Snakes in Fl

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LOL,actually that pertains to a snapping turtles bite. If it bites down on you,it won't let go until it thunders. I have never put that to the test though.
 
LOL,actually that pertains to a snapping turtles bite. If it bites down on you,it won't let go until it thunders. I have never put that to the test though.
oh yeah, I have heard that from Granny before about turtles. I ain't testing that one either!!

Here I go hi-jacking threads again, from 20 ft boas to snapping turtles
Sorrry guys
 
Most of the snake hunting Ive done over the years (we used to get rattlesnake permits to find them, check them out, and enjoy the outdoors) was done by hand. If you are killing boa constrictors, pythons, anacondas, etc then even a .22 to the head will stop them cold, snakes are rather easy to kill, and are vulnerable to predators easily unlike what action and scifi movies make them out to being unstopable monsters.
Heck use something bigger if you want, the skins can be worth alot to leather makes. Also snake skins are easy to harvest, and snake tastes good (used to eat alot of them in the south, but up north there are very few left, I leave them alone to live their lives and do what nature designed them to do).
 
Another report came up last night-ish. Apparantly the boas and whatnot like to sun themselves on/near the shores of bodies of water this time of year. What they said was to go get them then.
 
Thanks jimmyray, you take me "back home". Hadn't heard that "'til it thunders" since I was getting wholesome advice from elders such as "Don't skinny dip in a snappin' turtle pond".
 
What would yall do about the cobras that are out there? and yes there are some...unfortunately...I'm not goin to hunt in Big Cypress anytime soon lol
 
The amount of misinformation in this thread is truly impressive. The comments regarding snapping turtles (the particular species isn't specified) are particularly ridiculous. I'm glad Florida has decided to take more of a proactive approach to its invasive python problem. Florida is a mecca for invasive herpetofauna, which is a shame because the state has so many declining endemic species.
 
There have been reliable reports from time to time through the decades of snappers weighing in the neighborhood of 150 pounds. Not often, of course.

A very large one was trapped or killed in the southern Chattahoochee River above the Florida line (where the name changes to Appalachicola River) which had a stone arrowhead or dart point in the shell; this was back in the early 1900s. The guesstimated age was above 100 years.

I teased a fifteen-pounder with a pencil-sized stick, one time. He snapped; reminded me of the time a barracuda took the middle out of a kingfish that I was just before gaffing. The snapper created a three-piece stick. :)
 
This one reportedly weighs 45 pounds.
And I can guarantee ya, you do not want it latching onto any body parts you want to keep.

240px-Alligator_Snapping_Turtle2.jpg

Like Art, I have had even small 10 pound ones I caught while fishing clip off fair size hickey switches with one bite.

rc
 
With all due respect

If the pic works, you'll see that I know a thing or two about snapping turtles. I did my thesis research on Alligator Snapping Turtles Macrochelys temminckii and I have a good deal of experience working with Eastern Snapping Turtles Chelydra serpentina. The one in the pic (assuming it works weighs 110 pounds and the dimensions of such an animal do not fit with some of the dimensions estimated in this thread.
 

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Apologies

Jimmy Ray,

It seems I've confused this thread with another which quoted the carapace width of a snapping turtle to be roughly 2.5 feet which would be ridiculously large. My apologies for the confusion, that one is on me.

In regards to the monitor lizards, the Nile Monitor is quite large though not the second largest lizard in the world (I forget the name, but I believe it is a monitor lizard from Borneo). Like many animals, they are aggressive when cornered, but they are far more likely to run away from you given the chance.

Also several people seem to be lumping boas and pythons into one broad classification. While similar, they are in different families. Pythons are more slender, lay eggs, and are generally more aggressive. Boas (including anacondas) are larger, give live birth, and are generally less aggressive. I am also leery of the average hunter being able to differentiate between invasive snake species and native snake species.

Hope that clears things up.
 
I am also leery of the average hunter being able to differentiate between invasive snake species and native snake species
If the snake is over 10 feet long it ain't a native species. If these snakes manage to migrate to my neck of Alabama, there will be no need to differentiate between the species. I see it,it dies.
 
Jimmy Ray,

Indigo snakes, which are in bad shape, get very large (>8ft) and when a snake is coiled, as they often are, it is difficult to estimate total size. Also, it's not as though these snakes are born 10 ft long. If you focus population control specifically on large adult snakes you are not addressing a huge part of the problem. Personally, I think the ability of these large oonstrictors to migrate to more temperate portions of the US has been greatly exaggerated so hopefully you'll never have to worry about them in Alabama.
 
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