This article says in a 3 year period 201 pythons were trapped in the Florida Everglades. They were probably released by dingbats that bought little snakes as pets. When they got too hard to manage they let them go into the wilds. Now they are eating cats ,dogs and even alligators. They have no natural enemies and will only increase. Does anybody still think exotic pets are cool.?
You would think Florida, of all states, would have a law against this. If a popular exotic is capable of escaping into your area and establishing itself as a new apex predator in an already fragile ecosystem, it’s time to limit who is able to own that exotic pet. I’m all for herp hobbyists and professionals having them, but Billy Bob is gonna turn it loose the minute it hisses at little Annie Sue.
I personally cannot see the charm in owning any dangerous pets outside of maybe Pirahna because of their obvious limitations as a water only creature. You always hear those random stories like “Dude in NYC apartment mauled by pet tiger/bitten by pet alligator”.
Why on Earth outside of animal sanctuaries and zoos with people whom are trained to handle such animals would they even be kept outside of their wild habitat? Shit, even trained keepers of such animals get mauled or killed, so why would average joe ever want to keep one? Stupidity? Conversation piece?
Florida does have a law, now, that requires a permit for permission to own a Burmese python and several other species. It’s a bit late for the Burmese, though. And it’s been illegal for years to bring exotic wildlife into the state or release it without a permit.
Florida Rules and Regulations for Nonnative Species and Wildlife Kept as Personal Pets
The obvious answer is taking an axe and chopping their heads off, instead of releasing them. Lightweights…
Just curious but why would you think it would be okay to own piranha? What would be the result of releasing those things into the wild?
There are some reptiles whose presence in the pet trade is an ongoing problem. They eventually get too big for the average person to deal with, and there are many more of them in private hands than could possibly be absorbed by zoos and other exhibits. Burmese pythons are probably the biggest problem of all because they grow quickly and are fairly hardy. Green iguanas get too big for most people to handle, but most of them die from improper care before they grow more than a few inches. Green iguanas have had an established population in south Florida for years. A friend of mine works at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, at the rain forest exhibit, which is a huge, multi-story, walk-through terrarium. They keep an adult green iguana roaming free in there. Several times a month, they have to capture unwanted iguanas snuck in by people who need to get rid of one.
Well that’s just it. You wouldn’t release them. They don’t outgrow their tanks like pythons do theirs, and if you tire of them, you can just let them die off and get something else. But keeping piranha is illegal in many states, likely because of the dangers associated with releasing them into the wild as they’d probably disrupt local fishstock populations.
As far as I can tell, most people release their unwanted pets into the wild because they get too big for them to handle because they lack foresight.
Yeah! Fucking low-INT Yuan-Ti!
What?
Does this refer to the snakes or the owners? (I’m hoping the irresponsible owners).
I hate to generalize, but as a veterinarian I have recognized that certain people make better pet owners than other people. The absolute worst pet owners (IMHO) are those with reptiles.
Incidentally, at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum. . .the best pet owners (as a group) tend to be…gay males
I don’t thin pirahnas are decent pets either to someone who just wants an exotic. They had a problem with them in Chanute, KS about 12 years ago when I lived by there and I don’t know if they ever got it fixed at the lake. I know a couple of them were actually caught by fisherman. They were really starting to wreak havoc on some of the local fish.
SN1P3
Piranhas are tropical and would not survive a cold winter. They passed a law in Michigan against them to save our lakes but it was wasted. They would die in the winter.
A few years ago some ass-hat in Toronto lost his snake in his apartment building.
A six-foot-long Egyptian Cobra.
They tore the place apart but simply couldn’t find it. Everyone had to move out; the health department would not let anyone into the building as long as it was on the loose. The neighbours were a bit nervous too.
In fact, they NEVER found it. The building was left unheated much of the winter of 2006-2007 and so the assumption is that it died, since cobras can’t take cold weather. But if you’re in Toronto, you might want to keep an eye out.
I am pleased to report that the asshole owner went to jail.
I think exotic pets are fun and quite enjoyable if owned responsibly. To that effect when I was a kid I caught a gopher snake behind my house and raised it for about 5 years. I bred mice to feed it. Finally when I was tired of dealing with him I released him in the same field that I caught him in. I think people who take nonnative pets and release them are idiots because they do nothing but harm if they survive and if they don’t survive then its cruel to release them.
A lot of pet owners won’t do that. They’d rather release them into a lake than kill them or let them die. That’s a problem if the climate is suitable for them.
But “it got too big to handle” is hardly the only reason why someone might want to get rid of a pet. That’s not a problem with cats, for instance, but there are still lots of abandoned pet cats.
That is not exotic. It is a snake that is not indigenous that is exotic. When freed it has no natural enemies . If enough get out they can reproduce and grow rapidly and get to sizes normally unattainable. They become the apex predator . I saw a picture on line of a boa that died trying to eat a gator in the everglades. If it survived it would have only gotten bigger and stronger. Boas are incredibly fast . They can wrap around an animal or a human in a flash.
So only imported pets are considered exotic? Silly me I figured if I caught a courgar cub I’d have an exotic pet, ehh live and learn.
Wikipedia says the term “exotic pet” is sometimes used that way, or sometimes used to mean any unusual pet.
Among veterinarians, exotic = nontraditional. For example, in my practice I see dogs, cats, and exotics. That translates to dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, and “pocket pets”. Pocket pets is a term lumping together guinea pigs, mice, hamsters, etc.