I am a member here at Texas hunting Form and I also breed pythons and sell them, it is 1/3 of my income. This bill that the government is passing is bs, they have made up a scientific fact that large constrictors can live here and damage our wild life if they escape. The only place this has happen is in far south Florida.
And with only one species of constrictor.

The humane society is our enemy and is the force behind this bill, this is just another angle for them to make money. Remember anti hunting is still on there agenda. Please do this letter and help.

Thanks

nimrodtracy

http://united-states-association-of-rept...amilies-alread/

While I completely and totally dislike and disagree with the far left tactics of the USHS, I equally dislike the irresponsible behavior of many "exotic pet" owners. Constrictors in Fl. is an issue that they created by setting pets free in the wild. Along with constrictors there is now a huge problem with released Lionfish in the Carribean and around FL. There is this issue with the Snakeshead fish in the Potomac River. Recently the Tiger Prawn has been discovered in Texas Gulf waters.

Those invovled in the exotic pet trade need to better police themselves to avoid government intervention and regulation.

There are also a problem with cats in the wild but the USHS does nothing about it, in fact they have this program called allycat.org where they catch wild cats and set them free after they are fixed.

Cats in the wild pray on quail, turkeys, and many other species.

The media has blown the python thing out of the water, there are not near the numbers that have been reported in south Florida.

Please help with a letter.

I am aware of their methods for dealing with feral cats. I have my own program for them.

I see no need to own a snake.

Have you personally gone to south Florida and done studies? If not, then you saying the numbers are way off is just as biased as what the media says. You are coming off as pretty hypocritical. You say that the humane society just wants to make money, while also telling us that this is 1/3 of your income. It seems that you have the same motivation as your enemy, so can you really blame them?

Most people that want Exotic pets like snakes, alligators lizards treat them like a tattoo or a piercing. They like them for a bit and then the cost and maintence becomes to expensive and instead of taking them back to the pet store or giving them away they let them go. They love these pets so much but alot of time releasing them they die hopefully. I am sorry these are not pets they will turn on you at anytime and they dont have emotions.

This is a free country and they are taking my rights away, I make money breeding and selling pythons and I have done so for years, yes I have a dog in this fight and that does not make me hypocritical. I am protecting my rights as you would.

I have been to south Florida many times and I am a experienced
collector, I have collected in other country's over the years and have worked in zoos and bred 3 spices of reptile that have never reproduced in captivity. I am also acknowledged in two books on the subject of python breeding.

There is a problem in south Florida and has been there for over 30 years, funny that its a bigger problem now? Its easy to adjust numbers on a scientific report to get the results you want.

Miami is the #1 city for importing exotics in this country, There are exotic pet owners all over our country. Why do you think the only place there is a problem with the pythons in the wild is in south Florida?

Wonder why the pythons don't thrive in all the other 48 states? I am sure 30 years is plenty of time for them to populate like they did in south Florida?

Its because they cant handle the winter any where else but south Florida.

And it was not because they were released in the wild, it was because of all the hurricanes that flattened the area over the years and they escaped into the environment.

Handle the problem in south Florida and leave the other states alone (If it not broken then why fix it)

Why is the US gov't involved and not Florida game management?

These are potentially invasive species in some areas if they are released, and like many pets the potential owners don't do research and release them when it becomes more work than they wanted. A licensing system could help prevent potential releases, where the animal death has to be recorded by a vet. But I don't think it should bet the Fed's position to implement that, that should be up to the city/county/state.

Banning them all out I think it somewhat extreme. For the most part these species are tropical and can't handle freezes that well. Not sure about their water needs, but I would hazard they don't do so well in deserts either. So I don't think they pose a significant hazard to the country as a whole to warrant gov't involvement.

I did search the humane society website and they are strongly anti-hunting and anti-trapping, from what I could gather.

I completely forgot about that. There are all kinds of wild non-native animals running loose after a major hurricane blows through. I think there was/is a problem with some monkies after, I want to say Katrina(?) I saw it on Animal Planet and could be getting the hurricanes mixed up though.

I remember a few years ago someone's "pet" tiger got loose after a hurricane down in Brazoria county. Dunno if it ever got found either.

i will probly be hammerd for this but i can see no good reason for having a large pet snake, they have them in zoos for people to look at or on several cable channels where they are taking away fish an game an law enforcment people to track an capture them after they get loose or turned loose an scare the crap out of ordinary citizens just my 2 cents by the way do you have to have a licence to do this .

To you folks who say "I see no reason to have a snake", remember that is the same argument people use who want to take your guns away! The freedom of people to be able to pursue happiness does not need to be justified.

But, just so you know, there is a great satisfaction in raising an animal from just a hatchling and watching it thrive in an environment that you created. That takes some skill! It is also satisfying to share you passion with others who may have some fear of the animals, and through your experience and education can overcome that fear and develop an appreciation for the animal. It has certainly put a smile on my face to bring one of my pythons to my son's science class and by the end of the class the girls who started out squealing the most work up the courage to hold the snake. See, it can be about the persuit of happiness, developing some skill, teaching responsibility, learning about science, sharing with others, and maybe making a buck or two.

This proposed snake ban is just a big government's knee-jerk reaction to junk "science", and an attempt to capitalize on a perceived problem that truly does not exist anywhere but south Florida. Never let a good crisis go to waste, right?

Your telling me there is no way a python could survive a Texas winter? Perhaps in a underground den or under a crawl space of a house...

As far a as your rights are concerned invasive species are constantly changing the landscape of our nation (Example: fireants, African bees, zebra mussels, various species of carp, wild hogs, etc.) and there has to be some limits.

To Nimrodtracy

How many people buy these animals as an impulse??

How many snakes have you sold that someone has tried to return and do you let people return the animal??

When you sale these snakes do you check in on them at a later date to make sure that they are being handled properly??

I worked for the largest python breeding collection in the country, its is in south central Texas. We tried some large indoor-outdoor cages to let the pythons do as they wish and we had problems. One snake almost froze to death and would have if we did not bring it in, it could have gone inside where it was warm but did not? The other snakes did not do so well so we closed off the outside part and kept them in, these were burmese pythons the same ones in south Florida.

I wont sell a snake to just anyone, you have to know what you are doing. I have traded some back but most I don't get back.

People that I sell to I stay in touch with them as I can. I don't know of anyone that would release them into the wild.

Check this out, it can tell you more than I can about how big brother is sticking it to me and people like me in the reptile industry .

http://usark.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=314

I suspect a Python would do just like every other snake in the US and find them a warm spot to winter. Every species of snake we have out here in West TX dens up for the winter.

Well after doing a little reading I'm going to take that back.

[/quote]
I suspect a Python would do just like every other snake in the US and find them a warm spot to winter. Every species of snake we have out here in West TX dens up for the winter. [/quote]

These pythons don't have the instinctual ability to den up like North American snakes. They can handle hotter temps but not colder.

Only good snake is a dead snake imo

Sorry Nimrodtracy but I dont think these things should be pets just like that crazy bastard in Ohio a couple of months ago that killed himself and let all the Lions and tigers go.

What you should've said was the only place it's happened SO FAR is in FL. I'm all for freedom but you have to be reasonable.

The pythons have been there over 30 years and have never migrated north. Its to cold.