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IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2008 173COMMENTARIES

How would you like to find out that a 15-foot-long
Burmese python was a permanent resident in your neigh-

borhood? Add to this report that someone has found a clutch of
50 recently hatched python eggs, which means that pythons are
breeding and that the juveniles have dispersed into the area. This
exact scene has not been documented yet in suburban areas of
south Florida, but the possibility exists. A recent book (The
Exotic Amphibians and Reptiles of Florida, 2004, Krieger
Publishing Company, Malabar, FL) by Walter E. Meshaka, Jr.,
Brian P. Butterfield, and J. Brian Hauge gives cause for the
human residents of Florida to address the issue of introduced
species of herpetofauna that have now become their new neigh-
bors in the state.

The book provides an account of 40 species of reptiles and
amphibians that are now believed to be established residents in

the state. In other words, they have breeding populations that
will continue to persist, often to the detriment of native species.
Most of the exotic reptiles that now thrive in Florida are lizards
and include species from Asia, Africa, India, and tropical
America. Introduced species often do well in a new region
because their population sizes are no longer controlled by natu-
ral predators. One of the ways that exotic species can eliminate
native species is by outcompeting them for food, or in many
cases just by eating them. For example, the Knight Anole from
Cuba will eat other lizards and reaches twice the size of most
native lizard species.

C O M M E N T A R I E S

A Burmese Python Could Be 
More Than A Pest1

J. Whitfield Gibbons

Savannah River Ecology Lab, Aiken, South Carolina

1 Reprinted with permission from the author and Partners in
Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (http://www.parcplace.org/).

Most Burmese Pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) encountered in southern Florida are adults, presumably former pets released by owners when
they become too large to accommodate easily in captivity. 

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Many of the exotic reptiles in Florida have been introduced
as a consequence of the pet trade. Pet snakes are notorious for
escaping from cages, even from professional herpetologists, and
then getting out of a building. Pet trade facilities can be dam-
aged or destroyed by high winds or trees, resulting in the escape
of animals. For example, the book notes that the Brown Mabuya
skink, a lizard from Southeast Asia, became noticeably more
abundant around Coconut Grove in Dade County after
Hurricane Andrew. But some releases have been intentional. For
example, in 1985 people living around a golf course in Ft. Myers
released Jamaican Giant Anoles, which now have an established
colony.

One of the paradoxes of the invasive plant and animal
problem is that intuitively a person might think that adding new
species increases biodiversity. If biodiversity is a good thing, why
would it not be good to add more species to the ones already
present in a region? One of the simple explanations is that when
an introduced species becomes dominant in an area, native
species can decline in numbers and eventually disappear.

Although the animal pet trade is the ultimate source of
most introduced exotic species, the majority of the specimens
themselves are released into the environment by pet owners who

are ordinary citizens. Getting a baby python that is only a cou-
ple of feet long may seem like a good idea until you notice that
you have to feed it a full-grown chicken every couple of weeks.
The size differential would be like getting a red setter puppy and
realizing a few months later that it was the size of a cow. Not
much smarter, but a lot bigger.

According to the book, the largest Burmese Python found
wild in Florida so far was less than 8 feet long, slightly smaller
than the largest indigo snakes native to Florida. But these
pythons are known to reach a length of 20 feet, which is more
than twice the size of any snake native to the United States.
With a warm climate and the availability of plenty of food,
pythons should do well in south Florida. Young pythons will
eat rats, mice, and small birds, and larger ones will fare well on
possums, raccoons, dogs, cats, and larger birds. Burmese
Pythons can swim, climb trees, and creep through thick under-
brush, so they should find plenty to eat. We may soon hear
Floridians complaining that a resident species other than native
alligators is eating pets and is perceived as a threat to children.
Ironically, in contrast to alligators, which lived in the state long
before people, pythons were brought to Florida by the people
themselves.

174 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2008 COMMENTARIES

Interactions between introduced and native species are unpredictable. However, in southern Florida, both a native (American Alligator, Alligator
mississippiensis) and an invasive species (Burmese Python, Python molurus bivittatus) may pose a risk to pets and small children.

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