Snakes on the Plain, Oh My

In addition to everything else to worry about, now comes the Burmese python.

The giant snakes are slithering from Florida toward the Bay Area, very slowly to be sure, but inexorably. And they can strangle and eat an entire alligator.

The U.S. Geological Survey released a map Wednesday showing that the Bay Area has comfortable climatic conditions for the python. It also said the reptile, which prefers to swallow its prey in one gulp, is "highly adaptable to new environments" and cannot be stopped.

The snakes weigh up to 250 pounds and slither at a rate of 20 miles per month, according to USGS zoologist Gordon Rodda. They are not staying put. In fact, one of them has already slithered about 100 miles toward San Francisco.

"We have not yet identified something that would stop their spreading to the Bay Area," Rodda said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/21/MNABV5PP3.DTL

Yay! Finally something I don't have to worry about.

As troubling as this sounds, I'm taking it with a grain of salt. Like the African Killer Bee that was supposed to cause chaos. Or SARS.

This snake does sound awesome though.

look just make the skin of this snake a new fashion trend and watch it disappear from the face of the earth in a year or two. Problem solved.

Build a fence ?

dude, your thread title is worth the invading snakes.

SARS is still out there. About 770 dead, so far, and no quick way of diagnosing it. It's a lot more likely to screw your life up than a python is.

Silliness is over there, dude.

ha!

This gay snake migration will help SFs hobo problem.

Gay? Hmmmmm . . .

"'The snake's cross-country crawl would be made easier by the large population of beavers along the way,' Rodda said."
"'Beavers would be a very tasty treat for them,' Rodda said. 'No beaver would be safe from a python.'"

okay maybe snow and cold does have it's advantages.

Here's the thing. The article said that the pythons wouldn't get there until 2020. In that time, they'll probably either be killed by freaked out farmers, go too far North and die of the cold, get hit on highways, or just get rounded up. The population they're talking about is 30,000 ish. That seems like a huge number, but it's not really that big, and they do try to collect the specimens in the Everglades.

Yeah, that African Killer Bee thing. I remember hearing about that first when I was a kid and freaking out about it. I'm pretty sure that a big bunch of snakes isn't going to invade the Bay Area. Someone will notice them and call animal control on the ones they see. It's not like they're in the middle of a mass migration, either.

I just wish people would be more responsible with their pets.

A rather convincing observation, but what about their lisps? Oh, and don't say they're born that way. Jesus told me it was their choice!

This looks like an Onion article.

At 20 miles a month, a determined Burmese python from Florida could arrive in San Francisco as early as August 2020.

"It would be exceptional for one animal to be that unidirectional in its movement, but it's mathematically possible," Rodda said.

The snake's cross-country crawl would be made easier by the large population of beavers along the way, Rodda said.

"Beavers would be a very tasty treat for them," Rodda said. "No beaver would be safe from a python."

From Florida. Duck and cover, Bay Area.
.

They do require an exotic pet owners license and CITES paperwork. Unfortunately enforcement of those usually takes place after the fact, and little Burmese pythons look like little Ball pythons to pet suppliers who aren't always clear on snakes.

Until 2004, Baby, a 27 foot Burmese kept in capitivity at Serpent Safari in Gurnee Mills, IL was recognized by Guinness as the heaviest snake in the world at 403 lbs.. Unfortunately, some assholes killed her in 2006.

Exactly. This is either a spoof or the Chronicle is pretty hard-up for shocking headlines.

Well, the Killer Bee thing turned out to be some miscalculation (of their ferocity/toxicity). But then all the bees went and died or something.

And now we have to go watch The Happening to find out why.

This
'burmese pythons for sale'
typed into yahoos search turned up 97,000+ links
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=burmese+pythons+for+sale&ei=utf-8&fr=b1ie7
yikes

I'll have to look it up, it might only be a requirement once the snake hits a certain size and CITES regulates international trade, so they're probably domestically bred. PS. Nope. nevermind, full of shit. somebody dun tol' me wrong on the Burmese stuff.

True, but the media hype over that was really exagerated too.

Was it? Perhaps it depends on the media consumed. It's not "if", it's "when"; unless a working vaccine is developed first. And, you know, everyone who believed that it was hype? Lots of them won't get vaccinated, even if there is one.