured three and a half metres (11.5 feet). The complete snake is thought to have had at least 400 vertebrae. The researchers also found fossils of eight other snake species from the same period.
The snake was relatively small compared to giant reticulated pythons alive today in south-east Asia, which grow up to nine metres in length, and positively puny alongside the Titanoboa cerrejonensis, a 15-metre monster that slithered through the South American rainforests 60 million years ago.
But this is thought to be the longest snake that ever lived in central Europe. The fossil of the python, normally found in tropical regions of Africa and Asia, was found about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Munich by a team of German and Czech researchers.
“With the sudden fall in temperatures 14 million years ago, the destiny of this python was sealed,” said Madeleine Böhme, of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology at Tübingen University in southwestern Germany, who worked together with colleagues from Masaryk University in the Czech city of Brno.
Temperatures in southern Germany during the Miocene period, when the snake is thought to have lived, were roughly the same as Egypt today. “We‘re assuming that the average yearly temperature was about 19 degrees Celsius,” Böhme told the Südwest Presse newspaper on Tuesday. “Otherwise the snake would not have felt very comfortable here.”
The average temperature in a typical year in Bavaria is currently around 8 degrees. Temperatures dropped rapidly in Europe around 14 million years ago. No large reptile fossils have been found in central Europe after this period, and Böhme believes the giant python could only have survived so far north during a relatively short time window of about a million years.
A few weeks ago, researchers from the same research institute in Tübingen proved that the oldest great apes in Eurasia also lived in southwestern Germany. The scientists dated a fossilized ape tooth, discovered in the area in 1973, to 17 million years ago.
http://www.discoveryon.info/2011/11/first-python-fossil-unearthed-in-germany.html
Showing posts with label python. Show all posts
Showing posts with label python. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Python Laundry (Via Herp Digest)
The Python Laundry - At least 80% of the green pythons exported each year from Indonesia are illegally caught in the wild and then "laundered" through farms that claim to breed the reptiles.
Conservation Magazine, David Malakoff | November 4, 2011
- It might sound like a joke: How do you launder a python? But the answer is no laughing matter. At least 80% of the green pythons exported each year from Indonesia are illegally caught in the wild and then "laundered" through farms that claim to breed the reptiles.
"Wildlife breeding farms have been promoted to aid biodiversity conservation by alleviating the pressure of harvest on wild populations," Jessica A. Lyons and Daniel J.D. Natusch of the University of New South Wales in Australia write in Biological Conservation. Indonesia, for instance, is the only nation where green pythons are found in the wild to allow the export of captive-bred snakes. They pythons (Morelia viridis) are "keenly sought after by reptile keepers" due to their brilliant colors - young snakes are born yellow or red, and then turn green when older. There has been widespread suspicion, however, that many Indonesian traders were mostly trafficking snakes caught in the wild, but there was "no direct evidence of the existence of an illegal trade."
To see if they could put a wrap on the python case, the researchers surveyed wildlife traders in the Indonesian provinces of Maluku, West Papua and Papua between August 2009 and April 2011. The sorties uncovered a total of 4,227 illegally collected wild green pythons, and found that "high levels of harvest [had]. depleted and skewed the demographics of some island populations." The researchers also traced snakes from their point of capture to breeding farms in Jakarta where they are to be exported for the pet trade, confirming the reports of wildlife laundering." The data suggest that "at least 5,337 green pythons are collected each year," or about 80% of python exports. Often, traders told them, foreign buyers personally identified and selected the wild-caught snakes to be laundered through the farms.
One way to combat laundering, they suggest, is to require breeders "to keep eggshells from the reptiles that are bred and to export them with each individual reptile as evidence of their provenance." Measurements taken by the researchers show that green python eggs have a distinctive size and shape, and that "with a little knowledge and the aid of reference guide, identifying the eggs of green pythons could be a relatively simple task." The "eggshell method could be very effective in reducing the laundering and export of wild-caught green pythons through Indonesian breeding farms," they write.
"Although green pythons are still relatively common in most of the areas in which they occur," they conclude, the illegal trade is causing "noticeable declines" in some populations. And the authors suggest that using breeding farms to help protect wild populations "needs to be re-evaluated." -
Source: Lyons, J.A., Natusch, D.J.D. Wildlife laundering through breeding farms: Illegal harvest, population declines and a means of regulating the trade of green pythons (Morelia viridis) from Indonesia. Biol. Conserv. (2011), doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.002
Conservation Magazine, David Malakoff | November 4, 2011
- It might sound like a joke: How do you launder a python? But the answer is no laughing matter. At least 80% of the green pythons exported each year from Indonesia are illegally caught in the wild and then "laundered" through farms that claim to breed the reptiles.
"Wildlife breeding farms have been promoted to aid biodiversity conservation by alleviating the pressure of harvest on wild populations," Jessica A. Lyons and Daniel J.D. Natusch of the University of New South Wales in Australia write in Biological Conservation. Indonesia, for instance, is the only nation where green pythons are found in the wild to allow the export of captive-bred snakes. They pythons (Morelia viridis) are "keenly sought after by reptile keepers" due to their brilliant colors - young snakes are born yellow or red, and then turn green when older. There has been widespread suspicion, however, that many Indonesian traders were mostly trafficking snakes caught in the wild, but there was "no direct evidence of the existence of an illegal trade."
To see if they could put a wrap on the python case, the researchers surveyed wildlife traders in the Indonesian provinces of Maluku, West Papua and Papua between August 2009 and April 2011. The sorties uncovered a total of 4,227 illegally collected wild green pythons, and found that "high levels of harvest [had]. depleted and skewed the demographics of some island populations." The researchers also traced snakes from their point of capture to breeding farms in Jakarta where they are to be exported for the pet trade, confirming the reports of wildlife laundering." The data suggest that "at least 5,337 green pythons are collected each year," or about 80% of python exports. Often, traders told them, foreign buyers personally identified and selected the wild-caught snakes to be laundered through the farms.
One way to combat laundering, they suggest, is to require breeders "to keep eggshells from the reptiles that are bred and to export them with each individual reptile as evidence of their provenance." Measurements taken by the researchers show that green python eggs have a distinctive size and shape, and that "with a little knowledge and the aid of reference guide, identifying the eggs of green pythons could be a relatively simple task." The "eggshell method could be very effective in reducing the laundering and export of wild-caught green pythons through Indonesian breeding farms," they write.
"Although green pythons are still relatively common in most of the areas in which they occur," they conclude, the illegal trade is causing "noticeable declines" in some populations. And the authors suggest that using breeding farms to help protect wild populations "needs to be re-evaluated." -
Source: Lyons, J.A., Natusch, D.J.D. Wildlife laundering through breeding farms: Illegal harvest, population declines and a means of regulating the trade of green pythons (Morelia viridis) from Indonesia. Biol. Conserv. (2011), doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.002
Sunday, June 19, 2011
6-foot python found atop garbage truck in Ohio
The driver of a garbage truck found a 6-foot Burmese python on its roof after he emptied a trash bin into the truck at a Cincinnati fast-food restaurant.
Hamilton County sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett says deputies who were summoned around 11 a.m. Thursday arrived to find the snake on the ground with its tail wrapped around a broom belonging to the driver. A deputy lifted the snake into a cardboard box using the broom.
Barnett says in a statement that the python appeared sluggish at first but revived once inside the box. Animal welfare workers took away the snake.
The sheriff's office says it doesn't know how the python got to the trash bin area.
Hamilton County sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett says deputies who were summoned around 11 a.m. Thursday arrived to find the snake on the ground with its tail wrapped around a broom belonging to the driver. A deputy lifted the snake into a cardboard box using the broom.
Barnett says in a statement that the python appeared sluggish at first but revived once inside the box. Animal welfare workers took away the snake.
The sheriff's office says it doesn't know how the python got to the trash bin area.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Invasive species weathered Florida freeze
 |
| A Burmese python, courtesy of Mariluna via Wikimedia Commons. |
MIAMI, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Officials in Florida say invasive species, hit hard by freezing conditions a year ago, have bounced back, causing headaches for those trying to deal with them.
A killer freeze took a toll on the exotic reptiles, fish and plants in the wilds of South Florida last year, but field studies have shown that while they may have been down, they were not out, and many are on a speedy road to recovery, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.
Chief among those is the most infamous of the bunch, the Burmese python.
Wildlife managers say the record cold last January appears to have had little effect, and they are now routinely pulling snakes off canal levees, including a 13 1/2 foot male python in west Miami-Dade county.
"Right now, the numbers aren't all that different," Everglades National Park biologist Skip Snow says. "We're finding them in the same places we've been finding them."
Wildlife officials and biologists have long considered cold weather the best hope for controlling the spread of exotic species.
Everglades biological resources chief David Hallac said he had expected a sharp drop in captured snakes because of the extreme cold, but the total for all of 2010 was only 10 percent below that of 2009.
"That actually shocked me," Hallac said. "We couldn't believe how many snakes were coming in. At a minimum, I was thinking maybe a 50 percent drop."
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/02/08/Invasive-species-weathered-Florida-freeze/UPI-39831297187487
Monday, August 23, 2010
Couple return from honeymoon to find python in bathroom
Rebecca Booker-Baxter and her husband Tim came home from their honeymoon they arrived to find two things. The first was a note on her doormat asking if anyone had seen a missing snake. And the second was a 7ft python in their bathroom. Photo: SOLENTA newlywed couple arrived home from their honeymoon to discover a 7ft python in their bathroom.
Published: 10:31AM BST 22 Aug 2010
Tim and Rebecca Booker-Baxter first found a note left on their doormat asking if anyone had seen a missing snake.
The pet had escaped from a neighbour's house and got into the newlyweds' terraced home via their upstairs toilet.
By the time they got back from their holiday in the US, tired from a 30-hour journey, the snake had become dehydrated and bad-tempered.
Mrs Booker-Baxter, 27, said: "We found this note that had been put through the door, which said there was a large snake missing, but it was harmless and friendly.
"Jokingly we had a look around the house to see if we could see it, not actually thinking it would be there. Then Tim went upstairs to go to the bathroom and he just said 'there's a really big snake in here'."
She didn't believe her husband, 32, but went upstairs to take a look for herself at their home in Eastney, Hants.
She said: "There, wrapped around the taps, was this massive snake. The toilet was dry and had marks on it where the snake had obviously used it to get in."
Mrs Booker-Baxter contacted her neighbour who, with a lot of coaxing, managed to get the python safely into a box and take it back to its real home.
It's not the first time she has had a close encounter with a snake.
"About two years ago I found a snake skin in the house, but no snake. I knocked on a few doors and my neighbour - the same one - had lost a corn snake," she said. "I dined out on that story for years, and I'll do the same with this one."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7958568/Couple-return-from-honeymoon-to-find-python-in-bathroom.html
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Scientists peer inside a python to see swallowed rat
Scientists have used the latest imaging techniques to look inside a python that had just swallowed a rat whole.
The resulting footage is part of a project using hi-tech scanning methods to explore animals' anatomy.
It took 132 hours for snake to fully digest the rat, the scientists said. Their work has revealed other strange insights into python digestion.
They presented the study at the Society for Experimental Biology's annual meeting in Prague, Czech Republic.
The researchers carried out a computer tomography or CT scan of an anaesthetised 5kg Burmese python one hour after it had devoured the rat whole.
They also used a technique called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the creature's internal organs.
By using contrast agents, the scientists were able to highlight specific organs and make them appear in different colours.
A series of MRI images revealed the gradual disappearance of the rat's body. At the same time, the snake's intestine expanded, its gall bladder shrank and its heart increased in volume by 25%.
The researchers, Henrik Lauridsen and Kasper Hansen, both from Aarhus University in Denmark, explained that the increase in the size of the snake's heart was probably associated with the energy it needed to digest its meal.
"It's a sit and wait predator," explained Mr Lauridsen. "It fasts for months and then eats a really large meal.
"It can eat the equivalent of up to 50% of its own bodyweight, and in order to get the energy out of the meal, it has to restart the intestinal system very fast."
The researchers, who are both based at the university's Department of Zoophysiology and the MR Research Centre at Aarhus, say that their approach has several advantages over the "subjective and sometimes misleading" interpretations of dissections.
Dissection induces changes, explained Dr Hansen. "For example, after opening the dense bone of a turtle shell, the lungs will collapse due to the change in pressure.
"And to use these techniques you don't have to kill the animal," he added. "We can do this using live animals and revisit the results over and over again."
The images, they say, will be valuable tools in future studies of animal anatomy for both research and education.
As part of the EU project called Locomorph, they have produced similarly spectacular images of several other species, including frogs, alligators, turtles, swamp eels and bearded dragons.
Source, with pictures and video here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10487548.stm
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Man in South Carolina motel 'assaulted with python'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8621374.stm
Thursday, 15 April 2010 01:23 UK
Man in South Carolina motel 'assaulted with python'
Police in South Carolina have arrested a man who allegedly assaulted another guest at a motel with a four-ft (1.2m) python after a row over loud music.
The alleged victim, who was not badly injured, told police he had complained about music coming from the other man's room and they had had a row. Hours later, the man came up to him from behind, tapped his shoulder
and thrust the snake in his face, he said.
He was so shaken, he added, that he had to take a three-hour shower afterwards.
Tony Smith, 29, was charged with assault and battery after the altercation, police in Rock Hill said. The Rock Hill police incident report lists the type of weapon used in the alleged assault on Jeffery Culp, 47, as "other".
'I don't do snakes'
Mr Culp was quoted by the local Herald newspaper as saying he had a fear of snakes and had told his attacker about it earlier in his stay at the motel, where he has been awaiting housing. "He was out there running up and down the sidewalk with it," Mr Culp said. "I told him I don't do snakes. I'm deathly afraid of them." He said he had asked Mr Smith to turn his music down about nine in the evening as he had to get up for work the next day.
Mr Smith was, at the time, "with others racing down the hallway in chairs", Mr Culp added.
A couple of hours after the two exchanged words, Mr Culp went outside for a smoke with his wife and a neighbour when, he says, Mr Smith tapped him on the shoulder. "And he said, 'Here look at this!'," Mr Culp said.
"He had the snake's head squeezed so its mouth was open. He ran it across my face and it tried to crawl in my mouth." The snake grabbed him on the upper lip, and he has a few scratches from the encounter but Mr Culp said he did not need medical treatment. Mr Smith was arrested and charged with assault and battery.
He handed over his snake to family members before his arrest.
Thursday, 15 April 2010 01:23 UK
Man in South Carolina motel 'assaulted with python'
Police in South Carolina have arrested a man who allegedly assaulted another guest at a motel with a four-ft (1.2m) python after a row over loud music.
The alleged victim, who was not badly injured, told police he had complained about music coming from the other man's room and they had had a row. Hours later, the man came up to him from behind, tapped his shoulder
and thrust the snake in his face, he said.
He was so shaken, he added, that he had to take a three-hour shower afterwards.
Tony Smith, 29, was charged with assault and battery after the altercation, police in Rock Hill said. The Rock Hill police incident report lists the type of weapon used in the alleged assault on Jeffery Culp, 47, as "other".
'I don't do snakes'
Mr Culp was quoted by the local Herald newspaper as saying he had a fear of snakes and had told his attacker about it earlier in his stay at the motel, where he has been awaiting housing. "He was out there running up and down the sidewalk with it," Mr Culp said. "I told him I don't do snakes. I'm deathly afraid of them." He said he had asked Mr Smith to turn his music down about nine in the evening as he had to get up for work the next day.
Mr Smith was, at the time, "with others racing down the hallway in chairs", Mr Culp added.
A couple of hours after the two exchanged words, Mr Culp went outside for a smoke with his wife and a neighbour when, he says, Mr Smith tapped him on the shoulder. "And he said, 'Here look at this!'," Mr Culp said.
"He had the snake's head squeezed so its mouth was open. He ran it across my face and it tried to crawl in my mouth." The snake grabbed him on the upper lip, and he has a few scratches from the encounter but Mr Culp said he did not need medical treatment. Mr Smith was arrested and charged with assault and battery.
He handed over his snake to family members before his arrest.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
'Monster' Captured In Riverside's Lake Evans
RIVERSIDE -- The Loch Ness Monster has nothing on Riverside County's own 'Monster of Lake Evans.'
For one thing, Riverside County Animal Control Officer Kristina Hillegart can personally testify that, unlike Scotland's 'monster,' Southern California's monster is definitely real. The photos and the actual capture of the 'Monster of Lake Evans' is all the proof that is needed. Hillegart took the call on Friday of a huge snake slithering out of Lake Evans, north of Riverside in Fairmont Park.
What she found was a 15-foot-long, 60 pound Burmese python near the bank of the lake. Animal control officers believe the snake was dumped at the park when it got too big for the owner to take care of. Hillegart was able to wrangle the serpent and get it into her vehicle without too much trouble. Burmese pythons, while very large, are also considered docile and easy to handle.
The 'Monster of Lake Evans' is now in the able care of an animal control employee with a love for things that slither. If no one claims the snake, it will be given to a rescue group that specializes in caring for exotic pets. This is the second time in a year that a big snake has been found in Riverside County.
In August, two animal control officers managed to capture an 11-foot-long, 50 pound Burmese python. That snake was returned to its owner.
Copyright © 2010, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles
For one thing, Riverside County Animal Control Officer Kristina Hillegart can personally testify that, unlike Scotland's 'monster,' Southern California's monster is definitely real. The photos and the actual capture of the 'Monster of Lake Evans' is all the proof that is needed. Hillegart took the call on Friday of a huge snake slithering out of Lake Evans, north of Riverside in Fairmont Park.
What she found was a 15-foot-long, 60 pound Burmese python near the bank of the lake. Animal control officers believe the snake was dumped at the park when it got too big for the owner to take care of. Hillegart was able to wrangle the serpent and get it into her vehicle without too much trouble. Burmese pythons, while very large, are also considered docile and easy to handle.
The 'Monster of Lake Evans' is now in the able care of an animal control employee with a love for things that slither. If no one claims the snake, it will be given to a rescue group that specializes in caring for exotic pets. This is the second time in a year that a big snake has been found in Riverside County.
In August, two animal control officers managed to capture an 11-foot-long, 50 pound Burmese python. That snake was returned to its owner.
Copyright © 2010, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Snake was hiding in suspect's bra
18 March 2010
Police arresting a suspected drug dealer got the shock of their lives when a 4ft snake suddenly nipped out of her bra.
The python had been curled up around the breasts of suspect Dorota Mildrowska in Otwock, Poland.
Police had arrested her over bags of amphetamines which they'd found at her apartment.
Officers admitted they had not searched her immediately after her arrest to avoid breaching her human rights.
"We respect human rights and so no one thought to look inside her blouse," said a police spokesman.
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Snake_was_hiding_in_suspects_bra
Police arresting a suspected drug dealer got the shock of their lives when a 4ft snake suddenly nipped out of her bra.
The python had been curled up around the breasts of suspect Dorota Mildrowska in Otwock, Poland.
Police had arrested her over bags of amphetamines which they'd found at her apartment.
Officers admitted they had not searched her immediately after her arrest to avoid breaching her human rights.
"We respect human rights and so no one thought to look inside her blouse," said a police spokesman.
http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Snake_was_hiding_in_suspects_bra
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Herpdigest - More articles on Pythons in Florida
HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on the Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science
Volume # 10 Issue #12 2/26/09 - Florida Freeze Continued (Affect on Pythons)
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
_________________________________________________________________________
"BIOLOGY OF THE BOAS AND PYTHONS"
Edited by R.W. Henderson and R. Powell
2007,Eagle Mountain Publishing,
448 pages, 30 chapters by 79 authors, over 200 color photographs, maps, figures, and drawings, Table of Contents available, $100.00 PLUS $7.50 For S&H.
_____________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1) Cold Snap Killed Many Pythons In Everglades
2) South Florida Cold Snap Puts Squeeze On Pythons
The Snakes And Other Nonnative Animals Are Dying By The Thousands As Temperatures Drop, Highlighting The Debate Over Intruder Species.
3) Florida Officials Create Season To Hunt Pythons, Other Reptiles
4) Constrictor Snakes Bill In Senate - Florida Legislators are trying to pass a bill that would prohibit importation, breeding, sale and possession of Burmese pythons and other dangerous large constrictor snakes as pets.
5) 'Pythons 101': Hunters Learn How To Catch Critters In Everglades
A Small Army Of Hunters Is Ready To Hit The Everglades To Kill Or Capture Dangerous And Nonnative Snakes
________________________________________________________________________
1) Cold Snap Killed Many Pythons In Everglades
By David Fleshler and Lisa J. Huriash
Sun Sentinel
Updated: 02/14/2010 12:02:47 AM EST
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Vultures circled over Everglades National Park's Anhinga Trail, where thousands of dead non-native fish floated in the marshes.
About half the Burmese pythons found in the park in the past few weeks were dead.
Dead iguanas have dropped from trees onto patios across South Florida. And in western Miami-Dade County, three African rock pythons - powerful constrictors that can kill people - have turned up dead.
Although South Florida's warm, moist climate has nurtured a vast range of non-native plants and animals, a cold snap last month reminded these unwanted guests they're not in Burma or Ecuador any more.
Temperatures that dropped into the 30s killed Burmese pythons, iguanas and other marquee names in the state's invasive species zoo.
Although reports so far say the cold has not eliminated any of them, it has sharply reduced their numbers, which some say may indicate South Florida is not as welcoming to invaders as originally thought.
"Anecdotally, we might have lost maybe half of the pythons out there to the cold," said Scott Hardin, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's exotic species coordinator. "Iguanas definitely. From a collection of observations from people, more than 50 percent fatality on green iguanas. Green iguanas really got hit hard. Lots of freshwater fish died; no way to estimate that."
The cold snap has played into a highly politicized debate over how to prevent non-native species from colonizing the United States. Reptile dealers and hobbyists strongly oppose a proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ban the import of and interstate trade in Burmese pythons and several other large snakes. They say South Florida's cold snap shows these species don't threaten to spread north, as some claim, and a federal crackdown is unnecessary.
"Pythons are tropical animals," said Andrew Wyatt, president of the United States Association of Reptile Keepers. "When temperatures fall below a certain level, they are unable to survive. It reinforces the idea that the pythons can't exist more than a short period of time north of Lake Okeechobee. Even the pythons in the Everglades are dying during the cold snap."
Wyatt said scientists are downplaying the effect of cold weather on the pythons because that would undermine their ability to win grants to study a problem that has received international publicity.
"It's all about money," he said. "It's very little to do with the truth of fundamental problems on the ground."
But federal and state wildlife officials say the cold weather has not solved the problem. Not only did pythons survive, but so did other invasive species, even if the cold set them back a bit.
Along the park's Gulf Coast, where old-world climbing ferns lay dense mats over native trees, the cold snap inflicted frost damage on these invaders from Asia and Australia, said David Hallac, chief biologist at Everglades National Park. But it didn't kill them, he said, and they continue to spread.
And although they receive less publicity than pythons, non-native fish have infested the Everglades. The cold weather apparently killed them in the thousands, including the Mayan cichlid, walking catfish and spotfin spiny eel, Hallac said. But at the bottom of canals and other water bodies, pockets of warm water allowed some of these fish to survive, he said, giving them a chance to repopulate the park once the weather warms up.
No one knows how many Burmese pythons live in the Everglades, where they were released as unwanted pets or where they found refuge after hurricanes destroyed their breeding facilities. But what's certain is there are a lot fewer today than there was a month ago.
Greg Graziani, a police officer who owns a reptile breeding facility, is one of several licensed python hunters who stalk the snakes in the Everglades. In four days of snake hunting, he found two dead snakes, two live ones, and one snake on the verge of death.
"Vultures had pecked through 12 inches by 4 inches down the back of this animal's body," he said. "I thought it was dead and we reached down to pick it up and it was very much alive."
In cold weather, Graziani said, pythons go into a catatonic state, and if they don't make it to a safe place to ride out the weather, freeze to death. "We're finding the smaller pythons are handling it better than the large ones - the smaller ones can get into different cracks and crevices to maintain the temperatures they need."
Joe Wasilewski, a wildlife biologist who hunts pythons in the Everglades, said on a single day in late January he found seven live snakes and seven dead ones.
"You don't see dead ones like that for no reason," he said. "And they were laid out like they were caught by the onslaught of the cold, the way the carcasses were lined up."
______________________________________________________________________
2) South Florida Cold Snap Puts Squeeze On Pythons
The Snakes And Other Nonnative Animals Are Dying By The Thousands As Temperatures Drop, Highlighting The Debate Over Intruder Species.
February 15, 2010|By David Fleshler and Lisa J. Huriash, LA Times
Reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - Vultures circled over Everglades National Park's Anhinga Trail, where thousands of dead nonnative fish floated in the marshes.
About half of the Burmese pythons that have turned up in the park recently have been dead.
Dead iguanas have dropped from trees onto patios across South Florida.
And in western Miami-Dade County, three African rock pythons -- powerful constrictors that can kill people -- have turned up dead.
Although South Florida's warm, moist climate has nurtured a vast range of nonnative plants and animals, a January cold snap reminded these intruders that they're not in Burma or Ecuador anymore.
Temperatures in the 30s have apparently killed Burmese pythons, iguanas and other marquee names in the state's invasive species zoo.
"Anecdotally, we might have lost maybe half of the pythons out there to the cold," said Scott Hardin, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's exotic species coordinator. "Iguanas definitely. From a collection of observations from people, more than 50% fatality on green iguanas. . . . Lots of freshwater fish died; no way to estimate that."
Nonnative fish that have infested the Everglades are turning up dead in the thousands, including the Mayan cichlid, walking catfish and spotfin spiny eel, said David Hallac, chief biologist at Everglades National Park.
No one knows how many Burmese pythons live in the Everglades, where some were released as unwanted pets and others found refuge after hurricanes destroyed their breeding sites. But there are a lot fewer today than there were a month ago.
Greg Graziani, a police officer who owns a reptile breeding facility, is one of several licensed python hunters who stalk snakes in the Everglades. In four days, he found two dead snakes, two live ones and one on the verge of death.
"Vultures had pecked through 12 inches by 4 inches down the back of this animal's body," he said. "I thought it was dead, and we reached down to pick it up, and it was very much alive."
In cold weather, Graziani said, pythons go into a catatonic state, and if they don't make it to a safe place to ride out the weather, they freeze to death.
"We're finding the smaller pythons are handling it better than the large ones," Graziani said. "The smaller ones can get into different cracks and crevices to maintain the temperatures they need."
___________________________________________________________________________
3) Florida Officials Create Season To Hunt Pythons, Other Reptiles
February 22, 2010|By Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel
State wildlife officials are offering hunters a special opportunity to capture and remove several types of pythons and other reptiles of concern from state-managed lands near the Everglades.
Folks with hunting licenses and $26 management area permits will be allowed to take the reptiles from March 8 to April 17, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Reptiles on the list include the Indian python, the reticulated python, the northern and southern African rock pythons, the amethystine or scrub python, the green anaconda and the Nile monitor lizard. They can be taken on Everglades and Francis S. Taylor, Holey Land and Rotenberger wildlife management areas.
The special season was established by executive order and it follows the end of small game season in the three wildlife management areas. The hunting will be allowed during a period when the snakes, which are non-native species, are likely to be found in those areas, officials say.
During cooler weather, the reptiles, which are cold-blooded, sun themselves on levees, canal banks and roadways in those areas.
"We are once again engaging our stakeholders, in this case, the hunting community, to help us reduce the number of reptiles of concern in the Everglades," FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said. "Our hunters are on the front lines, and we hope, by tapping into their knowledge of the Everglades, we can make significant progress in this effort."
Today, hunters are getting training on how to identify, stalk, capture and remove reptiles of concern. FWC officials and reptile industry experts will provide the training.
Reptiles of concern can be taken by all legal methods used to take game animals. That means hunters can use shotguns, rimfire rifles and pistols. The most commonly used rimfire rifle is a .22.
Hunterss are not allowed to use centerfire rifles.
Reptiles may not be taken out of the wildlife management areas alive. Their deaths must be reported to FWC within 36 hours by calling 1-866-392-4286 or by completing an online form at MyFWC.com/ROC.
The python population in Florida became a particular concern last summer after reports that tens of thousands of the non-native reptiles may be thriving in and around the Everglades.
The death of a young Sumter County girl, who was attacked by a pet Burmese python, last summer further focused attention on the snakes.
________________________________________________________________________
4) Constrictor Snakes Bill In Senate - Florida Legislators are trying to pass a bill that would prohibit importation, breeding, sale and possession of Burmese pythons and other dangerous large constrictor snakes as pets.
2/24/10Reporter: Alyssa Orange
For video of story
http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/85210047.html#
Florida's recent snake problem is making its way to the state Senate.
Florida Legislators are trying to pass a bill that would prohibit importation, breeding, sale and possession of Burmese pythons and other dangerous large constrictor snakes as pets.
However, if you already own one, you won't be affected.
Activists say they are asking for the community's support in order to help make Florida's residents and wildlife safer.
"Get behind that effort and say, we understand that people can have them, the ones that are here now, but we really need to close the barn door, stop what's going on, and ban some of these snakes as personal pets," says Laura Bevan of the Humane Society of the United States.
Bevan says that these snakes aren't a problem until they get too big for people to take care of, and they release them into the wild.
These snakes don't have a natural predator in Florida, which is keeping their population alive, and hurting other animals native to Florida.
________________________________________________________________________
5) 'Pythons 101': Hunters Learn How To Catch Critters In Everglades
A Small Army Of Hunters Is Ready To Hit The Everglades To Kill Or Capture Dangerous And Nonnative Snakes.
By Susan Cocking ,2/26/10
Video at http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/22/1494647/hunters-learn-how-to-catch-pythons.html
Joe Mennine and Ismael Vasquez, co-workers from Jupiter, were tooling down an Everglades canal in an airboat Monday when Vasquez saw a distinctive black-blotched snake, about five feet long, on the levee.
Having completed a ``Pythons 101'' crash course given by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission less than an hour earlier, Vasquez recognized it as a Burmese python. He pointed it out to Mennine, who jumped out and grabbed it.
``It tried to bite me, but it bit itself,'' Mennine said. ``I grabbed it by its head and threw it in a bag.''
The two returned to the boat ramp and turned the snake over to their FWC instructors.
``I can't wait to do it again,'' a breathless Vasquez said. ``I'm a newbie -- my very first time. The training definitely helped me know what to look out for.''
The two hunters were among about 50 who gathered at the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area off the Tamiami Trail on Monday for the FWC announcement of a special hunting season for reptiles of concern on state lands.
From March 8 through April 17, anyone with a hunting license and a $26 management area permit may kill exotic, invasive snakes -- including the Indian python, reticulated python, northern and southern African rock python, amethystine or scrub python, green anaconda and Nile monitor lizard.
The hunting grounds are the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor, Holey Land and Rotenberger wildlife management areas. Legal weapons include pistols, shotguns and rifles, but no centerfire rifles.
Exotic snakes -- especially the Burmese python -- have become a big problem in the Everglades. Growing up to 26 feet long, the Burmese is a constrictor that preys on native Florida mammals, birds and reptiles, including the endangered Key Largo wood rat. No one knows how many live in the Glades, but more than 300 were removed from Everglades National Park in 2008 alone. From the park, the snakes have spread north to the Big Cypress National Preserve and south to Key Largo.
Hunters said they would be happy to help stop the spread.
``We feel we have the knowledge, responsibility and technical ability to take care of this problem,'' said Bishop Wright Jr., president of the Florida Airboat Association. ``We are the best tool in the toolbox in this situation.''
To give hunters their best shot, the FWC brought in some of its own officers, plus local breeders and trappers, for Monday's news conference and training session. Biologist Shawn Heflick and reptile breeder Michael Cole provided a rundown on the reptiles' biology, behavior, diet and habitat.
They even brought along two ``demo'' snakes -- a large, pet male named Fluffy and a smaller, rambunctious wild python caught recently in the Everglades -- for lessons in safe handling and capture.
Heflick said the best time to hunt snakes is during the cooler months, when the cold-blooded reptiles sun themselves and ambush prey -- such as rabbits and rats -- along canal levees, in tree islands and in brush and debris piles.
He said they are not aggressive, but will defend themselves if threatened.
``You don't want to end up with a Burmese necktie,'' he said, only half-jokingly.
Cole was adamant that snakes be dispatched humanely.
``The quickest and easiest way to euthanize them is with a sharp instrument like a machete,'' Cole said. ``The veterinary association recommends swift decapitation or a bullet. Don't club these snakes to death.''
Hunters learned there are some financial incentives to harvesting pythons.
Brian Wood, operator of All American Gators in Hallandale Beach -- a reptile processor -- said he would pay $5 per foot for a whole snake. He showed off a pair of jumbo snakeskin trousers valued at $900 and touted the flavor of snake meat, although tests on samples from the Everglades show it's high in mercury.
``The meat is very excellent,'' Wood said. ``It's like chicken, but it does taste like snake.''
Several of the hunters couldn't wait to get started.
Said Rich Andrews of Pompano Beach: ``We'll take care of the problem here for sure. We truly care about the environment. It's our playground. If the snake problem is as bad as they make it out to be, who better to be out there than us?''
You are receiving HerpDigest because through your own request, which was confirmed by HerpDigest by email. If you wish to stop receiving HerpDigest just contact asalzberg@herpdigest.org and your subscription will be terminated immediately
________________________________________________________________
If you have any questions or complaints please send them directly to us at asalzberg@herpdigest.org And you'll receive a response or acted on immediately.
________________________________________________________________________
Sales From All Items Advertised In HerpDigest Goes Directly To Keep HerpDigest.org Free, Alive And An Independent Voice In The World Of Herpetology. HerpDigest.org Is A 501 © 3 Non-Profit Organization. So Donations Are Of Course Gratefully Accepted.
________________________________________________________________________
Still available:
THE ECOLOGY, EXPLOITATION AND CONSERVATION OF RIVER TURTLES
by Don Moll and Edward O. Moll. Considered by turtle scientists, and conservationists as one of the best books on turtle conservation. 420 pages; 90 halftones & 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; List price $80, now $30.00 plus $7.50 S&H.
AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H LIMITED NUMBER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES, By editor Kenneth Dodd
Table of Contents Available, Chapter one available, free at http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199541188_chapter1.pdf
"THE FROGS AND TOADS OF NORTH AMERICA" is an amazing book.
It contains:
A CD of all 101 species found in US & Canada./Almost 400 great color photos
101 color location maps /In just 344 pages.
Books this comprehensive usually go for at least $50.00.to &75.00. Or just $19.95 for the
CD. But the publisher is offering it JUST FOR $19.95 Plus 7.50 S&H.(See below on
how to order)
THE COMPLETE NORTH AMERICAN BOX TURTLE
Carl J. Franklin, and David C. Killpack with foreword by C. Kenneth Dodd (who wrote the now classic "Natural History of North American Box Turtles"
Just published. 260 Pages Over 300 full color photos and illustrations. Probably the most comprehensive book on Box Turtles and the most beautiful available.
Hardcover, Eco/Serpent's Tales
Only $49.95 plus $7.50 S&H, lowest price on net
Not even Amazon who are offering it for $59.95.
"TURTLES: THE ANIMAL ANSWER GUIDE." By Whit Gibbons and Judy Greene
of the Savannah River Ecology Lab. © 2009 176 pages, 35 color photos, 64 halftones, Paperback., 7" x 11"-$24.95 PLUS $6.00 S&H
THE TURTLES OF U.S. & CANADA by Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich, 2009, 840 pp. 240 color photos, 11 line drawings, 52 maps, 8 ½" X 11
List price $95.00, Only 1 Autographed copy left for sale at $85.00. Non autographed on back-order. $85.00.
($11.00 for S&H sent media mail, delivery confirmation, It's an 8 plus pound book)
SNAKES: A NATURAL HISTORY (ILLUSTRATED)
Roland Bauchot ,Editor
USD $24.95, 220 pages, Over 100 color photos. Sterling;
Paperback, Oversized (9" x 12")Illustrated Edition (2006) A definitive natural history of snakes, a try masterful work.
Hardcover $50.00 - Our price $35.00 - $7.50 S&H. (Only 1 copy left)
VENOMOUS SNAKES OF THE WORLD
by Mark O'Shea
$24.00, Hardcover, 160 pages, Hardcover, New Holland Publishers Ltd (February 20, 2008) S&H $7.50 (Only 1 copy left)
And soon three new books on amphibians, the "Salamanders of the Southeast"
."Ecological and Environmental Physiology of Amphibians" and "Extinction in Our Times-Global Amphibian Decline"
On how to order see below
(IF YOU ARE OVERSEAS -WHICH INCLUDES CANADA AND MEXICO-EMAIL US FIRST FOR SHIPPING COSTS.).
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Volume # 10 Issue #12 2/26/09 - Florida Freeze Continued (Affect on Pythons)
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
_________________________________________________________________________
"BIOLOGY OF THE BOAS AND PYTHONS"
Edited by R.W. Henderson and R. Powell
2007,Eagle Mountain Publishing,
448 pages, 30 chapters by 79 authors, over 200 color photographs, maps, figures, and drawings, Table of Contents available, $100.00 PLUS $7.50 For S&H.
_____________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1) Cold Snap Killed Many Pythons In Everglades
2) South Florida Cold Snap Puts Squeeze On Pythons
The Snakes And Other Nonnative Animals Are Dying By The Thousands As Temperatures Drop, Highlighting The Debate Over Intruder Species.
3) Florida Officials Create Season To Hunt Pythons, Other Reptiles
4) Constrictor Snakes Bill In Senate - Florida Legislators are trying to pass a bill that would prohibit importation, breeding, sale and possession of Burmese pythons and other dangerous large constrictor snakes as pets.
5) 'Pythons 101': Hunters Learn How To Catch Critters In Everglades
A Small Army Of Hunters Is Ready To Hit The Everglades To Kill Or Capture Dangerous And Nonnative Snakes
________________________________________________________________________
1) Cold Snap Killed Many Pythons In Everglades
By David Fleshler and Lisa J. Huriash
Sun Sentinel
Updated: 02/14/2010 12:02:47 AM EST
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Vultures circled over Everglades National Park's Anhinga Trail, where thousands of dead non-native fish floated in the marshes.
About half the Burmese pythons found in the park in the past few weeks were dead.
Dead iguanas have dropped from trees onto patios across South Florida. And in western Miami-Dade County, three African rock pythons - powerful constrictors that can kill people - have turned up dead.
Although South Florida's warm, moist climate has nurtured a vast range of non-native plants and animals, a cold snap last month reminded these unwanted guests they're not in Burma or Ecuador any more.
Temperatures that dropped into the 30s killed Burmese pythons, iguanas and other marquee names in the state's invasive species zoo.
Although reports so far say the cold has not eliminated any of them, it has sharply reduced their numbers, which some say may indicate South Florida is not as welcoming to invaders as originally thought.
"Anecdotally, we might have lost maybe half of the pythons out there to the cold," said Scott Hardin, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's exotic species coordinator. "Iguanas definitely. From a collection of observations from people, more than 50 percent fatality on green iguanas. Green iguanas really got hit hard. Lots of freshwater fish died; no way to estimate that."
The cold snap has played into a highly politicized debate over how to prevent non-native species from colonizing the United States. Reptile dealers and hobbyists strongly oppose a proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ban the import of and interstate trade in Burmese pythons and several other large snakes. They say South Florida's cold snap shows these species don't threaten to spread north, as some claim, and a federal crackdown is unnecessary.
"Pythons are tropical animals," said Andrew Wyatt, president of the United States Association of Reptile Keepers. "When temperatures fall below a certain level, they are unable to survive. It reinforces the idea that the pythons can't exist more than a short period of time north of Lake Okeechobee. Even the pythons in the Everglades are dying during the cold snap."
Wyatt said scientists are downplaying the effect of cold weather on the pythons because that would undermine their ability to win grants to study a problem that has received international publicity.
"It's all about money," he said. "It's very little to do with the truth of fundamental problems on the ground."
But federal and state wildlife officials say the cold weather has not solved the problem. Not only did pythons survive, but so did other invasive species, even if the cold set them back a bit.
Along the park's Gulf Coast, where old-world climbing ferns lay dense mats over native trees, the cold snap inflicted frost damage on these invaders from Asia and Australia, said David Hallac, chief biologist at Everglades National Park. But it didn't kill them, he said, and they continue to spread.
And although they receive less publicity than pythons, non-native fish have infested the Everglades. The cold weather apparently killed them in the thousands, including the Mayan cichlid, walking catfish and spotfin spiny eel, Hallac said. But at the bottom of canals and other water bodies, pockets of warm water allowed some of these fish to survive, he said, giving them a chance to repopulate the park once the weather warms up.
No one knows how many Burmese pythons live in the Everglades, where they were released as unwanted pets or where they found refuge after hurricanes destroyed their breeding facilities. But what's certain is there are a lot fewer today than there was a month ago.
Greg Graziani, a police officer who owns a reptile breeding facility, is one of several licensed python hunters who stalk the snakes in the Everglades. In four days of snake hunting, he found two dead snakes, two live ones, and one snake on the verge of death.
"Vultures had pecked through 12 inches by 4 inches down the back of this animal's body," he said. "I thought it was dead and we reached down to pick it up and it was very much alive."
In cold weather, Graziani said, pythons go into a catatonic state, and if they don't make it to a safe place to ride out the weather, freeze to death. "We're finding the smaller pythons are handling it better than the large ones - the smaller ones can get into different cracks and crevices to maintain the temperatures they need."
Joe Wasilewski, a wildlife biologist who hunts pythons in the Everglades, said on a single day in late January he found seven live snakes and seven dead ones.
"You don't see dead ones like that for no reason," he said. "And they were laid out like they were caught by the onslaught of the cold, the way the carcasses were lined up."
______________________________________________________________________
2) South Florida Cold Snap Puts Squeeze On Pythons
The Snakes And Other Nonnative Animals Are Dying By The Thousands As Temperatures Drop, Highlighting The Debate Over Intruder Species.
February 15, 2010|By David Fleshler and Lisa J. Huriash, LA Times
Reporting from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - Vultures circled over Everglades National Park's Anhinga Trail, where thousands of dead nonnative fish floated in the marshes.
About half of the Burmese pythons that have turned up in the park recently have been dead.
Dead iguanas have dropped from trees onto patios across South Florida.
And in western Miami-Dade County, three African rock pythons -- powerful constrictors that can kill people -- have turned up dead.
Although South Florida's warm, moist climate has nurtured a vast range of nonnative plants and animals, a January cold snap reminded these intruders that they're not in Burma or Ecuador anymore.
Temperatures in the 30s have apparently killed Burmese pythons, iguanas and other marquee names in the state's invasive species zoo.
"Anecdotally, we might have lost maybe half of the pythons out there to the cold," said Scott Hardin, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's exotic species coordinator. "Iguanas definitely. From a collection of observations from people, more than 50% fatality on green iguanas. . . . Lots of freshwater fish died; no way to estimate that."
Nonnative fish that have infested the Everglades are turning up dead in the thousands, including the Mayan cichlid, walking catfish and spotfin spiny eel, said David Hallac, chief biologist at Everglades National Park.
No one knows how many Burmese pythons live in the Everglades, where some were released as unwanted pets and others found refuge after hurricanes destroyed their breeding sites. But there are a lot fewer today than there were a month ago.
Greg Graziani, a police officer who owns a reptile breeding facility, is one of several licensed python hunters who stalk snakes in the Everglades. In four days, he found two dead snakes, two live ones and one on the verge of death.
"Vultures had pecked through 12 inches by 4 inches down the back of this animal's body," he said. "I thought it was dead, and we reached down to pick it up, and it was very much alive."
In cold weather, Graziani said, pythons go into a catatonic state, and if they don't make it to a safe place to ride out the weather, they freeze to death.
"We're finding the smaller pythons are handling it better than the large ones," Graziani said. "The smaller ones can get into different cracks and crevices to maintain the temperatures they need."
___________________________________________________________________________
3) Florida Officials Create Season To Hunt Pythons, Other Reptiles
February 22, 2010|By Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel
State wildlife officials are offering hunters a special opportunity to capture and remove several types of pythons and other reptiles of concern from state-managed lands near the Everglades.
Folks with hunting licenses and $26 management area permits will be allowed to take the reptiles from March 8 to April 17, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Reptiles on the list include the Indian python, the reticulated python, the northern and southern African rock pythons, the amethystine or scrub python, the green anaconda and the Nile monitor lizard. They can be taken on Everglades and Francis S. Taylor, Holey Land and Rotenberger wildlife management areas.
The special season was established by executive order and it follows the end of small game season in the three wildlife management areas. The hunting will be allowed during a period when the snakes, which are non-native species, are likely to be found in those areas, officials say.
During cooler weather, the reptiles, which are cold-blooded, sun themselves on levees, canal banks and roadways in those areas.
"We are once again engaging our stakeholders, in this case, the hunting community, to help us reduce the number of reptiles of concern in the Everglades," FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said. "Our hunters are on the front lines, and we hope, by tapping into their knowledge of the Everglades, we can make significant progress in this effort."
Today, hunters are getting training on how to identify, stalk, capture and remove reptiles of concern. FWC officials and reptile industry experts will provide the training.
Reptiles of concern can be taken by all legal methods used to take game animals. That means hunters can use shotguns, rimfire rifles and pistols. The most commonly used rimfire rifle is a .22.
Hunterss are not allowed to use centerfire rifles.
Reptiles may not be taken out of the wildlife management areas alive. Their deaths must be reported to FWC within 36 hours by calling 1-866-392-4286 or by completing an online form at MyFWC.com/ROC.
The python population in Florida became a particular concern last summer after reports that tens of thousands of the non-native reptiles may be thriving in and around the Everglades.
The death of a young Sumter County girl, who was attacked by a pet Burmese python, last summer further focused attention on the snakes.
________________________________________________________________________
4) Constrictor Snakes Bill In Senate - Florida Legislators are trying to pass a bill that would prohibit importation, breeding, sale and possession of Burmese pythons and other dangerous large constrictor snakes as pets.
2/24/10Reporter: Alyssa Orange
For video of story
http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/85210047.html#
Florida's recent snake problem is making its way to the state Senate.
Florida Legislators are trying to pass a bill that would prohibit importation, breeding, sale and possession of Burmese pythons and other dangerous large constrictor snakes as pets.
However, if you already own one, you won't be affected.
Activists say they are asking for the community's support in order to help make Florida's residents and wildlife safer.
"Get behind that effort and say, we understand that people can have them, the ones that are here now, but we really need to close the barn door, stop what's going on, and ban some of these snakes as personal pets," says Laura Bevan of the Humane Society of the United States.
Bevan says that these snakes aren't a problem until they get too big for people to take care of, and they release them into the wild.
These snakes don't have a natural predator in Florida, which is keeping their population alive, and hurting other animals native to Florida.
________________________________________________________________________
5) 'Pythons 101': Hunters Learn How To Catch Critters In Everglades
A Small Army Of Hunters Is Ready To Hit The Everglades To Kill Or Capture Dangerous And Nonnative Snakes.
By Susan Cocking ,2/26/10
Video at http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/22/1494647/hunters-learn-how-to-catch-pythons.html
Joe Mennine and Ismael Vasquez, co-workers from Jupiter, were tooling down an Everglades canal in an airboat Monday when Vasquez saw a distinctive black-blotched snake, about five feet long, on the levee.
Having completed a ``Pythons 101'' crash course given by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission less than an hour earlier, Vasquez recognized it as a Burmese python. He pointed it out to Mennine, who jumped out and grabbed it.
``It tried to bite me, but it bit itself,'' Mennine said. ``I grabbed it by its head and threw it in a bag.''
The two returned to the boat ramp and turned the snake over to their FWC instructors.
``I can't wait to do it again,'' a breathless Vasquez said. ``I'm a newbie -- my very first time. The training definitely helped me know what to look out for.''
The two hunters were among about 50 who gathered at the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area off the Tamiami Trail on Monday for the FWC announcement of a special hunting season for reptiles of concern on state lands.
From March 8 through April 17, anyone with a hunting license and a $26 management area permit may kill exotic, invasive snakes -- including the Indian python, reticulated python, northern and southern African rock python, amethystine or scrub python, green anaconda and Nile monitor lizard.
The hunting grounds are the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor, Holey Land and Rotenberger wildlife management areas. Legal weapons include pistols, shotguns and rifles, but no centerfire rifles.
Exotic snakes -- especially the Burmese python -- have become a big problem in the Everglades. Growing up to 26 feet long, the Burmese is a constrictor that preys on native Florida mammals, birds and reptiles, including the endangered Key Largo wood rat. No one knows how many live in the Glades, but more than 300 were removed from Everglades National Park in 2008 alone. From the park, the snakes have spread north to the Big Cypress National Preserve and south to Key Largo.
Hunters said they would be happy to help stop the spread.
``We feel we have the knowledge, responsibility and technical ability to take care of this problem,'' said Bishop Wright Jr., president of the Florida Airboat Association. ``We are the best tool in the toolbox in this situation.''
To give hunters their best shot, the FWC brought in some of its own officers, plus local breeders and trappers, for Monday's news conference and training session. Biologist Shawn Heflick and reptile breeder Michael Cole provided a rundown on the reptiles' biology, behavior, diet and habitat.
They even brought along two ``demo'' snakes -- a large, pet male named Fluffy and a smaller, rambunctious wild python caught recently in the Everglades -- for lessons in safe handling and capture.
Heflick said the best time to hunt snakes is during the cooler months, when the cold-blooded reptiles sun themselves and ambush prey -- such as rabbits and rats -- along canal levees, in tree islands and in brush and debris piles.
He said they are not aggressive, but will defend themselves if threatened.
``You don't want to end up with a Burmese necktie,'' he said, only half-jokingly.
Cole was adamant that snakes be dispatched humanely.
``The quickest and easiest way to euthanize them is with a sharp instrument like a machete,'' Cole said. ``The veterinary association recommends swift decapitation or a bullet. Don't club these snakes to death.''
Hunters learned there are some financial incentives to harvesting pythons.
Brian Wood, operator of All American Gators in Hallandale Beach -- a reptile processor -- said he would pay $5 per foot for a whole snake. He showed off a pair of jumbo snakeskin trousers valued at $900 and touted the flavor of snake meat, although tests on samples from the Everglades show it's high in mercury.
``The meat is very excellent,'' Wood said. ``It's like chicken, but it does taste like snake.''
Several of the hunters couldn't wait to get started.
Said Rich Andrews of Pompano Beach: ``We'll take care of the problem here for sure. We truly care about the environment. It's our playground. If the snake problem is as bad as they make it out to be, who better to be out there than us?''
You are receiving HerpDigest because through your own request, which was confirmed by HerpDigest by email. If you wish to stop receiving HerpDigest just contact asalzberg@herpdigest.org and your subscription will be terminated immediately
________________________________________________________________
If you have any questions or complaints please send them directly to us at asalzberg@herpdigest.org And you'll receive a response or acted on immediately.
________________________________________________________________________
Sales From All Items Advertised In HerpDigest Goes Directly To Keep HerpDigest.org Free, Alive And An Independent Voice In The World Of Herpetology. HerpDigest.org Is A 501 © 3 Non-Profit Organization. So Donations Are Of Course Gratefully Accepted.
________________________________________________________________________
Still available:
THE ECOLOGY, EXPLOITATION AND CONSERVATION OF RIVER TURTLES
by Don Moll and Edward O. Moll. Considered by turtle scientists, and conservationists as one of the best books on turtle conservation. 420 pages; 90 halftones & 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; List price $80, now $30.00 plus $7.50 S&H.
AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H LIMITED NUMBER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES, By editor Kenneth Dodd
Table of Contents Available, Chapter one available, free at http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199541188_chapter1.pdf
"THE FROGS AND TOADS OF NORTH AMERICA" is an amazing book.
It contains:
A CD of all 101 species found in US & Canada./Almost 400 great color photos
101 color location maps /In just 344 pages.
Books this comprehensive usually go for at least $50.00.to &75.00. Or just $19.95 for the
CD. But the publisher is offering it JUST FOR $19.95 Plus 7.50 S&H.(See below on
how to order)
THE COMPLETE NORTH AMERICAN BOX TURTLE
Carl J. Franklin, and David C. Killpack with foreword by C. Kenneth Dodd (who wrote the now classic "Natural History of North American Box Turtles"
Just published. 260 Pages Over 300 full color photos and illustrations. Probably the most comprehensive book on Box Turtles and the most beautiful available.
Hardcover, Eco/Serpent's Tales
Only $49.95 plus $7.50 S&H, lowest price on net
Not even Amazon who are offering it for $59.95.
"TURTLES: THE ANIMAL ANSWER GUIDE." By Whit Gibbons and Judy Greene
of the Savannah River Ecology Lab. © 2009 176 pages, 35 color photos, 64 halftones, Paperback., 7" x 11"-$24.95 PLUS $6.00 S&H
THE TURTLES OF U.S. & CANADA by Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich, 2009, 840 pp. 240 color photos, 11 line drawings, 52 maps, 8 ½" X 11
List price $95.00, Only 1 Autographed copy left for sale at $85.00. Non autographed on back-order. $85.00.
($11.00 for S&H sent media mail, delivery confirmation, It's an 8 plus pound book)
SNAKES: A NATURAL HISTORY (ILLUSTRATED)
Roland Bauchot ,Editor
USD $24.95, 220 pages, Over 100 color photos. Sterling;
Paperback, Oversized (9" x 12")Illustrated Edition (2006) A definitive natural history of snakes, a try masterful work.
Hardcover $50.00 - Our price $35.00 - $7.50 S&H. (Only 1 copy left)
VENOMOUS SNAKES OF THE WORLD
by Mark O'Shea
$24.00, Hardcover, 160 pages, Hardcover, New Holland Publishers Ltd (February 20, 2008) S&H $7.50 (Only 1 copy left)
And soon three new books on amphibians, the "Salamanders of the Southeast"
."Ecological and Environmental Physiology of Amphibians" and "Extinction in Our Times-Global Amphibian Decline"
On how to order see below
(IF YOU ARE OVERSEAS -WHICH INCLUDES CANADA AND MEXICO-EMAIL US FIRST FOR SHIPPING COSTS.).
*********************************************************************
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Wednesday, February 3, 2010
HerpDigest Vol # 10 Issue # 4 2/2/10
HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on The Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science
Volume # 10 Issue # 4 - 2/2/10
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
Special thanks to the Neil and Renate Bernstein, Wayne & Elizabeth Friar, Bradford Norman and anonymous, (you know who you are) for putting Herpdigest on their Holiday gift list.
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
THE COMPLETE NORTH AMERICAN BOX TURTLE
Carl J. Franklin, and David C. Killpack with foreword by C. Kenneth Dodd
(who wrote the now classic "Natural History of North American Box Turtles"
Just published. 260 Pages
Over 300 full color photos and illustrations.
Hardcover, Eco/Serpent' s Tales
Only $49.95 plus $7.50 S&H, lowest price on net
Not even Amazon who are offering it for $59.95.
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
Table of Contents
1) Do Breeding Facilities For Chelonians Threaten Their Stability In The Wild?
2) Recovery Of Anuran Community Diversity Following Habitat Replacement
3) A Record 5,000 Sea Turtles Cold-Stunned in Florida
4) Cold Snap in Florida Affects Introduced (i.e. Burmese Pythons) and Native Herps
5) Herpetological Teaching Award Announced
6) Gecko's Lessons Transfer Well: Dry Printing Of Nanotube Patterns To Any Surface Could Revolutionize Microelectronics
7) Saving Tiny Toads Without a Home (Spray Toads, Nectophrynoides asperginis)
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
"THE FROGS AND TOADS OF NORTH AMERICA" is an amazing book.
It contains:
A CD of all 101 species found in US & Canada./Almost 400 great color photos
101 color location maps /In just 344 pages.
Books this comprehensive usually go for at least $50.00.to &75.00. Or just $19.95 for the CD. But the publisher is offering it JUST FOR $19.95 Plus 7.50 S&H.(See below on how to order)
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
1) Do Breeding Facilities For Chelonians Threaten Their Stability In The Wild?
Vinke, T. & S. Vinke (2010):- Schildkroeten im Fokus online 1:1-18.
Abstract
After a short introduction into the aims of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the definition of the different breeding categories used by CITES ("captive bred", "captive born" or "farmed", and "captive raised" or "ranched"), we present and evaluate import and export statistics of different species and countries. These show many cases of Incorrect and inconsequent data, in some cases chelonians are mislabelled, or they entry into a country as "wild caught" and leave it as "captive bred." Typical trading routes are named. We address the limits of CITES and show possibilities of the importing countries to improve the conservation status, i.e. by double-checking non-detriment findings, like it's imperative by each import into the European Union.
Paper availabl in pdf at http://www.schildkroeten-im-fokus.de/pdf/2010tradestudy.pdf
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2) Recovery Of Anuran Community Diversity Following Habitat Replacement
Journal of Applied Ecology
Volume 47 Issue 1, Pages 148 - 156 - Published Online: 30 Dec 2009
David Lesbarrères 1,3*, Mike S. Fowler 2?, Alain Pagano 3 and Thierry Lodé 3?
1 Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
P3E 2C6 ; 2 Integrative Ecology Unit, Department of Biological and Environmental
Sciences, University of Helsinki, PO BOX 65 (Viikinkaari 1), Helsinki, FI-00014, Finland ; and 3 Laboratoire d'études environnementales des systèmes anthropisés, Université d'Angers Belle-Beille, F-49045 Angers cedex, France
*Correspondence author. E-mail: mailto:dlesbarreres%40laurentian.ca
?Present address: Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats, (UiB-CSIC), Miquel Marquès 21, 07190 Esporles, Mallorca, Spain.
?Present address: UMR-CNRS 6552, Ethologie-Evolution -Ecologie, Université de Rennes1, campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes, France.
ABSTRACT
1. Recently habitat degradation, road construction and traffic have all increased with human populations, to the detriment of aquatic habitats and species. While numerous restoration programmes have been carried out, there is an urgent need to follow their success to better understand and compensate for the decline of amphibian populations. To this end, we followed the colonization success of an anuran community across multiple replacement ponds created to mitigate large-scale habitat disturbance.
2. Following construction of a highway in western France, a restoration project was initiated in 1999 and the success of restoration efforts was monitored. The amphibian communities of eight ponds were surveyed before they were destroyed. Replacement ponds were created according to precise edaphic criteria, consistent with the old pond characteristics and taking into account the amphibian species present in each. The presence of amphibian species was recorded every year during
the breeding period for 4 years following pond creation.
3. Species richness initially declined following construction of the replacement ponds
but generally returned to pre-construction levels. Species diversity followed the same pattern but took longer to reach the level of diversity recorded before construction. Pond surface area, depth and sun exposure were the most significant habitat characteristics explaining both amphibian species richness and diversity. Similarly, an increase in the number of vegetation strata was positively related to anuran species richness, indicating the need to maintain a heterogeneous landscape containing relatively large open wetland areas.
4. Synthesis and applications. We highlight the species-specific dynamics of the colonization process, including an increase in the number of replacement ponds inhabited over time by some species and, in some cases, an increase in population size. Our work suggests that successful replacement ponds can be designed around simple habitat features, providing clear benefits for a range of amphibian species,
which will have positive cascading effects on local biodiversity. However, consideration must also be given to the terrestrial buffer zone when management strategies are being planned. Finally, our study offers insight into the successful establishment of anuran communities over a relatively short time in restored or replacement aquatic environments.
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3) A Record 5,000 Sea Turtles Cold-Stunned in Florida
by Osha Gray Davidson
1/21/2010, One Earth Magazine
Frigid waters in Florida during the first two weeks in January shocked a record number of sea turtles into a coma-like state that would have killed nearly all of them -- had state and federal wildlife workers not come to the rescue.
Several officials interviewed for this article say that while it's too early to know the
precise number of "cold-stunned" turtles rescued in the event, they all estimated that the number is at least 5,000. That is an order of magnitude larger than the worst previous incident (400 turtles in 2001).
While the cold-stun event itself was a natural occurrence, the potential impact on sea
turtles -- all species are threatened or endangered -- has more to do with human activity.
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
4) Cold Snap in Florida Affects Introduced (i.e. Burmese Pythons) and Native Herps
by Frank Indiviglio 's ("That Reptile Blog")
http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatreptileblog/
I've received a number of questions lately from herp enthusiasts (and "regular
people"!) who have come across cold-stunned reptiles and amphibians in Florida. Cuban Knight Anoles, Green Tree Frogs and many other species have been severely impacted by the record-breaking cold weather.
Burmese Pythons
A colleague's comment on cold weather and Florida's introduced Burmese Pythons brought to mind an incident that occurred several years ago. A friend of mine stopped into a coffee shop near Florida City and was surprised to see the skins of 14 large Burmese Pythons tacked to the wall.
She learned that the shop's owner had captured all along one road on a single warm morning following a cold snap. Herpetologists also know that such times are ideal for collecting, as snakes flock to roads to take advantage of the warm pavement and access to sun.
In parts of its native range, the Burmese Python actually encounters quite cool winters, and is known to hibernate. In fact, captives rarely breed unless stimulated by a cooling-off period. Florida's unusually cold weather will likely not cause many mortalities, but, as illustrated above, may render the snakes more vulnerable to people and predators.
Other Introduced Species
Successful invasive species are hardy by nature, but those from very warm habitats will suffer from exposure to low temperatures. I've had several reports of Cuban Knight Anoles that have been found alive but which remain lethargic even when warmed up. What likely happens is that the immune system becomes depressed, leaving the animal open to attack by pathogens.
Further north, conditions in winter are harsher. An introduced population of Barking Treefrogs, which normally range to Virginia, persisted in southern New Jersey for several years but died off one extra-cold winter.
Italian Wall Lizards (Podarcis sicula) are well-established in NYC and weather most winters easily, but experience high mortality during prolonged freezes.
Crocodiles and Alligators
One native animal of concern is the American Crocodile, which reaches the northernmost limits of its range in southern Florida - animals at the extreme edges of their ranges are at risk during severe weather. However, Florida's crocs have take steps to solve this problem on their own. Most of the state's population has moved into the 90+ F waters of the Turkey Point Power Plant's canals. Years ago I toured the area and was surprised to see such a large, vigorous breeding population.
Florida's other native crocodilian, the American Alligator, should be okay as well. Alligators range as far north as southern Virginia, where they inhabit lakes that sometimes become ice-bound. They utilize a very unique strategy at these times to survive, lying relatively dormant in shallow water with their snouts protruding through a hole in the ice - not what most expect of a "tropical" creature!
Other Native Species
Many natives with large ranges differ in their tolerance to the cold. For example, Green Anoles from southern Florida cannot survive the temperatures that are routinely tolerated by the same species in northern Florida. This has important conservation implications - someone who picks up an Eastern Box Turtle in North Carolina and releases in NY may be consigning it to an early demise.
Fishes on Tropical Fish Farms, native fishes and crayfishes have also expired in record numbers this year. Please check out my recent posts on Twitter for links to related articles.
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
5) Herpetological Teaching Award Announced
The Herpetology Education Committee (HEC) announces the inaugural Meritorious
Teaching Award in Herpetology, sponsored by the American Society of Ichthyologists & Herpetologists, The Herpetologists, League, and the Society for the Study of
Amphibians & Reptiles. The award will be given at the annual Joint Meetings
of Ichthyologists & Herpetologists to recognize superior teaching effectiveness andmentoring of students in the area of herpetology. The award recipient will receive a cash prize of US$500, recognition in the form of an official letter from HEC, and a plaque.
To nominate an individual, please submit a letter of nomination to Cathy Bevier
(mailto:crbevier%40colby.edu) by 31 March 2010 that:
1. describes specific evidence to support the nomination (e.g., teaching modules, lab or field exercises)
2. includes names and contact information of at least two peers who are each qualified to review the merits of the nominee, and
3. includes names and contact information of two current or former students or program participants
For details on this award and the nomination procedure, please contact
Cathy Bevier
mailto:crbevier%40colby.edu
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
6) Gecko's Lessons Transfer Well: Dry Printing Of Nanotube Patterns To Any Surface Could Revolutionize Microelectronics
ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2010) - Watch a gecko walk up a wall. It defies gravity as it sticks to the surface no matter how smooth it appears to be.
What's happening isn't magic. The gecko stays put because of the electrical attraction -- the van der Waals force -- between millions of microscopic hairs on its feet and the surface.
The principle applies to new research at Rice University reported this week in the online version of the journal ACS Nano. But in this case, the hairs figuratively come off the gecko and plant themselves on the wall.
Rice graduate student Cary Pint has come up with a way to transfer forests of strongly aligned, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) from one surface to another -- any surface -- in a matter of minutes. The template used to grow the nanotubes, with its catalyst particles still intact, can be used repeatedly to grow more nanotubes, almost like inking a rubber stamp.
Pint is primary author of the research paper, which also details a way to quickly and easily determine the range of diameters in a batch of nanotubes grown through chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Common spectroscopic techniques are poor at seeing tubes bigger than two nanometers in diameter -- or most of the nanotubes in the CVD "supergrowth" process.
"This is important since all of the properties of the nanotubes -- electrical, thermal and mechanical -- change with diameter," he said. "The best thing is that nearly every university has an FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometer sitting around that can do these measurements, and that should make the process of synthesis and application development from carbon nanotubes much more precise."
Pint and other students and colleagues of Robert Hauge, a Rice distinguished faculty fellow in chemistry, are also investigating ways to take printed films of SWNTs and make them all-conducting or all-semiconducting -- a process Hauge refers to as "Fermi-level engineering" for its ability to manipulate electron movement at the nanoscale.
Combined, the techniques represent a huge step toward a nearly limitless number of practical applications that include sensors, highly efficient solar panels and electronic components.
"A big frontier for the field of nanoscience is in finding ways to make what we can do on the nanoscale impact our everyday activities," Hauge said. "For the use of carbon nanotubes in devices that can change the way we do things, a straightforward and scalable way of patterning aligned carbon nanotubes over any surface and in any pattern is a major advance."
Pint said an afternoon of "experimenting with creative ideas" as a first-year graduate student turned into a project that held his interest through his time at Rice. "I realized early on it may be useful to transfer carbon nanotubes to other surfaces," he said.
"I started playing around with water vapor to clean up the amorphous carbons on the nanotubes. When I pulled out a sample, I noticed the nanotubes actually stuck to the tweezers.
"I thought to myself, 'That's really interesting ...'"
Water turns out to be the key. After growing the nanotubes, Pint etches them with a mix of hydrogen gas and water vapor, which weakens the chemical bonds between the tubes and the metal catalyst. When stamped, the nanotubes lie down and adhere, via van der Waals, to the new surface, leaving all traces of the catalyst behind.
Pint, who hopes to defend his dissertation in August, developed a steady enough hand to deposit nanotubes on a range of surfaces -- "anything I could lay my hands on" -- in patterns that could easily be replicated and certainly enhanced by industrial processes. A striking example of his work is a crisscross film of nanotubes made by stamping one set of lines onto a surface and then reusing the catalyst to grow more tubes and stamping them again over the first pattern at a 90-degree angle. The process took no more than 15 minutes.
"I'll be honest -- that was a little bit of luck, combined with the skill of having done this for a few years," he said of the miniature work of art. "But if I were in industry, I would make a machine to do this for me."
Pint believes industries will take a hard look at the technique, which he said could be scaled up easily, for embedding nanotube circuitry into electronic devices.
His own goal is to develop the process to make a range of highly efficient sensing devices. He's also investigating doping techniques that will take the guesswork out of growing metallic (conducting) or semiconducting SWNTs.
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
7) Saving Tiny Toads Without a Home (Spray Toads, Nectophrynoides asperginis)
By Cornelia Dean, NY Times 2/210
This is a story about a waterfall, the World Bank and 4,000 homeless toads.
Maybe the story will have a happy ending, and the bright-golden spray toads, each so small it could easily sit on a dime, will return to the African gorge where they once lived, in the spray of a waterfall on the Kihansi River in Tanzania.
The river is dammed now, courtesy of the bank. The waterfall is 10 percent of what it was. And the toads are now extinct in the wild.
But 4,000 of them live in the Bronx and Toledo, Ohio, where scientists at the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Toledo Zoo are keeping them alive in hopes, somehow, of returning them to the wild. This month, the Bronx Zoo will formally open a small exhibit displaying the toads in its Reptile House.
Meanwhile, though, the toads embody the larger conflicts between conservation and economic development and the complexity of trying to preserve and restore endangered species to the wild. Their story also raises questions about how much effort should go to save any one species.
These issues are particularly pressing for frogs, toads and other amphibians, whose populations are plunging worldwide in the face of factors like habitat loss, climate change and disease. Jennifer B. Pramuk, the curator of herpetology at the Bronx Zoo. said at least 120 species vanished in recent years.
"It's probably much higher than that," said Dr. Pramuk, a leader in the toad effort. "There are areas of South America where all the amphibious fauna are wiped out."
The spray toads, Nectophrynoides asperginis, were unknown to science until 1998, when they were found living on less than five acres, perhaps the smallest known range of any vertebrate. They are unusual in that they do not lay eggs. The baby toads emerge fully formed, each one small enough to fit on the head of a pin.
When the toads were first described, as many as 20,000 lived in the misty waterfall tract on the Kihansi, climbing mossy plants and feeding on small insects. But the government of Tanzania, with a loan from the World Bank, was already planning a dam upstream.
When the dam opened in 2000, the flow of water to the dam fell by 90 percent, and mist-dependent native plants gave way to invasive species. Within months, the toad population plummeted. When the survivors contracted a fungal disease called chytrid, the toad population fell again.
The species was in imminent danger of disappearing. So the conservation society responded by sending in Jason Serle, a wild-animal keeper at the time, and Tim Davenport, a field programs director in Tanzania. Along with Tanzanian scientists and conservation officials, they spent a day at the gorge, collecting 499 toads and putting them in plastic bags with damp moss. The bags were placed into coolers for the flight back to the Bronx.
"It was get on the plane, collect them, get back," said Jim Breheny, the director of the Bronx Zoo.
The problem then was how to keep them alive. The Bronx Zoo sent toads to five other zoos in the United States, but only one of them, the Toledo Zoo, managed to keep them alive, as did the Bronx Zoo.
"No one had kept anything in that genus in captivity," Dr. Pramuk said. "It was very difficult for us to figure out what they needed."
The crucial factors, not surprisingly, turned out to be water, light and food - very carefully prepared water, light and food.
Jason Wagner, a life-support specialist at the Bronx Zoo, assembled a system of tanks, pipes, filters, aerating vats and other equipment in the warm damp behind the scenes in the reptile house. The system produces 1,500 gallons a day of pure mist to be sprayed into the toad tanks. The system is necessary because the treatments that help make city water safe for people would be lethal for the toads.
Halogen bulbs provided the best light; the Toledo Zoo figured that out. And Alyssa Borek, a zookeeper in the Bronx, produced a safe food supply by breeding tiny bugs like fruit flies, wood lice and weevils in plastic shoeboxes and other containers filled with cocoa matting, beans and alder leaves that she gathers on the zoo grounds.
Ms. Borek raises the insects for several generations to make sure they are disease-free before she feeds them to the toads, who, except for the 60 or so on exhibit, live in 26 aquarium tanks in two clean rooms at the zoo. Even so, she said, an outbreak of chytrid in one of her tanks killed half of that population within days. The rest died in less than a week, she said, "even with aggressive treatment by our veterinary staff." She still does not know how the disease erupted.
Ms. Borek also called in zoo vets to perform a "C-section" when a pregnant toad died. The babies, delivered from their dead mother's eggs, were born as tadpoles. Ms. Borek kept them in petri dishes, but after a few weeks they too had died.
The overall effort, however, was a success. By trial and error, the zoos kept the spray toads alive.
Ms. Borek learned so much that she wrote a husbandry guide for the species; Dr. Pramuk said it would be useful for anyone raising frogs or toads. In fact, working with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the Bronx and Toledo Zoos will offer their third course on toad husbandry at the Toledo Zoo in April.
As the effort of raising the toads in the zoos progressed, their numbers in Tanzania declined until last November, when the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, which maintains listings of endangered species worldwide, declared the toad extinct in the wild.
That finding presented the next hurdle: reintroducing the toads to the wild.
There is "at least the potential for a viable restoration program," Mr. Breheny, the Bronx Zoo director, said, but a lot depends on conditions and the operation of the dam. The World Bank has established an artificial mist system there, and workers have dug out invasive plants, but it is unknown whether these efforts will be enough.
The scientists said they did not blame the dam-builders for all this trouble. "Tanzania is a real poor country and they needed a source of electricity, " Dr. Pramuk said. "When people weighed their options, it was for them an easy decision."
Nonetheless, Dr. Pramuk is not troubled by the money spent to preserve the toad - "I'm guessing it's in the millions," she said.
"Either you lose the species or you do something about it," she said.
Dr. Pramuk said efforts to breed other amphibians in captivity and reintroduce them had met with some success, with 13 of 21 species reintroduced into the wild breeding for multiple generations. Of the rest, five showed some breeding, and three have at least survived after being released.
So the rescue work proceeds. The toads destined for Tanzania must be screened, to make sure they will not bring alien pathogens with them. Meanwhile, scientists at the zoos and the University of Dar es Salaam are developing ways to keep the reintroduced toads in pens in the gorge to track their mortality and monitor their reaction to their new environment.
Dr. Pramuk said researchers would gather in Tanzania later this month to develop guidelines for this work with colleagues at the University of Dar es Salaam and the Sokoine University of Agriculture. And Mr. Breheny said that if all went well, the conservation society would begin returning the spray toads to their Tanzanian home this year.
The society will use knowledge gained in the process in efforts to sustain threatened amphibians elsewhere. "Amphibians tend to be small, they produce a lot of offspring and generally have a short generation time," Mr. Breheny said. "We can raise them in small spaces and get numbers up and consider restoration if the environment is safe for them."
But they do not want to move too fast. "We don't want to lose it on the last leg of the journey," he said.
Mr. Breheny conceded that given the small number of spray toads, their minuscule range and their extreme vulnerability to environmental disturbance, it was possible that the researchers might one day have to conclude that returning them to the wild was impossible. Then they would have to evaluate the merits of continuing to keep them alive at all.
"We have talked about it," he said. "What would be the point of maintaining these toads if there was no hope of restoring them to the wild? We don't know if you would maintain them in that situation. But right now...."
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____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _
Still available:
AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd
Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H LIMITED NUMBER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES, By editor Kenneth Dodd
Table of Contents Available, Chapter one available, free at
http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199541188_chapter1.pdf
"TURTLES: THE ANIMAL ANSWER GUIDE." By Whit Gibbons and Judy Greene
of the Savannah
River Ecology Lab. © 2009 176 pages, 35 color photos, 64 halftones,
Paperback., 7" x 11"-$24.95 PLUS $6.00 S&H
THE TURTLES OF U.S. & CANADA by Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich, 2009, 840 pp.
240 color photos, 11 line drawings, 52 maps, 8 ½" X 11
List price $95.00, Only 2 Autographed copies left for sale at $85.00
($11.00 for S&H sent media mail, delivery confirmation, It's an 8 plus pound book)
THE ECOLOGY, EXPLOITATION AND CONSERVATION OF RIVER TURTLES
by Don Moll and Edward O. Moll. Considered by turtle scientists, and conservationists as one of the best books on turtle conservation. 420 pages;
90 halftones & 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; List price $80, now $30.00 plus $7.50 S&H.(2 copies left at this price)
"BIOLOGY OF THE BOAS AND PYTHONS"
Edited by R.W. Henderson and R. Powell
2007,Eagle Mountain Publishing, 448 pages, 30 chapters by 79 authors, over 200 color photographs, maps, figures, and drawings, Table of Contents available, $100.00 PLUS $7.50 For S&H.
On how to order see below
(IF YOU ARE OVERSEAS -WHICH INCLUDES CANADA AND MEXICO-EMAIL US FIRST FOR SHIPPING COSTS.).
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ***
TO ORDER:
ATTENTION ----- IF USING A CCARD WE NOW NEED THOSE THREE LITTLE NUMBERS ON THE BACK OF THE CARD TO PROCESS YOUR ORDER.
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Allen Salzberg
Publisher/Editor of HerpDigest. The Only Free Weekly E-Zine That Reports on The Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry, and Science
www.herpdigest. org.
HerpDigest is a registered (in NYS) not-for profit organization/ publication.
Member of the of IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Child snake charmer
13 January 2010 16:30 PM
A three-year-old Australian girl has befriended a python snake.
Tiny Haileigh McGuire has been inseparable from her pet coastal carpet python Murray since she was a baby - even though he is four times longer than her.
The pair are such good friends, the youngster has even taken the enormous reptile - who is 3.75-meter-long - into school for show-and-tell sessions with her classmates.
She said: "He's very friendly."
Haileigh's stepfather Brendan McGuire - who has had the 10-year-old snake since high school - said: "Kids just take to Murray. Once you let them know it's a pet they can't get enough of him.
http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/150242-child-snake-charmer/
A three-year-old Australian girl has befriended a python snake.
Tiny Haileigh McGuire has been inseparable from her pet coastal carpet python Murray since she was a baby - even though he is four times longer than her.
The pair are such good friends, the youngster has even taken the enormous reptile - who is 3.75-meter-long - into school for show-and-tell sessions with her classmates.
She said: "He's very friendly."
Haileigh's stepfather Brendan McGuire - who has had the 10-year-old snake since high school - said: "Kids just take to Murray. Once you let them know it's a pet they can't get enough of him.
http://entertainment.stv.tv/showbiz/150242-child-snake-charmer/
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Reptile breeders say python ban will hurt business
26 Dec 2009
By GRACE GAGLIANO
The Bradenton Herald
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Florida Sen. Bill Nelson's efforts to make it illegal to import and trade nine dangerous snakes, including Burmese pythons, isn't sitting well with those in the reptile industry.
Nelson introduced the bill to target pythons, later adding species of anacondas and boa constrictors the U.S. Geological Survey considers dangerous. The bill's intent, he has said, is to protect U.S. wildlife and natural resources, as well as to address the concern over pet snakes being released in the Everglades.
But reptile breeders and sellers argue that the bill will severely impact their business.
Myakka City resident David Barkasy predicts it will cause his reptile wholesale business to decline. Barkasy's company, Silver City Serpentarium Inc., is a wholesaler of pythons, boa constrictors and other reptiles to distributors, pet shops and breeders.
Barkasy estimates pythons make up 6 percent of sales at Silver City Serpentarium, and boa constrictors make up 4 percent of his company's sales.
"Seeing that we're down 25 percent for the year because of the recession, you add another 6 to 10 percent and that's a lot of money," said Barkasy, who said he averages about $300,000 in annual sales. "Everything in that stock we wouldn't be able to sell. It would either be euthanized or kept until it died of old age."
Susie Perez Quinn, a legislative aide to Nelson, said the cost to the environment outweighs the impact to the reptile industry.
"If you take the impact on the environment and the impact to taxpayers and the millions that will be spent to restore an ecosystem like the Everglades, you can't compare the two," Perez Quinn said.
The bill cleared a Senate panel Dec. 10, setting it up for a full Senate vote.
Nelson wrote the bill after federal park officials raised concern over pet owners releasing the pythons and other species in the Everglades.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates Burmese pythons, which can grow to 20 feet long and 200 pounds, have a population in the tens of thousands in South Florida.
"As stewards of our country's vast public lands and natural resources, we have to deal with the threats posed by invasive species," Nelson said in a statement.
The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida says the bill will help protect endangered species in South Florida.
"All these snakes that are being released in the Everglades are reproducing in the Everglades and they're catching and killing a lot of the endangered species that do live and belong there," said Don Anthony, spokesman for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.
Anthony said the bill also will prevent the dangerous snakes from ending up with irresponsible pet owners.
In July, a 2-year-old girl in Sumter County was killed in her crib when an 8-foot Burmese python escaped from its glass container and strangled her. Anthony said the python bill could help prevent such incidents in the future.
"What kind of life is it for a huge snake like that to live in a little glass box?" Anthony said.
"These are wild and exotic animals that belong in their natural habitat."
At Bayshore Pets in Bradenton, the pet shop's reptile handler Mike Smith said the bill will impact out-of-state boa constrictor sales.
"It would negatively impact us," Smith said. "I would be upset about that if that snake is included on the ban. It's a popular exotic snake."
The U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers says Bill S373 will "destroy" the reptile industry if it is passed. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., has filed a snake bill similar to Nelson's in the U.S. House, which went through subcommittee hearings Nov. 6.
"It's going to destroy about one-third of the reptile industry, which is about a $3 billion a year industry," said Andrew Wyatt, president of the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers, a North Carolina-based trade group with about 12,000 members nationwide.
"This bill doesn't even address the issue of Burmese pythons in the Everglades. It's not addressing the issues of feral pythons in the Everglades."
Reptile breeder Michael Cole, owner of Ballroom Pythons South in Central Florida, estimates the bill will cost his business $250,000 a year if it passes. In addition, Cole said he fears the bill will cause more people to release the pythons and other snakes.
"If you can't sell the animals you can produce," Cole said, "then you can't do anything with them."
Information from: The Bradenton Herald , http://www.bradenton.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1399007.html
(Submitted by Sally Tully-Figueroa)
By GRACE GAGLIANO
The Bradenton Herald
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Florida Sen. Bill Nelson's efforts to make it illegal to import and trade nine dangerous snakes, including Burmese pythons, isn't sitting well with those in the reptile industry.
Nelson introduced the bill to target pythons, later adding species of anacondas and boa constrictors the U.S. Geological Survey considers dangerous. The bill's intent, he has said, is to protect U.S. wildlife and natural resources, as well as to address the concern over pet snakes being released in the Everglades.
But reptile breeders and sellers argue that the bill will severely impact their business.
Myakka City resident David Barkasy predicts it will cause his reptile wholesale business to decline. Barkasy's company, Silver City Serpentarium Inc., is a wholesaler of pythons, boa constrictors and other reptiles to distributors, pet shops and breeders.
Barkasy estimates pythons make up 6 percent of sales at Silver City Serpentarium, and boa constrictors make up 4 percent of his company's sales.
"Seeing that we're down 25 percent for the year because of the recession, you add another 6 to 10 percent and that's a lot of money," said Barkasy, who said he averages about $300,000 in annual sales. "Everything in that stock we wouldn't be able to sell. It would either be euthanized or kept until it died of old age."
Susie Perez Quinn, a legislative aide to Nelson, said the cost to the environment outweighs the impact to the reptile industry.
"If you take the impact on the environment and the impact to taxpayers and the millions that will be spent to restore an ecosystem like the Everglades, you can't compare the two," Perez Quinn said.
The bill cleared a Senate panel Dec. 10, setting it up for a full Senate vote.
Nelson wrote the bill after federal park officials raised concern over pet owners releasing the pythons and other species in the Everglades.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates Burmese pythons, which can grow to 20 feet long and 200 pounds, have a population in the tens of thousands in South Florida.
"As stewards of our country's vast public lands and natural resources, we have to deal with the threats posed by invasive species," Nelson said in a statement.
The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida says the bill will help protect endangered species in South Florida.
"All these snakes that are being released in the Everglades are reproducing in the Everglades and they're catching and killing a lot of the endangered species that do live and belong there," said Don Anthony, spokesman for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.
Anthony said the bill also will prevent the dangerous snakes from ending up with irresponsible pet owners.
In July, a 2-year-old girl in Sumter County was killed in her crib when an 8-foot Burmese python escaped from its glass container and strangled her. Anthony said the python bill could help prevent such incidents in the future.
"What kind of life is it for a huge snake like that to live in a little glass box?" Anthony said.
"These are wild and exotic animals that belong in their natural habitat."
At Bayshore Pets in Bradenton, the pet shop's reptile handler Mike Smith said the bill will impact out-of-state boa constrictor sales.
"It would negatively impact us," Smith said. "I would be upset about that if that snake is included on the ban. It's a popular exotic snake."
The U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers says Bill S373 will "destroy" the reptile industry if it is passed. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., has filed a snake bill similar to Nelson's in the U.S. House, which went through subcommittee hearings Nov. 6.
"It's going to destroy about one-third of the reptile industry, which is about a $3 billion a year industry," said Andrew Wyatt, president of the U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers, a North Carolina-based trade group with about 12,000 members nationwide.
"This bill doesn't even address the issue of Burmese pythons in the Everglades. It's not addressing the issues of feral pythons in the Everglades."
Reptile breeder Michael Cole, owner of Ballroom Pythons South in Central Florida, estimates the bill will cost his business $250,000 a year if it passes. In addition, Cole said he fears the bill will cause more people to release the pythons and other snakes.
"If you can't sell the animals you can produce," Cole said, "then you can't do anything with them."
Information from: The Bradenton Herald , http://www.bradenton.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1399007.html
(Submitted by Sally Tully-Figueroa)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Pythons found in Annville this summer are recovering
By BRAD RHEN
Updated: 10/18/2009 10:05:17 PM EDT
The two pythons found in Annville this summer after their owner released them are recovering, the director of a reptile sanctuary said.
And one of them is making rounds to raise awareness for Reptile Awareness Day, which is Wednesday.
Jesse Rothacker, founder and president of Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary near Manheim, said the pythons have been doing "really well" since being placed under the care of the sanctuary in July.
"There's been lots of heating and eating," Rothacker said during a visit to the Lebanon Daily News with one of the pythons last week. "They haven't refused a meal yet, except one time when the reticulated python was going through his shed cycle and he didn't eat, which is pretty normal. But other than that, these guys have been eating just about everything we put in front of them. They're really making up for lost time."
The first python found, a 10-foot albino Burmese python, was discovered by a woman walking along the road at Stone Hill Village in the 500 block of West Main Street of Annville the morning of July 10.
The snake was malnourished and weighed just 20 pounds. A healthy Burmese that size would normally weigh about 45 pounds.
The second snake, a 9-foot reticulated python, was found the afternoon of July 16 along the Quittapahilla Creek behind a home in Stone Hill Village, about 200 feet from where the first one was discovered. It was nearly as skinny as a corn snake and was severely neglected.
The man who released the pythons, 41-year-old James P. DeBock of Cleona, was charged with two summary counts of cruelty to animals and two summary counts of introduction of non-native species into the wild. Police said DeBock admitted to releasing the snakes on July 3 because he could no longer afford to care for them.
Rothacker said DeBock has been fined and ordered to pay restitution, some of which goes to Forgotten Friend.
The reticulated python was in particularly bad shape when he was caught, Rothacker said.
"He had almost no strength when he came in," he said. "I don't think he would have lasted another couple weeks out there."
Since they've been at Forgotten Friend, the two pythons have both eaten dozens of frozen rats. However, Rothacker said, they still have a long road to full recovery.
"It probably took years to get them into this condition, so it'll take years to get them back where they ought to be, but they're headed in the right direction," he said.
Eventually, the pythons will be listed for adoption on ForgottenFriend.org and PetFinder.com. However, Rothacker said, he will likely keep the Burmese python for a while to use during demonstrations and school visits.
He had the Burmese python, which has been named Barnie, with him last week when he visited the Daily News. In addition to providing an update on the snakes, his visit was also a promotion for Reptile Awareness Day, which is held each year on Oct. 21.
"The origin of Reptile Awareness Day is sort of obscure, but we just use it as a day to promote good will toward reptiles," he said. "Three hundred sixty-four days a year, they're getting bad press, so we try to take one day out of the year and just remember these are 8,000 species that we share our planet with and just appreciate them on that day."
Forgotten Friend is also holding a contest encouraging people to do something nice for reptiles on Reptile Awareness Day.
"We have special prizes for teachers that include reptile enrichments in the classrooms, but we're also encouraging anyone besides teachers to do nice things for reptiles on that day," Rothacker said.
Among the prizes is a family four-pack of tickets to ZooAmerica in Hershey that includes a behind-the-scenes tour.
Rothacker said Reptile Awareness Day is also a good day to talk about responsible pet ownership.
"If you're thinking about getting a reptile, you need to have a long-term plan," he said. "Some people don't plan for the long term, so we encourage people, if you're thinking about a pet reptile, consider a corn snake or a leopard gecko or a small tortoise. Consider something that's not going to outgrow its welcome and end up another story like the Annville orphans."
http://www.ldnews.com/ci_13585527
(Submitted by Andrew D Gable)
Updated: 10/18/2009 10:05:17 PM EDT
The two pythons found in Annville this summer after their owner released them are recovering, the director of a reptile sanctuary said.
And one of them is making rounds to raise awareness for Reptile Awareness Day, which is Wednesday.
Jesse Rothacker, founder and president of Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary near Manheim, said the pythons have been doing "really well" since being placed under the care of the sanctuary in July.
"There's been lots of heating and eating," Rothacker said during a visit to the Lebanon Daily News with one of the pythons last week. "They haven't refused a meal yet, except one time when the reticulated python was going through his shed cycle and he didn't eat, which is pretty normal. But other than that, these guys have been eating just about everything we put in front of them. They're really making up for lost time."
The first python found, a 10-foot albino Burmese python, was discovered by a woman walking along the road at Stone Hill Village in the 500 block of West Main Street of Annville the morning of July 10.
The snake was malnourished and weighed just 20 pounds. A healthy Burmese that size would normally weigh about 45 pounds.
The second snake, a 9-foot reticulated python, was found the afternoon of July 16 along the Quittapahilla Creek behind a home in Stone Hill Village, about 200 feet from where the first one was discovered. It was nearly as skinny as a corn snake and was severely neglected.
The man who released the pythons, 41-year-old James P. DeBock of Cleona, was charged with two summary counts of cruelty to animals and two summary counts of introduction of non-native species into the wild. Police said DeBock admitted to releasing the snakes on July 3 because he could no longer afford to care for them.
Rothacker said DeBock has been fined and ordered to pay restitution, some of which goes to Forgotten Friend.
The reticulated python was in particularly bad shape when he was caught, Rothacker said.
"He had almost no strength when he came in," he said. "I don't think he would have lasted another couple weeks out there."
Since they've been at Forgotten Friend, the two pythons have both eaten dozens of frozen rats. However, Rothacker said, they still have a long road to full recovery.
"It probably took years to get them into this condition, so it'll take years to get them back where they ought to be, but they're headed in the right direction," he said.
Eventually, the pythons will be listed for adoption on ForgottenFriend.org and PetFinder.com. However, Rothacker said, he will likely keep the Burmese python for a while to use during demonstrations and school visits.
He had the Burmese python, which has been named Barnie, with him last week when he visited the Daily News. In addition to providing an update on the snakes, his visit was also a promotion for Reptile Awareness Day, which is held each year on Oct. 21.
"The origin of Reptile Awareness Day is sort of obscure, but we just use it as a day to promote good will toward reptiles," he said. "Three hundred sixty-four days a year, they're getting bad press, so we try to take one day out of the year and just remember these are 8,000 species that we share our planet with and just appreciate them on that day."
Forgotten Friend is also holding a contest encouraging people to do something nice for reptiles on Reptile Awareness Day.
"We have special prizes for teachers that include reptile enrichments in the classrooms, but we're also encouraging anyone besides teachers to do nice things for reptiles on that day," Rothacker said.
Among the prizes is a family four-pack of tickets to ZooAmerica in Hershey that includes a behind-the-scenes tour.
Rothacker said Reptile Awareness Day is also a good day to talk about responsible pet ownership.
"If you're thinking about getting a reptile, you need to have a long-term plan," he said. "Some people don't plan for the long term, so we encourage people, if you're thinking about a pet reptile, consider a corn snake or a leopard gecko or a small tortoise. Consider something that's not going to outgrow its welcome and end up another story like the Annville orphans."
http://www.ldnews.com/ci_13585527
(Submitted by Andrew D Gable)
Pythons found in Annville this summer are recovering
By BRAD RHEN
Updated: 10/18/2009 10:05:17 PM EDT
The two pythons found in Annville this summer after their owner released them are recovering, the director of a reptile sanctuary said.
And one of them is making rounds to raise awareness for Reptile Awareness Day, which is Wednesday.
Jesse Rothacker, founder and president of Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary near Manheim, said the pythons have been doing "really well" since being placed under the care of the sanctuary in July.
"There's been lots of heating and eating," Rothacker said during a visit to the Lebanon Daily News with one of the pythons last week. "They haven't refused a meal yet, except one time when the reticulated python was going through his shed cycle and he didn't eat, which is pretty normal. But other than that, these guys have been eating just about everything we put in front of them. They're really making up for lost time."
The first python found, a 10-foot albino Burmese python, was discovered by a woman walking along the road at Stone Hill Village in the 500 block of West Main Street of Annville the morning of July 10.
The snake was malnourished and weighed just 20 pounds. A healthy Burmese that size would normally weigh about 45 pounds.
The second snake, a 9-foot reticulated python, was found the afternoon of July 16 along the Quittapahilla Creek behind a home in Stone Hill Village, about 200 feet from where the first one was discovered. It was nearly as skinny as a corn snake and was severely neglected.
The man who released the pythons, 41-year-old James P. DeBock of Cleona, was charged with two summary counts of cruelty to animals and two summary counts of introduction of non-native species into the wild. Police said DeBock admitted to releasing the snakes on July 3 because he could no longer afford to care for them.
Rothacker said DeBock has been fined and ordered to pay restitution, some of which goes to Forgotten Friend.
The reticulated python was in particularly bad shape when he was caught, Rothacker said.
"He had almost no strength when he came in," he said. "I don't think he would have lasted another couple weeks out there."
Since they've been at Forgotten Friend, the two pythons have both eaten dozens of frozen rats. However, Rothacker said, they still have a long road to full recovery.
"It probably took years to get them into this condition, so it'll take years to get them back where they ought to be, but they're headed in the right direction," he said.
Eventually, the pythons will be listed for adoption on ForgottenFriend.org and PetFinder.com. However, Rothacker said, he will likely keep the Burmese python for a while to use during demonstrations and school visits.
He had the Burmese python, which has been named Barnie, with him last week when he visited the Daily News. In addition to providing an update on the snakes, his visit was also a promotion for Reptile Awareness Day, which is held each year on Oct. 21.
"The origin of Reptile Awareness Day is sort of obscure, but we just use it as a day to promote good will toward reptiles," he said. "Three hundred sixty-four days a year, they're getting bad press, so we try to take one day out of the year and just remember these are 8,000 species that we share our planet with and just appreciate them on that day."
Forgotten Friend is also holding a contest encouraging people to do something nice for reptiles on Reptile Awareness Day.
"We have special prizes for teachers that include reptile enrichments in the classrooms, but we're also encouraging anyone besides teachers to do nice things for reptiles on that day," Rothacker said.
Among the prizes is a family four-pack of tickets to ZooAmerica in Hershey that includes a behind-the-scenes tour.
Rothacker said Reptile Awareness Day is also a good day to talk about responsible pet ownership.
"If you're thinking about getting a reptile, you need to have a long-term plan," he said. "Some people don't plan for the long term, so we encourage people, if you're thinking about a pet reptile, consider a corn snake or a leopard gecko or a small tortoise. Consider something that's not going to outgrow its welcome and end up another story like the Annville orphans."
http://www.ldnews.com/ci_13585527
(Submitted by Andrew D Gable)
Updated: 10/18/2009 10:05:17 PM EDT
The two pythons found in Annville this summer after their owner released them are recovering, the director of a reptile sanctuary said.
And one of them is making rounds to raise awareness for Reptile Awareness Day, which is Wednesday.
Jesse Rothacker, founder and president of Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary near Manheim, said the pythons have been doing "really well" since being placed under the care of the sanctuary in July.
"There's been lots of heating and eating," Rothacker said during a visit to the Lebanon Daily News with one of the pythons last week. "They haven't refused a meal yet, except one time when the reticulated python was going through his shed cycle and he didn't eat, which is pretty normal. But other than that, these guys have been eating just about everything we put in front of them. They're really making up for lost time."
The first python found, a 10-foot albino Burmese python, was discovered by a woman walking along the road at Stone Hill Village in the 500 block of West Main Street of Annville the morning of July 10.
The snake was malnourished and weighed just 20 pounds. A healthy Burmese that size would normally weigh about 45 pounds.
The second snake, a 9-foot reticulated python, was found the afternoon of July 16 along the Quittapahilla Creek behind a home in Stone Hill Village, about 200 feet from where the first one was discovered. It was nearly as skinny as a corn snake and was severely neglected.
The man who released the pythons, 41-year-old James P. DeBock of Cleona, was charged with two summary counts of cruelty to animals and two summary counts of introduction of non-native species into the wild. Police said DeBock admitted to releasing the snakes on July 3 because he could no longer afford to care for them.
Rothacker said DeBock has been fined and ordered to pay restitution, some of which goes to Forgotten Friend.
The reticulated python was in particularly bad shape when he was caught, Rothacker said.
"He had almost no strength when he came in," he said. "I don't think he would have lasted another couple weeks out there."
Since they've been at Forgotten Friend, the two pythons have both eaten dozens of frozen rats. However, Rothacker said, they still have a long road to full recovery.
"It probably took years to get them into this condition, so it'll take years to get them back where they ought to be, but they're headed in the right direction," he said.
Eventually, the pythons will be listed for adoption on ForgottenFriend.org and PetFinder.com. However, Rothacker said, he will likely keep the Burmese python for a while to use during demonstrations and school visits.
He had the Burmese python, which has been named Barnie, with him last week when he visited the Daily News. In addition to providing an update on the snakes, his visit was also a promotion for Reptile Awareness Day, which is held each year on Oct. 21.
"The origin of Reptile Awareness Day is sort of obscure, but we just use it as a day to promote good will toward reptiles," he said. "Three hundred sixty-four days a year, they're getting bad press, so we try to take one day out of the year and just remember these are 8,000 species that we share our planet with and just appreciate them on that day."
Forgotten Friend is also holding a contest encouraging people to do something nice for reptiles on Reptile Awareness Day.
"We have special prizes for teachers that include reptile enrichments in the classrooms, but we're also encouraging anyone besides teachers to do nice things for reptiles on that day," Rothacker said.
Among the prizes is a family four-pack of tickets to ZooAmerica in Hershey that includes a behind-the-scenes tour.
Rothacker said Reptile Awareness Day is also a good day to talk about responsible pet ownership.
"If you're thinking about getting a reptile, you need to have a long-term plan," he said. "Some people don't plan for the long term, so we encourage people, if you're thinking about a pet reptile, consider a corn snake or a leopard gecko or a small tortoise. Consider something that's not going to outgrow its welcome and end up another story like the Annville orphans."
http://www.ldnews.com/ci_13585527
(Submitted by Andrew D Gable)
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tracking device leads authorities to stolen snake
A STOLEN two-metre carpet python has been recovered after authorities homed in on a tracking device fitted to an endangered woylie which the snake had devoured.The snake was taken from the Department of Environment and Conservation's Woodvale Research Centre sometime between June 19 and 22. The python had eaten a woylie in the wild at Narrogin, complete with transmitter, and was brought to the centre so the tracking device could be removed from the snake.
Conservation department officers, with the assistance of the airforce, put up a search plane yesterday and traced the signal to a house in Heathridge. Department of Environment and Conservation senior research scientist Nicky Marlow said she was "absolutely ecstatic" to have the python back. "We were really upset when the python was stolen because we knew it wasn’t a good thing for her to have the transmitter inside her," Dr Marlow said. Dr Marlow said DEC needed special permission from Air Services Australian and the military to send up a search plane. Sergeant Damian Ellson, of Joondalup police, said the occupant of the house where the snake was found was at home when the property was raided. The 31-year-old man, who told police he bought the python from a seller for $50, has been charged with receiving stolen property. "He (the occupant) was not aware there was a tracker involved," he said.
"Upon entry we found the snake in a fish tank within about one minute, so it was a great result.
"(The python) was in a poor condition, it didn’t have the light and requirements a snake of that type would need. "It was very cold and distressed when located." Sgt Ellson said trading in stolen wildlife was a serious offence which carried fines of up to $7000. Dr Marlow said the python will be returned to the wild once the transmitter has been removed in a couple of weeks. The police investigation is ongoing.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25693117-2761,00.html
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Terrier Alert: Python Swallows Pet Dog
A distraught woman has told how a python devoured her pet dog - including the collar and name tag.
Patty Buntine became worried when her Maltese terrier-cross Bindi failed to show up for breakfast at her home in Australia's Northern Territory.
"She was always there so I got worried and went to look for her," she said.
"I went around the side of the house and that's when I found the snake. It couldn't move and had its head up in a striking position.
"It's belly was bulging - it looked like a great big coconut was inside it. I knew straight away that it had ate Bindi.
"I felt terrible - it's not very nice at all to think my little dog went that way."
She told the Northern Territory News that three-year-old Bindi was a lively and agile dog - and was shocked the reptile managed to strike her.
"She was a little smarty pants and would race away if she knew you were going to bath her or take her to the vet or something," she added.
"She was always darting all over the place. I don't know how she didn't realise this thing was creeping up on her."
She called expert David Reed from Reedy's Reptiles to collect the snake.
He said: "I've had a lot of calls about dogs that have been bitten by snakes, and I have even had an olive python that had eaten some new-born puppies, but never one like this.
"The maltese terrier was 5.8kg, and the combined weight of the olive python and the dog is a whopping 16kg.
"Therefore, theoretically the weight of the snake is around 10kg, meaning that the olive has consumed 60% of its body weight in a single meal.
"It really is amazing - it's equivalent to a 100kg man eating a 60kg steak, or an average 16-year-old teenage male."
Mr Reed said the snake was still digesting its meal a week later.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090316/twl-terrier-alert-python-swallows-pet-do-3fd0ae9.html
Patty Buntine became worried when her Maltese terrier-cross Bindi failed to show up for breakfast at her home in Australia's Northern Territory.
"She was always there so I got worried and went to look for her," she said.
"I went around the side of the house and that's when I found the snake. It couldn't move and had its head up in a striking position.
"It's belly was bulging - it looked like a great big coconut was inside it. I knew straight away that it had ate Bindi.
"I felt terrible - it's not very nice at all to think my little dog went that way."
She told the Northern Territory News that three-year-old Bindi was a lively and agile dog - and was shocked the reptile managed to strike her.
"She was a little smarty pants and would race away if she knew you were going to bath her or take her to the vet or something," she added.
"She was always darting all over the place. I don't know how she didn't realise this thing was creeping up on her."
She called expert David Reed from Reedy's Reptiles to collect the snake.
He said: "I've had a lot of calls about dogs that have been bitten by snakes, and I have even had an olive python that had eaten some new-born puppies, but never one like this.
"The maltese terrier was 5.8kg, and the combined weight of the olive python and the dog is a whopping 16kg.
"Therefore, theoretically the weight of the snake is around 10kg, meaning that the olive has consumed 60% of its body weight in a single meal.
"It really is amazing - it's equivalent to a 100kg man eating a 60kg steak, or an average 16-year-old teenage male."
Mr Reed said the snake was still digesting its meal a week later.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090316/twl-terrier-alert-python-swallows-pet-do-3fd0ae9.html
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