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OPINION
Latest delight to hit Florida: Giant snakes
Ramsey Campbell
COMMENTARY
June 25, 2006
Forget alligator attacks or even killer hurricanes. In case you haven't heard, Florida is rapidly becoming python country.
Giant pythons -- exotic snakes that can grow more than 20 feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds -- have quietly moved into the southern and central portion of the state since the mid-1990s.
I first encountered a python in the wild -- it had escaped from its cage in a Leesburg home -- about 10 years ago.
It was one of many that had gotten loose. Most are never caught. Some may even be dumped out in the wild when they get too big to keep at home.
Pythons have no predators here and love to bask in the Florida sunshine.
In the wild they mainly feed on raccoons, rabbits and cats, but they aren't finicky eaters and can make a meal out of anything that dares cross their path.
They seem to be moving into the state almost as fast as Northern retirees, particularly in the Everglades. There officials have discovered more than 200 pythons living in the wild.
Ninety-five pythons were discovered in the Everglades last year alone.
How many are really out there is anyone's guess.
Native to Burma, the largest of the snakes found was 16 feet long and weighed in at more than 150 pounds.