Burmese Pythons Invading Florida

The Burmese python was first sighted in the Everglades National Park in the 1980's. It is believed that people who kept these pythons as pets released them into the wild once they got too large and threatening to take care of. Since then, they have spread across the Everglades National Park, and most of Southern Florida. These pythons are competing with the predators native to the Everglades for food, and as a result the small mammal population has almost entirely been wiped out.  A study in 2012, showed that opossum and raccoon populations had been reduced by 99%, and the population of bobcats was reduced by 87%. Additionally, the populations of marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes in Southern Florida have dipped so low, that the study could not even make an estimate for the population numbers. 

The worst part about Burmese pythons is that they are so elusive and easily camouflaged with their surroundings. A snake well over ten feet in length can easily vanish into a small patch of grass. This makes estimating the current python population in Southern Florida almost impossible. Estimates can range from 30,000 to over 300,000 snakes. Furthermore, these creatures are able to reproduce at an alarming rate. A female python can lay over eighty eggs in a single nest, and most of those young will survive until adulthood because the python has no natural predators. These snakes can easily grow over fifteen feet with a steady diet, and weigh over 150 pounds.

Larger, adult Burmese pythons will eat anything they can catch including wild pigs, large deer, and even in rare cases adult alligators. Florida authorities have been trying to combat these pythons since the early 2000's, but researchers have estimated that only 2,000 Burmese pythons have been removed from the Everglades and Southern Florida. The only method to extract these snakes is to actually go around and search for them with human eyes. There are no fancy python traps, and there is no predator that can be brought in to prey on pythons. The state of Florida has begun to encourage public snake hunts to get more people involved, hoping that more hands means more snakes removed. If a solution is not put into action soon the entire Florida ecosystem may be largely taken over by the Burmese python. 

https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-have-invasive-pythons-impacted-florida-ecosystems?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products

https://www.popsci.com/florida-invasive-pythons#page-3