Brad

Invasive species are those plants or animals that have been artificially transported to a place outside of their natural range and in which they have no or few natural predators or other constraints upon their population growth. Even the smallest of these invasive species can cause tremendous damage to the new areas. Take for example the Japanese Beetle. This insect pest has become so common in many parts of the United States that people forget that it isn’t native ot North America and has only been here since about 1920. Each year the Japanese Beetle causes untold millions of dollars of damage to backyard gardens and commercial farms alike.
Larger invasive species may either eat or outcompete native species. The Asian Swamp Eel in NJ poses such a threat to turtles, fish, and many other native species that some have advocated turning the tables and adding the Asian Swamp Eel to local restaurant menus.
Florida, because of it’s tropical nature and vast expanse of swampland, is having a particular problem with pythons. Pythons are often imported as pets, but may grow too big for their owners to handle. As a result many are released into the wild each year. In the Florida swamps, a mature python instantly becomes the top predator in the ecosystem. Florida pythons have even been known to feast on alligators, although most of their diet consists of birds, small mammals, and anything else they can swallow whole.
Florida is now licensing hunters to trap and kill the invasive python in an effort to eradicate them from the state. Meanwhile, however, it is still legal to import pythons for the pet industry, so even if they are completely wiped out of the Florida swamps, they will likely be reintroduced as new pet owners find the snakes too hard to handle when they start growing longer than ten feet. Snakes are longlived and choosing to take a python or other large non-native snake as a pet is a long term decision. If you can’t envision your living conditions, financial outlook, or family situation ten years or more down the road, then buying one of these exotic large snakes is definitely the wrong choice.