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FLORIDA SNAKES and LIZARDS
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GIANT SNAKES
Invasive Pythons Squeezing Florida Everglades
In 2004, there were 6,140 Burmese pythons imported to the U.S. from Southeast Asia, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Over 150,000 Burmese pythons have been imported to the U.S. since 2000. Thousands more were captive bred in the USA. Now hundreds of the constrictors—which reach over 19 feet and 200 pounds —are breeding and expanding their range in Florida wetlands. |
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"These [snakes] are now the huge apex predator in the Everglades," said Kenneth Krysko, a reptile researcher with the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. "There's nothing bigger." The massive snakes pose a threat to human safety.
The first python was discovered in the Everglades in 1979. It was removed, and no more were found until 1995. Since 2000, the population has exploded. More than 230 pythons have been discovered inside the park, Krysko said. The biggest one measured 15 feet long.
Last October an employee of the South Florida Water Management District found five pythons—each eight to ten feet long—in one day while mowing grass adjacent to the park. Chris and Deane just took a swamp buggy ride through the glades and the guide told us the Pythons are seen frequently and regularly. He said the Seminole are trying to kill them as much as possible.
The python's population boom has the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission concerned. WHY? Because the Pythons may be killing native mangrove fox squirrels and wood storks, and they could be competing with the eastern indigo snake for both food and space. (The eastern indigo snake is a threatened species). There are also increasing serious concerns about human safety. The gigantic snakes are able to kill alligators, and they can definitely kill people.
IGUANAS ALSO
Iguana Invasion in South Florida
Homeowners, motorists and tourists are being pestered by Iguana lizards running throughout South Florida. It appears all of Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties are heavily affected, and thirteen counties including Collier and Lee are seeing Iguana population increases. There are three types. The common green, the Mexican spiny-tailed and the black spiny-tailed iguana. By the thousands they roam the countryside, and even in neighborhoods, especially near water, like the Intracoastal Waterway. Even in Florida Keys such as Big Pine Key in Monroe County. Iguanas are so thick they cause traffic hazards as they amble across the road, especially US-1.
The University of Florida provides this information.
"Damage caused by iguanas includes eating valuable landscape plants, shrubs, and trees, eating orchids and many other flowers, eating dooryard fruit like berries, figs, mangos, tomatoes, bananas, lychees, etc. Iguanas do not eat citrus. Burrows that they dig undermine sidewalks, seawalls, and foundations. Burrows of iguanas next to seawalls allow erosion and eventual collapse of those seawalls. Droppings of iguanas litter areas where they bask. This is unsightly, causes odor complaints, and is a possible source of salmonella bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning. Adult iguanas are large powerful animals that can bite, cause severe scratch wounds with their extremely sharp claws, and deliver a painful slap with their powerful tail."
The Miami Herald said this.
"The lizards love to swim, tend to defecate near water -- meaning boats, seawalls, and Jacuzzi platforms -- and are known to carry nasty germs, such as salmonella, that can be transferred to humans. They munch on foliage and flower blossoms, especially bright-colored ones like hibiscus. Fearless climbers with sharp toenails, they can easily scale treetops that are out of reach for other species."
In a Miami Herald article by Daphne Duret, she said
"... grown into a Godzilla-sized problem. They're huge. They're hungry. And they're eating parts of South Florida."
In the Naples News this is reported.
"Jerry Jackson, a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, in 2004 was commissioned by Lee County officials, to get a handle on the iguana population that had increased from 2,000 to 10,000 during the past five years. Jackson's research discovered the reptiles eating gardens, burrowing into beach dunes and threatening the gopher tortoise.The iguanas are increasing in Collier County too, but some believe the Lee County Boca Grande population to be the largest concentration of Iguana in America.
NILE MONITORS TOO
Enter the Dragon into South Florida
The Nile Monitor, the longest lizard in Africa, was first observed in southwestern peninsular Florida in the Cape Coral area of Lee County in 1990. Hundreds of these Monitors of all sizes have been seen or collected, and they are reproducing. Not only in Cape Coral, but the lizard is expanding its range north, south, east, west to nearby islands. Because this large lizard has the potential to disperse into nearby ecologically sensitive areas and preserves where it could pose a serious threat to waterbirds, burrowing owls, sea turtles, and other native wildlife, population eradication may be warranted.
In the St Petersburg Times this is reported.
"Amid the burgeoning city of Cape Coral, a new resident has established a clawhold: the 7-foot-long, carnivorous Nile monitor lizard.They eat anything that fits into their mouths and can devour oysters and turtles, shell and all. Females can lay up to 80 eggs at one time. The Nile monitor is native to Africa, but you can buy them in pet stores all over Florida, no permit required. There are hundreds of them living wild in Cape Coral, maybe more than 1,000".
Many people in Florida feel that the Monitor is a real threat to the Everglades.
In the Smithsonian Magazine this is reported.
"The monitor population has, like those of brown anole and other introduced animals, grown rapidly after an initial lag. Its fecundity, eclectic diet, and ability to travel over land and across water would allow the species to disperse widely in Florida….Extensive canals in southern Florida would provide ideal dispersal corridors. Beyond the canals lie Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, then the Florida Keys."
Finally, some experts feel that the, eventual and extensive spread of the Python snake and the Monitor lizard throughout the Everglades is unstopable and inevitable.
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