dunno who I'm more mad at

[dsreptiles]

The idiots who release these snakes or the people who find them and kill them for "the good of science" there are plenty of these snakes dead in the wild and in captivity to where they could do it on dead snakes but to kill two healthy burms who committed no crime other than being released into the wild by unresposible humans. Mean or not, adopt them to EXPERIENCED keepers or a zoo . And if nothing else seems feasable then euthanize them I guess but I'm sure they could find at least a couple of keepers willing to take two burms off of their hands. *shakes head*
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/12/18/python.detectives.ap/index.html

 

[wilomn]

Actually, the burmese are so common that there is a real lack of want for them. They are not inexpensive to feed and house when you have numbers of them. There just aren't enough places that will take them for the numbers of them that are turned loose or escape.

You've also got to remember that a big female, in the 16 to 18 foot range can lay 40 to 60 eggs a year. If food is readily available reaching 10ft in 2 years or less is not uncommon. That's a LOT of burmese out there screwing up native wildlife.

There are a lot of imports brought in really cheap. If you look hard you can find them for even less than 20.00 at some wholesalers.

Euthanizing, while not comfortable for many reptile keepers, especially the responsible ones, is probably the best course for many of these big snakes that simply can't be housed due to size and attitude. Afterall, what do you do with a wild caught aggressive animal that can't be handled, can't be displayed, can't be bred, or shouldn't be, for profit, yet needs a huge amount of space and eats a not inexpensive diet?

Peoples irresponsibility is to blame for true, and the snakes suffer but, burmese and other giants are just too common now to find homes for all of them.