Snake in the Grass: An Everglades Invasion: A Book Review
I’ve been hearing about pythons taking over the Florida Everglades long enough to immediately want a copy of this brand new book by Larry Perez. Who is Perez? He’s a Miami naturalist who has worked as a ranger for Biscayne and Everglades National Parks. This isn’t his first book–and it shows. He’s a damn fine writer. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a Pineapple Press author.
Despite Perez’s obvious affinity for reptiles, a book so heavily laden with snake lore is inherently possessed of a certain “creep” factor. Most of us just find snakes a bit creepy. But Perez gives them a fair shake.
Can you really plow your way through an entire book about pythons? I didn’t have a bit of trouble. Perez keeps it moving and covers a lot of ground.
It took the powers-that-be a long time to recognize that Florida actually has a python problem. The first pythons, found in the 1970’s, were viewed as random occurrences. It wasn’t until 1995 that they started showing up in increasing numbers each year and somebody finally put two and two together.
How did they get here? Who was to blame? Hurricane Andrew? Irresponsible snake owners/importers? Perez explores every possible scenario and the ramifications of each. He chronicles the expansion of constrictors into the more populated areas of Florida at the edges of the glades (Naples and Marco Island, for example) and looks at the predictions of where they’ll go next.
Particularly unnerving is his chapter on the many human deaths attributed to captive or escaped constrictors. It was way more than I was prepared for. If you live in central or south Florida, it is a must-read.
How do you track down and capture a python in the River of Grass? Really, you don’t. And that’s a problem Perez explores extensively.
What about regulations on exotic snake importation? As you can imagine, a morass of government red tape is waiting like a python to wrap its coils around anything that looks like common sense. The short sections of the book explaining the inner-workings of the regulations was the only part of the work that made my eyes slightly glaze over, but I found fascinating and well-thought-out his discussion of whether people should be allowed to keep exotic pets.
Florida–and the rest of the world as well–has lots of experience with exotic species. Some fit in, others take over. Perez leads his reader on a thoughtful journey through the good and the bad of animals living as guests–or pests–in a foreign land.
If you’re going to live in Florida, you’d better inform yourself about pythons and other exotic constrictors. This ain’t my Granddaddy’s Florida anymore.
Perez quotes Florida Senator Bill Nelson as he cautions other legislators:
It’s just a matter of time before one of these snakes gets to a visitor in the Florida Everglades.
Snake in the Grass is available on Amazon, of course. It doesn’t seem to be available on Kindle, but the advantage to purchasing the paper book is that you can enjoy the color photo section. The book has extensive end notes and a works-cited list as well as a useful index.
More resources and media mentions of pythons and other constrictors in Florida:
Pythons discovered eating bird eggs worries some scientists (link to article in Palm Beach Post), while others say that just a few pythons have been discovered eating bird eggs and that it may be a bit “reactionary” to become concerned. (This has a familiar ring to it. Back in the ’80’s and early ’90’s, while pythons were breeding like rabbits in the everglades, many scientists would not concede that they were actually breeding in the everglades because no egg-carrying female had yet been captured).
Update 8/15/2012. Record python captured in Everglades:
Update, January 2013: The Sunshine State is hosting a month-long “Python Challenge” beginning Jan.12, 2013 with cash prizes of up to $1,500 for the biggest snakes caught.Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/05/snake-hunting-season-for-any-takers-to-begin-this-month-in-florida/#ixzz2HE7V34ge This is an interesting read, complete with the usual naysayers who think that pythons in the Everglades are not that big of a problem. And wouldn’t you know it, they represent the snakes-as-pets industry, perhaps in defense of the charge that “irresponsible pet owners” are shouldering the blame for the python invasion.
