Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia. But since the end of 20th century, the creature has become an established breeding population in the region of South Florida. Burmese pythons are known as one of the largest snake species on the face of earth. Since 2002, 2000 pythons have been removed from the National Park Florida and the surroundings.



Characteristics of pythons
Estimating the actual population of pythons in Everglades is quite challenging as the nature of the species is secretive. Bradenton pythons spend most of their day in hiding whether in aquatic habitats or burrows. According to a study even the seasoned herpetologists indicated only a 1% efficacy in detecting the pythons housed in semi natural environment. Resultantly, estimation of population of pythons are wide ranging from 30,000 upwards to 300,000 and growing.

Risk assessment
One of the most important issues related to pythons population in South Florida is the potential spread of this creature to other areas of Southern United States. Climate is a big reason of this problem. Several climate matching models have showed that a huge majority of Florida as well as vast portion of coastal southeastern US used to provide a hospitable habitat for Bradenton pythons.

Invasive threat and impact on wildlife
The pythons of south Florida are used to classify as an invasive species in this area. Such invasive species disrupt existing ecosystem as they prey on native species. They eat up the native creatures as food thus the physical nature of the environment disrupts. Apart from humans and alligators, Burmese pythons have very few predators and this is mainly because of their huge size. The longevity, high reproductive potential and low age at maturity of Bradenton pythons shows why the population of this creature is difficult even through individual removal.

Control and regulations
In order to control the thriving Burmese pythons numerous techniques have been proposed in South Florida. But unfortunately all the methods have limited success. One method was using the dogs to detect Burmese pythons. But it has not given a significant result as compare to human detection. Thick vegetation is also a big hurdle in this search. Trapping is a traditional method to capture the Bradenton snake. But it has been observed that trapping is practical at a smaller scale if critical locations were targeted. The US government is still introducing the regulatory measures to control the population of this giant creature.

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