The solution is really easy. You just need to pay people for each dead python that they bring in. And problem solved.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobra_effect
If they can raise a python for less than $50 this will happen.
The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
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Re: The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
#32Re: The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
#33Re: The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
#34For it to be a epidemic issue, I'd be expecting two well trained hunters of pythons to catch more than they did "In the first eight days the snake-catching tribesmen removed 13 of the snakes" as not even two a day.
Anybody know the population numbers or the growth rate (the pythons that is) as I'm suspecting that kind of removal rate would only be useful in controlling small area's of land and have little/negligible effect upon the overall population.
Re: The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
With some duct tape and a machete, you could try to hack together some python to make a drone that tries to hack pythons.
If we're giving in to the whole 'Let's build lethal killer drones' thing, it seems appropriate that it happens in the USA from someone's hacky python project.
Comments like that need a disclaimer - Don't read whilst drinking coffee.
Re: The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
#36There is a simple natural permanent solution for this problem, just introduce an Apex predator - the majestic Jaguar. Jaguars used to inhabit the southern parts of North America - they seldom attack humans but they will happily eat snakes and alligators. They could restore health to the ecosystem, also make it more interesting, thus also benefiting the tourist industry.
True but they have a varied enough diet that snakes may only be marginally affected. To bring down pythons you'd need a more targeted predator, or a virus or bacteria or something that targets pythons alone.
You don’t want to wipe out pythons. You want to put pressure on their population.
Re: The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
#37This problem looks like could be solved with specialty drones.
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Re: The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
#38Estimate of 100,000 pythons in the wild, perhaps starting
from an inadvertent release in 1992, and ...
> Pythons face few predators here. In the spring, each adult female lays up to 100 eggs. Once her female children reach the age of four, they too begin to breed.
How many pythons would need to be caught each year to reduce the population to, say, less than 1,000? I think this infestation may need a different approach.
Re: The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
#39The solution is really easy. You just need to pay people for each dead python that they bring in. And problem solved.
They did this in India for rats or snakes (can't remember which). To make money, people then started breeding the creatures. :)
Re: The men fighting Florida’s python epidemic
#40I thought a python epidemic could only happen in the bay or nyc!