Unwanted Pets

Florida's Python Problem

Reading this reminded me of something that happened recently and it's the very reason Florida has this problem.

I took James to a pet shop a few days ago and they were remodeling. It recently changed hands and they were changing things around. They had a huge tank with about 10 large fish, mostly Oscars, but a couple of Red Devils and some other large Cichlids.

The guy kept trying to get me to take some off his hands, he was letting them go very cheap. I have a large tank and I want to get an oscar but it is empty now and I am refinishing the stand/cabinet. I could not take any fish right now. I wish I could have because he said if he didn't sell them that day he was going to put them in the lake. I don't know how serious he was or if he did it, I never went back.

I don't think oscars can survive the winter here in central Florida, but I know they do in Miami and you can actually catch them down there in the canals. And you can catch a Burmese Python in the Everglades. That is not cool.

I never did understand the attraction of the giant constrictors as pets. As the articles states:

But they don't stay young for long, and they don't stay small. In time, they become too much to handle as pets.

"You have to regularly kill large animals, like rabbits, to feed it, and it can grow to 200 pounds, and it defecates like a horse," Mazzotti says.

I have a Red-Tailed Boa (Boa Constrictor) and that is not a giant snake despite it's reputation but it is larger than I wish. There are so many small and awesome pythons and boas that don't get larger than 6 feet. Do a little homework before purchasing a monster.

And whatever you do, please don't just let it go when you don't want it anymore. I don't care what it is.