I did not know this. There is a breeding population of Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

[Thursday morning follow up]

Here's more on the story from AP:

Overwhelmed with pets that eat more than they do, python owners decide to release their snakes into the wild. It's so common in the Everglades, Snow's had to start a python hot line.

And there the Asian natives breed and find a comfortable home in the Everglades' water, heat and vegetation. They have no predators.

Pythons have also discovered suburbia, said Capt. Ernie Jillson, who helps run the Miami-Dade County fire department's snake squad. They catch around 20 pythons a year.

Three years ago, a 15-footer stopped traffic when he spread himself across a four-lane road. Last year, another 15-footer gave a 60-year-old woman quite the jolt when she walked outside to find the snake sunbathing on her patio. And rescue workers had to save a cat from the 10-foot python that was chasing it around the backyard pool.

Lawmaker Poppell says he's no snake lover and doesn't understand people's fascination with the slithery creatures.

"How can you want something for a pet that looks at you when it's hungry?" he said. "I don't want something to look at me as food, I'd rather they (pets) come to me for food."

Mabey they will help control the Nutria Rats.

Burmese pythons, eh? As if the immigration problem weren't bad enough :-)

At least the Burmese Pythons don't eat humans, unlike the African Rock Pythons that were a collecting fad among us herpofiles a few years ago. I wonder what's happened to those "little" snakes...

There was a picture a few months ago of one of these snakes that exploded while trying to digest a rather large (croc? gator?).

And a few days ago I caught a show about giant snakes, featuring the story of a reticulated python that was killed while trying to swallow a man that it had killed.

Sounds like a growth industry to me. I'm going to start working on my python trap tonight.
FYI the gator that the python was attempting to swallow had died. The python's eyes were too big for it's stomach.
Ooooh sounds like a good start to the trap design. jjs

"Three years ago, a 15-footer stopped traffic when he spread himself across a four-lane road."

With all the NYers in FL, I wonder how this could happen? ;)

Don't tread on me?