Snake Swallows 6-Foot Alligator

The Associated Press...Channel 6... ^ | October 5, 2005 | The Associated Press

[george76]

Scientists in Florida are puzzling over a 13-foot Burmese python that scarfed down a 6-foot alligator before its stomach ruptured.

The snake apparently tried to swallow the gator whole -- and then exploded. Scientists stumbled upon the gory remains last week.

The species have battled with increasing frequency -- scientists have documented four encounters in the last three years...

"Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild. ... And here we are, it's happened for the fourth time," Mazzotti said. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

"They were probably evenly matched in size," Mazzotti said of the latest battle. "If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win."

The incident has alerted biologists to new potential dangers from Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

"Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species," ...

At least 150 have been captured in the last two years.

"People will buy these tiny little snakes and if you do everything right, they're six-feet tall in one year. They lose their appeal, or the owner becomes afraid of it. There's no zoo or attraction that will take it," so they release the snakes into the Everglades.

A reproducing snake can have as many as 100 hatchlings, which explains why the snake population has soared, Wasilewski said. The Burmese snake problem is just part of a larger issue of nonnative animal populations in South Florida, he said. So many iguanas have been discarded in the region that they are gobbling tropical flowers and causing problems for botanists, Wasilewski said.

A 10- or 20-foot python is also large enough to pose a risk to an unwary human, especially a small child...

[spetznaz]

True. This one could balance itself out since the factors operating in the everglades are quite analogous to those operating elsewhere amongst convergent species (as you said the case of the Anaconda versus the Caymans in South America). Although with these things one never knows .....it may balance or it may not, either way it is still risky releasing exotic species into the wild. More often than not major boo-boos result from such stuff.

As for the nutria. Well ...if that rat is really coming into the US (I did not know this ...how did it get here and when ...was it also due to people releasing their nutria pets into the wild) then things could get interesting. Particularly if it got to Florida. The everglades would be heaven for it, and it would provide any resident predators (eg introduced Burmese pythons) with a ready foodsource. Sort of a mini capybara.

[savedbygrace]

So did I, but the pix makes it look like the tail did the splitting. Or maybe the hind legs. Or maybe I'm wrong.

[Kiss Me Hardy]

Let my abos run loose, Bruce
Let my abos run loose

They don't sing that part of the song anymore.

[Chickensoup]

So did I, but the pix makes it look like the tail did the splitting. Or maybe the hind legs. Or maybe I'm wrong.


I am really glad I didn't go into wildlife management. What an exciting find!

[rwfromkansas]

A gartner snake doesn't bite people, or so I understand.

[CzarNicky]

It wasn't the alligator it was the thin mint that caused the explosion.

[jwh_Denver]

$#!*! How about posing a threat to a fully grown adult?

It wouldn't take that big of python to snuff an adult because they are incredibly strong. I wouldn't head into a jungle without a machine gun with BIG bullets.

[Darnright]

>It looks to me like the snake swallowed the alligator whole, head first, but the 'gator wasn't dead. So, the 'gator was thrashing around with its uber-powerful tail inside the snake. That's what helped to split the snake.<

For some reason, I now have the following child's rhyme stuck in my head:

"She swallowed the spider, that wiggled and wiggled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly, but she swallowed the fly and I think she'll die!"

[Frank_2001]

I think you're right, there's a rip in the snake about where the gator's head should be, he almost made it out...

[PoorMuttly]

Make sure you thoroughly stune the beeber of anyone you then swallow whole....I always say.
You could explode. Does make the case for being slightly prepared for pythons and alligators coming up your lawn, eating each other, homeowners included, during a high water "event,"....and having an simple and traditional mechanical instrument with which to perhaps forestall one's own food-chain thrillride at that particular moment, 'er somethin...don't it. 12 ga. One call does it all. Even once is better than lots less.

..especially if we are to now suspect that our reptiles and amphibians are exploding, possibly from within eachother. For Triffids, Pods, and other invading alien species, even the Crawling Eye, and creature from the Black Lagoon....and of course those common giant radioactice crabs from the beach cave.....my Wal-Mart associate assures me that the 12 ga. is a great choice, considering. "So daddy killed the giant snake, and then a 6 foot alligator tore his way out of it, and ate Fi-Fi." No, really. [Note: thread now returned to rightful owners. Muttly back under porch.]

[decimon]

Does your python lose its hunger

on the bedpost overnight

When your mother says to rid it

does it swallow her in spite

[Conspiracy Guy]

Shhhhhhh. The past is the past.

[JRochelle]

Now I will have nightmares. As a child I encountered a python in the wild.

[Ken H]

...which is why virtually all pythons owned by most collectors are either the Burmese, which can get large but will usually not try to eat you;

It's an iron clad rule in my house not to have pets who try to eat people.

[JubJub]

Gartner snake? Do they exist? We have Garter Snakes here in Michigan. As a small child I stepped on plenty of them barefoot in the fields, but was never bit. Had to keep up the tetanus shots though.....

[rwfromkansas]

oops...garter

[King Prout]

a combined "just damn!" and "ain't the natural world frickin' WIERD?" ping

[todd1]

Looks like the Snake bit off more than he could chew

[Myrddin]

I had a Burmese python that was 18 inches long when I purchased it. Over a year, it grew to 5 1/2 feet. My wife and I decided to pass the snake along to another couple that didn't have small children. We've had a Rosy Boa in the living room for over 10 years.

When I was working a contract in Florida, an employee of my customer invited me over to see his Burmese pythons. The small male weighed 80 lbs and was about 7 feet long. Very nice disposition. The female weighed over 150 lbs and was almost 12 feet long. She had a nasty disposition. Lots of hissing and striking behavior. The snakes lived on a diet of rabbits and chickens. The cage for the female occupied most of a bedroom (8 feet X 8 feet X 2.5 feet).

[WasDougsLamb]

I sceered of snakes!