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Southwest Florida has been overrun by Burmese pythons for years as population numbers of the invasive snake species balloons year after year. Field biologists from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida are on the frontlines for removal of these invasive snakes wreaking havoc on Florida’s ecology and recently, they shared images of a rare ‘mating ritual’ where 11 Burmese pythons were coiled up in a ‘mating ball’ that totaled over 500 pounds of snakes.
A single Burmese python can lay between 50+ eggs at a time according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The ‘Python Cowboy’ caught a 16ft snake last year that had a whopping 60 eggs in its belly.
The bigger the snake, the more eggs she can hold. And that’s a huge part of why it’s important to remove the largest snakes from the wild to fight back the invasive species.
On the frontlines, field biologists have taken to using male snakes injected with radio tracking devices that then lead them to the large breeding females. It’s a brilliant strategy as the males themselves are incapable of asexual reproduction and by nature will always be seeking out the biggest breeding Burmese python females.
One of these male snakes injected with a radio tracking device is what led Conservancy Biologist Ian Bartoszek and his team to the ‘mating ball’ of Burmese pythons several weeks ago. The Conservancy shared an image of the mating ball along with a caption from Ian Bartoszek about the reality of what they do:
With the image, Bartoszek said “For 10 years, we’ve been catching and putting them [Burmese pythons] down humanely. You can’t put them in zoos and send them back to Southeast Asia. Invasive species management doesn’t end with rainbows and kittens. These are remarkable creatures, here through no fault of their own. They are impressive animals, good at what they do.”
Bartoszek recently caught another 16-foot Burmese python and I covered that story with images provided by the Conservancy.
What can be done about Burmese pythons in Florida?
Would you eat python? I would. I’ve eaten rattlesnake tacos before. I’d certainly give python a try. Why not?
That’s a question recently posed in an article on ABC News but with relation to ‘python farming.’ A growing contingent of meat farmers believe that python farming may hold the key to sustainability.
Python meat is remarkably similar to chicken cutlets/fillets. Snake meat in general is a classic ‘tastes like chicken’ type of exotic meat. And given that Burmese pythons can grow 19+ pounds, this seems like an untapped meat source here in Florida.
As for why python farming as a meat source could be great for sustainability, conservationist Patrick Aust told ABC News “these animals are extremely good converters of food and particularly protein. Literally, they are specialists and making the most of very little.” They’re creatures that require very little to produce a lot. Sounds more efficient than cows, right?
Of course, getting people to eat python won’t be easy. I can barely get my kid to eat pizza. But as population numbers of Burmese pythons continue to explode in Florida year after year, introducing python to the public as an ‘exotic’ meat served in tacos at roadside attractions in and around Everglades National Park could be a novel way of getting people talking about it.