It's bigger than many had hoped:

Scientists from several institutions, including the National Park Service, have joined Mazzotti's team in hopes of controlling, if not eradicating, the python population. But that's pretty hard when it's uncertain how many are out there and where they hang out...

...Most pythons have been seen near roads or other manmade structures, so officials had hoped they had not ventured too deeply into the park. But that turned out not to be the case. They are everywhere.

"Burmese pythons are right in the heart of Everglades National Park," Mazzotti says. And they are wreaking havoc on the system, eating everything from gray squirrels to bobcats and threatening efforts to restore native species to the park.

Unfortunately, it's an ideal home for pythons. They are "habitat generalists," meaning they like to live between wet and dry areas, and they like to climb trees, and they are good swimmers, and there's lots of animals for them to eat. That's also just the kind of environment that appeals to alligators.

"So here they are, hanging out in the same places, doing the same things," Mazzotti says. "And on more than one occasion, several of which were witnessed by the public, they have gotten in fights."

I haven't seen any, but I don't spend that much time there.

Python VS Alligator Call your cable company for pay-for-view.

Tob

Those darn dynamically typed scripting languages, they're popping up everywhere!

Nile monitor lizards are a problem in Florida, too (they even made National Geographic in that context). They evolved to predate the eggs and young of crocodiles, so they made the switch to alligators easily, but they are generalists as well - sort of a scaly coyote. They're much smarter and more agile than pythons even if they don't grow as big.

So when does python hunting season start?

Could be worse. At least they aren't Monty Pythons.

Give 'em about 50,000 years and they'll work things out.

Have you ever noticed how much more advanced alligators are over other crocodilians? Even other caimans? It would be interesting to see how the American Alligator as a species adapts to Burmese Pythons over the generations. Communal nesting? Cooperative hunting? Is the potential there?

Alan K Henderson has the right idea.

Put the Florida hunters to work. Set a bounty of $15 a head and let it fly! A low bounty will bring the hunters in without having them buy the snakes for $20 at the flea market, and sell them to gov't for $30 or $40. Let them have the skins, meat, and skulls for processing after the tally is done.

Python boots, hats, hat bands, gloves, skirts, Buffalo Python strips, Python Etoufee, Python burgers. Tourists will eat or buy anything.

I guarantee you some enterprising swamp rats will find the best way to hunt, attract and capture the snakes. They will also create a market for the skins, skulls etc. to Florida tourists. Some swamp rat Florida hunters with 30 years of hunting experience and a 7th grade education will out hunt a group of government animal behaviorists every time, PhD's or not.

Alan this idea is probably too simple for the gov't to use. It's cheap, self-sustaining until the project is finished and it might just work.

Alan Henderson's idea will lead to a quagmire, Halliburton profiteering, and global warming. We must address the root causes of pythonism, not fight pointless wars. I blame George Bush.

The gray squirrels and bobcats will see us as liberators.

Aren't they PC-ly called Myanmarese Pythons these days?

let them be! They started with just a few, so obviously it's not going to be easy. I would even say impossible.