Python Snakes

I’m not into Ophiology the study and science of snakes in specific. It’s a branch of herpetology that is exclusive to snakes. Another word used for this field is “Ophiodiology” and we call that weird person who does this kind of job a Pee-Wee Herman “Ophiologist”. Remember herpetology is the science of reptiles and amphibians”.

As a matter a fact! I don’t even like snakes since what happened in the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden is described in Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3. The Lord created the Garden specifically for Adam, the first man, whom God had formed. In (Genesis 2:8-9), I read: "The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." I believe the Garden was atop of a mountain, or perhaps it was an outlet for freshwater springs, because I read, "a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads" (Genesis 2:10). Thus, the Garden of Eden was perfect. It offered both beauty and sustenance, being home to every tree "that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, " and a source of freshwater from the river to drink. As for man, God "put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it " (Genesis 2:15).  

This short story wasn’t intended to be about any religious aspects at all. Although The Bible characterizes Satan’s tactics as “machinations,” or “crafty acts,” and this incident helps to prove the point. (Ephesians 6:11; footnote). What we see in Eden is no fable about a talking animal; it is a chilling example of clever strategy designed to lure people away from God. In what way? Satan chose his target carefully. Eve was the youngest intelligent creature in the universe. Taking advantage of her inexperience, he set out to trick and seduce her. By hiding behind a python snake, a very cautious creature, Satan shrewdly concealed his own bold and ambitious aims. (Genesis 3:1 ). Consider, too, what he accomplished by making the python snake appear to speak.

I know sometimes I get off tangent on a subject. Yet I assure you I’ll get back on track about how python snakes are ruining the ecosystem especially here in Florida where I reside.

There are tens of thousands of pythons in the Florida wild, attacking animals and damaging the ecosystem and the quest to stop them has become a collective crusade or maybe that’s an understatement.

If I were Charles in Charge of some wildlife preserve committee I would get assistance from 1,000 python snake charmers from Asia and the Middle east. I’d have them acting like the pied piper of  Hamelin. The legend dates back to the Middle Ages, the earliest references describing a piper, dressed in multicolored ("pied") clothing, who was a python snake-catcher hired by the town to lure python snakes away with his magic pipe.  You do see the correlation between the python snake charmer and the Pied Piper. They both use a pipe.

Now in the Everglades it is suggested that a disturbing number of mammals have been swallowed by the invasive species: a spike in python sightings since 2000 coincided with a more than 90% reduction in raccoons, opossums and rabbits. Python snakes don’t do to bad getting rid of birds and their eggs too. If only they liked roaches.

I was at a friend’s home at a barbeque in the backyard of his everglades mansion and actually watched a 16 foot python strangle an 3 foot baby alligator. Before I could run back into his 20 bedroom house to get my cell phone to capture this amazing event. The snake swallowed him whole.

Damage done by the pythons to south Florida ecosystems has become so acute in recent years that not even. Stephen Robert Irwin nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", an Australian zookeeper, television personality, wildlife expert, environmentalist and conservationist couldn’t solve this mystery. Sorry to mention him because he was fatally stabbed by a stingray in a freak accident a couple years ago.  

Wildlife biologists, government agencies, zoos, python snake shoe and belt companies and universities are deploying a full arsenal of responses, from telemetry tracking to early research into pheromone manipulation. According to federal importation data, more than 199,000 Burmese pythons, which are native to south-east Asia, were brought into the US between 1999 and 2006 alone. Due to Florida’s amenable climate, obliging private ownership laws and lax biosecurity, some of those became pets. What in the world would anyone in their reptile right mind want to own a python snakes as a pet?

Four different biologists I spoke with say that owners may have set their pythons free either in or around the Everglades when their endearing 12inch hatchlings grew to 25 feet long and became unmanageable.  Really snake owners!

Remember when pet owners of alligator started flushing them down the toilet in  New York City sewer system became filled with them. No one really cared because they were feeding off the many rats. It wasn’t until they started looking for human meat is when there was a big concern. Okay, okay, I know I went off tangent again.

I could understand if you were working in a circus and used a 22 foot python snake for your act until it bit you eventually. Just ask Siegfried or Roy a duo of German magicians and entertainers, who became known for their appearances with white lions and white tigers. During a show at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas on October 3, 2003, a seven-year-old white tiger named Mantacore attacked Roy. As part of the act but veering off script. Wait a minute! Wait a Minute! Since when did a wild tiger learn how to follow a script? Maybe Tigger the soft stuffed animal tiger from Winnie the Pooh might be able to follow a script, but not some animal who felt they were in prison. Roy held his microphone to Mantacore's mouth and told him to say "hello" to the audience. Mantacore responded by biting Roy's sleeve. Roy swatted the tiger and barked "release!", but Mantacore then knocked ole Roy down with his leg and pinned him to the floor. As standby trainers rushed in from offstage to assist, Mantacore bit into Roy's neck and carried him offstage. Trainers got the tiger to release Roy by spraying him with CO₂ canisters, the last resort available. The attack severed Roy's spine, drained his blood, and severely injured other parts of his body, permanently impairing his motor and verbal abilities. He also had a stroke, either before or after Mantacore dragged him offstage.

I know I almost had a heart attack as I watched that performance live. I bet I wasn’t the only person in the audience who had trouble sleeping at night for a long time. Sorry, but I informed you earlier that sometimes I go off tangent at times and this was one of those times again.

A list of reptile and amphian imports into Florida since 1863 shows that “pet trade” is responsible for more than 85% of introductions into the Florida environment, most of them occurring during the past six decades. Recognizing the link, the FWC made it illegal to have Burmese pythons as pets in Florida in 2010. Them python snakes can lay up to 86 eggs at a time. The average incubation time for python snake eggs is anywhere from 55 to 60 days. So you figure on an average. In one year a python snake can reproduce over 480 little python snakes. Those 480 python snakes can reproduce 15,360 in a year.

Much of what is known about the python invasion is due to efforts by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and its collaborators.

One hot day as dusk was turning into darkness, while my girlfriend Melissa and I were joy riding we swung off the paved road on to a dirt levee surrounded by vast expanses of saw grass. White mayflies cover the windshield and invisible midges (appropriately named “no-see-ums”) begin to bite at my eyelids. I quickly rolled up the window. Outside I sensed an eerie quiet, the faint smell of watery rot, an orange glow from the city refracted across the wetlands. Nighthawks swooped through my all terrain vehicle headlights, but I keep my eyes fixed on the dirt road, watching to see if any python snakes would pop up out of a wicker basket like a genie in the bottle. Melissa was as scared as a turkey the day before thanksgiving.

I was not afraid at all because I prayed Luke 10:19  “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on python snakes and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you”. The python snake is the snake that steals and kills and destroys destinies. It is the power of darkness that defile, pollute and contaminate the ecosystem.