Python Hunters Prevent 431 Burmese Python Eggs From Hatching in Florida Everglades

Python hunters associated with TheCritterCult said they prevented 431 invasive Burmese python eggs from hatching during the most recent nesting season in the Everglades.

“Pets are something fun, sometimes necessary, that some people decide to have”

Agencia de Noticias Científicas de la UNQ

The Cool Down reported that the greater Everglades ecosystem covers more than 10,000 square miles, making locating and removing the giant snakes one by one an enormous challenge.

Agencia de Noticias Científicas de la UNQ

TheCritterCult said in its video that it focused on searching habitats with the highest chances of having nests, because female pythons stay with a nest and protect the eggs until hatching.

In one example shown by The Cool Down, the group removed a 16-foot, 7-inch female weighing 92 pounds along with a clutch of 58 eggs, and in another it found a 13-foot, 7-inch female with 39 eggs.

A snake hunter in the Florida Everglades discovered two neighboring Burmese python nests containing a combined total of roughly 120 eggs, according to a report from The Cool Down that was republished by Yahoo News.

The discovery, shared in a viral Reddit video, drew attention because of the number of eggs found in one location and the ongoing threat invasive pythons pose to South Florida’s ecosystem.

Florida Daily

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the large constrictors are an invasive species and represent a threat to native wildlife in the Everglades ecosystem.

The Florida Daily also cited the U.S. Geological Survey, saying a 2012 study found raccoon populations had declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent and bobcats 87.5 percent in areas where pythons had become established.

In the Everglades, American scientists captured an oversized Burmese python weighing 64 kg and 5.2 meters long in the Big Cypress National Preserve on Thursday, April 4, according to Linfo.re.

“Image - United States: a 63 kg python captured LINFO”

Linfo.re

Linfo.re said the female python carried 73 developing eggs and that researchers attached radio transmitters to male pythons to trace back to the female.

National Geographic described researchers Ian Bartoszek and Ian Easterling, along with their intern Kyle Findley, transporting a 97 kg female measuring 5.40 m to their Naples, Florida laboratory.

National Geographic reported that since 2000 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has eliminated or removed more than 15,000 pythons, and since 2017 more than 1,000 are removed each year.