500 Pounds of Pythons Caught in One Day

They are out there in great numbers, been around for more than 30 years, not native to the Florida habitat and eating our local wildlife to a degree of critical concern. Depending on who you talk to, there could be several hundred thousand in the Everglades and they will never be completely irradicated from our ecosystem. We are talking about the invasive Burmese Pythons.

Licensed hunters like Amy Sewe are in the wild on a regular basis, catching as many as they can, humanely removing them from the Everglades. People like Amy understand the importance of maintaining a balance in nature and preserving the native animals.

Reptiles such as these pythons have their own agenda and will eat whatever comes along their path. According to University of Florida research, pythons are devouring 24 species of mammals, 47 species of birds and 3 reptile species. This information comes from the result of necropsied pythons. Also, they will reproduce almost exponentially, and mating season is now!

In addition to the licensed hunters, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, led by Ian Bartoszek, is using technology to track these invaders that have become an apex predator. For more than 10 years this crew has been installing tracking devices in captured male snakes. Using radio telemetry these males can be located, especially this time of year during mating season, and eventually lead the crew to the females.

On February 21st, the crew hit the jackpot in Collier County. Some of these male “scout snakes” were located with several females in what is known as a “mating ball.” In fact, two mating balls were found on the same day!

The first mating sight included two males and one female. The two males weighed about 45 pounds each, but the female was a whopping 125 pounds! The second sighting was much larger, and the mound was amazingly seven feet wide. Five males in the 30 pound range were mating with a 14 foot, 85 pound female and two additional males were captured not too far away.

All of the snakes were captured, bagged and removed alive, except for the scout snakes that will eventually lead the team to additional females in the future. These snakes will be humanely euthanized, and their stomach contents studied. 

It will be determined if the females were already developing eggs. The average egg clutch for a female is 46 with a high range of 122 eggs found in one female in recent years. Catching a female before eggs are laid and hatched can effectively remove 50 predators that have no chance to run rampant on the environment. This resonates the importance of the male scouts.

Catching 11 snakes in a single day is an amazing feat for the Conservancy crew and they are doing everything possible with every available tool to control, as best as possible, the further expansion of these invaders.

But, as python populations’ need for food continues, they are expanding their territory further north. The U.S. Geological Survey stated that the population has spread beyond their initial range of the Florida Everglades to places such as Fort Myers and West Palm Beach, and they are hungry. 

Raccoon and possum populations are down as much as 90%, possibly more, in python territories. One 32 pound python was found with a 35-pound deer in its stomach! Bird species are also suffering dramatic losses due to predation.

With the current tools available some scientists say that eradication of the Burmese pythons would be impossible. Plus, they reproduce so quickly that stabilizing the existing number is a battle of its own.

The possibility of genetically modified males that cannot reproduce could be introduced to the society, hopefully producing a male-based population. If females are eliminated, the entire species might eventually die off.

Hopes are there and new technology plus scientific minds are doing everything they can to help solve this problem. Let’s hope that time is on their side!

Bob is the lead Naturalist for the 10,000 Islands Dolphin Study team on the Dolphin Explorer. He is also a trained python hunter. Bob is the author of two books and twice a national award-winning columnist for Coastal Breeze News. Bob loves his wife very much!