Cottonmouth Eats Python Being Tracked By Miami Zoo
MIAMI, FL - JANUARY 29: Edward Mercer, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission non-native Wildlife Technician, holds a Burmese Python during a press conference in the Florida Everglades about the non-native species on January 29, 2015 in Miami, Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission along with the Everglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (ECISMA), Miami-Dade County, National Park Service, South Florida Water Management District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Geological Survey, University of Florida were surveying an area for the Northern African pythons (also called African rock pythons) and the Burmese Python in western Miami-Dade County. The teams of snake hunters were checking the levees, canals and marsh on foot for the invasive species of reptile. Many of the non-native snakes have been introduced in to the wild when people release pet snakes after they grow to large to keep. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
We’ve heard of the Florida Python Challenge, but apparently the hunt is not only for people as a cottonmouth ate a python being tracked by a zoo in Miami.
The zoo put up a post on Facebook pointing out that this isn’t the only recent incident of a native species fighting back for its turf. A bobcat was also documented stealing eggs from a Burmese python in the Everglades.
The python that was turned into prey was being tracked by Zoo Miami. Surgeons at the zoo had the transmitter implanted and seen in the X-ray is the spine of the python and the device. Not very often do you see a snake eating another snake, but actually seeing that transmitter inside is wild.
2022 Florida Python Challenge
The annual Florida Python Challenge wrapped up on August 14 and while the official results aren’t in quite yet, one snake hunter, Dusty Crum, said it was one of the most successful ever. Dusty is the star of Discovery’s Guardians of the Glades, and he was one of over 800 people who participated in the event that rewards hunters with cash prizes based on their haul. The top jackpot this year is $10,000 for the most snakes caught and whoever pulls in the longest will get $1,500. While this definitely isn’t a job for me, it does do a lot of good. Since 2000, more than 17,000 pythons have been removed through the annual contest.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Chairman Rodney Barreto said, “The Florida Everglades is an iconic habitat in Florida and removing Burmese pythons from this ecosystem is critical to the survival of the species that live in this vast wild area.”
Python Cowboy Found An Everglades Python Nest With A Large Snake Guarding 45 Eggs
Pythons are a huge problem in the Everglades, which is why the state has 25 state-contracted invasive python hunters in the Florida Everglades. One of them being Python Cowboy. I’ve seen enough of these videos to know that hunting pythons in the swamp is completely insane. There’s just so many things there that want to kill you. So to go in, hunt, and capture these gigantic pythons is insane. Even better is when they bring along cameras to capture it all for their Youtube channel. The channel “Python Cowboy” has 132,000 subscribers and provides some amazing footage. In his latest video his hunting dog, Moose, comes across a nest. A giant mama python guarding 45 (or more) eggs. When you watch the video you’ll probably have the same question I have, which is “why doesn’t he use some kind of hook or tool?”. Dude literally reaches into the nest and grabs a monster snake by the neck. The video description is “We Found The Biggest Python Nest With Over 45 Eggs On Python Island. Allie, moose and I are heading out to python islands to check out the GPS locations I’ve marked over the last year to see what we can find. This trip did not disappoint. We ended up finding a python nest. It was one of the biggest python nest I’ve found. ”
The Everglades are so crazy we actually have a category for it on our website. The other question I had on this video was “what does he do with the eggs?” He freezes them and sells them for educational purposes. My money would have been on frying them up. I wonder what a python egg would taste like? Like chicken? I put so much hot sauce on my eggs I doubt that I’d even notice the difference.
Cottonmouth Python Tracked Zoo
Marija is a morning show host on WXKB/B1039, midday host on WRXK/96KRock and night show host on WPBB/98.7 The Shark. She loves to write about food, travel, and things to do around the state of Florida.
