WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT:Pythons yield hides for specialty items

Mark, they may or may not feel pain after decapitation but I'd think that a bite response at that point would be similar to the bite response from an alligator when something touches the surface of its tongue. More of a nervous twitch. No?

Sorry Paul. I misunderstood what you were saying.

MS - Sorry for grilling with my questions. I have a bad habit of continuing to ask about things until I understand them.

So now that we're (or at least I) am WAYYY off topic....Ill let you guys bet back to it

I dont really know, and dont decapitate reptiles. As a breeder, there will come a time (and I have not had to) when I will, as a last resort only, dispatch a sick or old animal. I went to the internet and looked up euthenasia (i cant spell i know) and came across a veternary website that discuessed the best methods and decapitation and freezing were UNACCEPTABLE. If and when that time comes I will take my animals to the vet for lethal injection. Lethal injection and co2 were the perfered methods.

Originally Posted by dturner100

You'd have to know more about the neurology of a reptile before you assume to know the most humane way to extinguish it's life.

Freezing it would not make for a quick brumation. In most theories available freezing a reptile would be a very miserable experience as it would be for any animal reptile or not.

Originally Posted by Twizted Paths

No, it is not. It is a reality. One that is important for us to face, both as individuals & as a group.

All the screaming and cursing in the world does not change facts, nor does it offer a constructive solution to the real problem at hand. All it does is make us look like hot headed morons ~ just as our opposition portrays us to be.

In case the issue at hand has been lost in the senseless posturing I'll summarize.

Zarmarti has violated Florida's licensing policies for the legal capture and euthanasia of captured feral burms, he also most likely neglected to have it checked for a microchip.

In my opinion his license needs to be permanently revoked, he should turn over the money he made from the illegally harvested burm(s), he should be fined & we as a group should black list his breeding/supply business.

By not following the law he is nothing more than a poacher operating on Federal land & should be treated as such.

Originally Posted by Moonstone

Freezing reptiles and decapitation are both considered inhumane by the AVA. Freezing makes them immobile, but they can still feel. As they freeze ice crystals form in the muscles and tissues causing an aggonizing, slow death. I see stupid people in forums all the time telling people to freeze their reptiles to kill them. The slow metabolism of the snakes makes decapitation a slow painful process. As someone who kills and processes animals for a living, I am sure he has little compassion for the animals he is killing in these horrible photos.

For the person who feels that removing the snakes from the everglades is going to save our pets, you couldnt be more wrong. HSUS and PETA are backing legislation (a violation of their 501c3 status) to take away our rights to have pets and is using the overstated "problem" of the everglades to justify their agenda of no animals for food, no animals for experimentation, no animals for entertainment (circus and zoos) and no pets. If not the everglades propaganda, they will latch on to something else. Nothing will stop them short of taking away their 501c3 status and exposing them for what they are. There are 250,000 animal rights fanatics holding 63,000,000 pet owning house holds hostage.

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I simply feel that the pythons are getting the short end of the stick in all this. Everyone is focusing on the pythons because they're big, nasty, man-eaters that will purposely slither their way into your homes to eat your children. Know how many invasive species there are in the Everglades?

65 species of reptiles, 13 species of birds, 4 species of amphibians, 58 species of fish, 22 species of mammals, 38 species of insect, 23 species of mollusk, 10 species of crustaceans, 15 species of arachnids, and 130 species of plant. (Reference 1, Reference 2)

And everyone is focused on one snake. Out of ~380 species, many of which are far more destructive than a mere Burm.

The Burmese python is nothing more than a scapegoat--an invasive scapegoat, but a scapegoat nonetheless. The media is portraying pythons as the only invasive species in southern Florida, preying on these cute, little, fuzzy endangered mammals (which have been found in the stomach of a python how many times? once?).

Can you imagine the public outrage if a media outlet showed a parrot being decapitated? Or a cute, little fuzzy mammal being inhumanely killed on national TV? Why is it okay to do this to a reptile but not okay if the animal is a fuzzy? Why is it okay to just outright kill, maim, and [basically] torture these animals, but if you do it to a feral cat, holy cow, be prepared to get your butt sued off and possibly thrown in jail. And no, I'm not kidding or being hyperbolic.

What people don't understand is that there is no going back to the Everglades-that-was. Yes, we can keep the area from getting worse--and we should--but it's not going to get better. And quite frankly, blaming all the Everglades problems on a python is like worrying about water damaging a deck of cards when your house is flooding.

I agree. Propaganda, a la animal planet and monster quest make it very acceptable to kill pythons. You will never eliminate the invasive species. The legislation I am talking about isnt about helping animals, or saving the planet, it is about forcing the opinions of a few on the many. I dont know about you guys, but i dont do "Church of England".

In the end, the animals always lose.

Wow. Very good point Krystal.

Originally Posted by R. Eventide

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I simply feel that the pythons are getting the short end of the stick in all this. Everyone is focusing on the pythons because they're big, nasty, man-eaters that will purposely slither their way into your homes to eat your children. Know how many invasive species there are in the Everglades?

65 species of reptiles, 13 species of birds, 4 species of amphibians, 58 species of fish, 22 species of mammals, 38 species of insect, 23 species of mollusk, 10 species of crustaceans, 15 species of arachnids, and 130 species of plant. (Reference 1, Reference 2)

And everyone is focused on one snake. Out of ~380 species, many of which are far more destructive than a mere Burm.

The Burmese python is nothing more than a scapegoat--an invasive scapegoat, but a scapegoat nonetheless. The media is portraying pythons as the only invasive species in southern Florida, preying on these cute, little, fuzzy endangered mammals (which have been found in the stomach of a python how many times? once?).

Can you imagine the public outrage if a media outlet showed a parrot being decapitated? Or a cute, little fuzzy mammal being inhumanely killed on national TV? Why is it okay to do this to a reptile but not okay if the animal is a fuzzy? Why is it okay to just outright kill, maim, and [basically] torture these animals, but if you do it to a feral cat, holy cow, be prepared to get your butt sued off and possibly thrown in jail. And no, I'm not kidding or being hyperbolic.

What people don't understand is that there is no going back to the Everglades-that-was. Yes, we can keep the area from getting worse--and we should--but it's not going to get better. And quite frankly, blaming all the Everglades problems on a python is like worrying about water damaging a deck of cards when your house is flooding.

I agree with 95% of that. I do think that the reason that burms get all of the attention though is because they're most likely the only one of those species that poses a physical threat to people. And by that I mean the ability to harm a person. Fair? Not even a little. But on some level understandable. I just wish they didnt make them out to be monsters

Paul: The sad thing is that in the Everglades where they don't belong they could easily be explained as a monster. If nature needed a burm in the everglades for population control it would have been put there by nothing less than nature itself.

In its native land the burm has a very useful purpose. In Florida it is simply a monster. We mostly feel the way we do because we feel empathy for them as if each of them was our pet. Natural for us as snake keepers.