Reptile Forums banner

Python Hunters!!

2K views 51 replies 23 participants last post by  violentchopper 
#1 ·
Just wondered if anybody else noticed when they found the dead boa, they showed a couple of Boas in the wild, but one looked very much like a Royal!!!:whistling2:
I hope i am right!!:bash:
 
#15 ·
I belive they are killed purley because they have hardly any natural predators, for example they have 30 egg's hatch, not much will kill these but lets say 5 get killed, thats 25 left, about 15 of these Im guessing will make it to adulthood, by this time they could have eaten many vital other animals in the eco-system, those 15 adults breed, lets say about half are male so about 7 thats 30 egg's from each pair ( 30 X 7 = 210 )... 210 baby burms starting from one pair... these baby's will eat other vital animals and they grow older and the circle continues, and other important animals such as bird's and rodents will deminish, they have to kill them as where would they all be kept, and places like the everglades will be OVERUN with pythons, I belive some are kept for research though.
 
#17 ·
It was a royal I spotted that as well. Not the first time they do it either. I was really hoping the caught the big mother!
 
#20 ·
I'm pretty sure they said they euthanise them, unless they want them for study. And I like the show personally it's entertaining, I don't think they paint them as bad guys at all. Also I haven't seen tonights episode (I'll watch it tomoz) but I'd imagine with the level of experience some of them have breeding royals, they'd be able to identify it :whistling2:
 
#22 ·
this could make me sound silly, but are they talking about the burms breeding in the everglades? in the us? i believe(although not as readily) boscs and niles are breeding there too, but i could be making that up, ill go google it real fast:whistling2:

yea(although it is Wikipedia, so could be bs too) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_invasive_species_in_the_Everglades#Reptiles
though not the boscs
 
#23 ·
this could make me sound silly, but are they talking about the burms breeding in the everglades? in the us? i believe(although not as readily) boscs and niles are breeding there too, but i could be making that up, ill go google it real fast:whistling2:

yea(although it is Wikipedia, so could be bs too) List of invasive species in the Everglades - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
though not the boscs
yeah there is also caimen breeding in a small area and iguanas breeding but the burms get all the press coz they make better news coz the possible threat to humans
 
#24 ·
they removed any invasive species they find.

They're primarily looking for Burms but if they find and can catch Iguanas or Nile Moniters then they remove those too.
 
#28 ·
I reckon the Aligator would win, only because if the burm was to get caught in the jaws of the aligator, he's not letting go!! But if the burm was to get a hold of the aligators throat and constrict, then as long as didn't get caught by jaws of the aligator, it may stand a chance? But it would be hard going with all that armour!!
 
#29 ·
I watched a different snake program about burms vs crocs and if the croc gets hold of the burm first then the snake doesn't really stand a chance. One smash from them crocodile jaws and the snake is history! The crocs also can't eat the snakes in one go because they can't chew and they're too big to swallow in one go, so they bury them at the bottom of the river and go back after a couple of weeks when the carcass is decaying and pull chunks off :sick: Ick!!

I like watching the python hunter series but i do feel sorry for the burms, it's not their fault they've taken over the everglades lol The people handle them well though and treat them with respect, which is good to see.
 
#34 ·
In the python hunters they were going on about the snake would not stand a chance but a burm that size i think would stand a chance. : victory:


I could imagine they can kill each other. Suppose it's down to who makes the most of their advantage. Have you not seen the pics of a burm that's eaten a croc or alligator. It had it head bit off by another croc. Probably cause it was so full it couldn't move
I thought they are equaly as strong and just down to who makes the most advanag. Like you said.: victory:

I reckon the Aligator would win, only because if the burm was to get caught in the jaws of the aligator, he's not letting go!! But if the burm was to get a hold of the aligators throat and constrict, then as long as didn't get caught by jaws of the aligator, it may stand a chance? But it would be hard going with all that armour!!
If the burm where to get and good constrit around the alligator i would reacon the burm would win. : victory:
 
#30 ·
In a previous episode they showed a huge snake (burm i think but culdve been an anni?) had swallowed and alligator whole!!!
The snake was a mess as the alligator eat its way out leaving the snake almost severed in two pieces!!!
It was awful, all sort of amazing stuff must go on far beyond our comprehension
 
#31 ·
This surprises me that this could/did happen!! Surley the Burm or Anni would make sure their prey is dead before eating, and also would imagine the alligator would put up to much of a fight also?

I agree with you Becky, they do treat the animals they do catch well, and try not to harm them as best they can, and i also enjy watching them at work!!
 
#37 ·
yea the younger burms are devistating two endangered species, some rat and bird, which they seem to find especially tasty, and i read somewhere that once the burms break about 10 ft the alligators start to leave them mostly alone unless theyre really hungry lol, but that could be bs, however, i would LOVE to do what they do, go glade wading for snakes hahahahaha dream job
 
  • Like
Reactions: NickBenger
#38 · (Edited)
its a good show. i see their point and althought burms make great pets, in the everglades eco system they are an invasive species that is dangerous because they are what they call a 'middle-predator'. this in some cases makes them a perfect fit in, prey for the gators and other big preds, but makes them the predators to the smaller species, however, due to their reproductive rate, they are overtaking and potentially wiping out other native species which is bad. if they could regulate their repopulation rate, they could be benifical however that just is not possible, therefore they have to remove the snakes. they try to rehome where possible, but they also donate the snakes to science for disection or have to put them down. some people see this as being wrong, however you have to turn away from being a snake keeper and thinking of these as pets, they are pests in the wild.
the one key benifactor atm is the weather. due to the plumits in cold weather that the burms are not used to it kills lots of the older snakes and the new hatchlings. this is great at controlling the population. however the way i see it, yes it will kill a major chunk of the population down, however some will survive. when they produce eggs, some of them will survive, and this will repeat. the more it repeats the higher the chance that the new hatchings are more adaptable to their new enviroment and tempurature changes. so yes, in the next few years the serious winters will drop the population, but after that a new form of burm will be able to withstand the weathers and repopulate given time.

i love the series. yes ocasionaly they will say/talk about a type s snake then show a completely different snake, but only enthusiasts will notice that hehe. the one main thing they said that made me laugh was in series one about the new potential threat which is a super snake. refering to a hybrid of a burm cross afrock, this snake could getto gargantuan size and kill everything in its path. lol bit too much hype for my liking lol. but all in all, very educational, the guys are very funny also and it helps to educate others.
i have seen another show about the burmese pythons, that was like nazi propergander, saying that "burnese pythons are coming for you in your home to kill your children" (ok, thats abit hyped up, but was along the lines of being a danger to everyone in every home in america). the show was half fact, half scare tactics, bent a fair few facts to make burms highly dangerous and super huge compared to what they actualy are. i cant remember the name but it was shown at the start of the month on nat geo wild during their snake week they did.
there needs to be more programs like python hunters that atempts to educate people rather than scare them.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top