#2020 - Python Cowboy
2023-08-11 02:00:17
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Joe Rogan podcast, check it out! The Joe Rogan Experience. Stream by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day!
Yeah. Am I wearing these? Yeah.
You feel weird?
No, I'm just...
Have you done a podcast before?
I have. Not quite to this level, I don't think, but...
How did you get... First of all, how bad is the python and invasive species situation in Florida?
It is bad. It's definitely bad. You know, you have these TV shows that make especially the python thing seem like it's a lot worse than it is. You know, or a lot easier than it is, I should say. It's a bad situation.
We have our native wildlife being wiped out. But it's not like you're just going to go out there and you're tripping over pythons. You know, it's not the case. I search very, very hard to find that.
There was an estimate of 500,000 pythons in the Everglades.
Could be more. I personally think there's less. Really? I do. I do.
We don't really know what's out there. The estimates have been 100,000, all the way up to 3 million.
How do they estimate?
That's the thing. They're just going off of captures, really, and the decline of native wildlife. Which, there's other factors at play when it comes to the decline of our native wildlife. Obviously, pythons are eating up our native wildlife in the Everglades, without a doubt. There is a lot of evidence of that.
But our Everglades is a struggling place, as it is right now, between the water management, the overpopulation of our state. We have a growing panther population that we're looking like we're having trouble sustaining.
Sustaining? How so?
Well, we see a lot of depredation in Collier and Henry County.
When you mean depredation, you mean attacking wildlife?
Attacking not so much wildlife, but pets and livestock.
Livestock.
Yes, sir. And we just see that there's more panthers than we're accounting for, just from vehicular deaths. So, if the current panther numbers were accurate, over 30% of the panther population dies every year, just from motor vehicles. And, you know, that doesn't really seem right, if you think about that. There's no way.
a third of the population dies every year from motor vehicles, and is continuing to grow. And they're just not that stupid.
So, it's sort of an uncalculated, they haven't calculated it correctly, but you think there's more of them. There's quite a lot of sightings, right?
So, sightings are rare, but that's just because it's a very elusive animal. And they're out in the middle of the Everglades.
I've seen more photos of them over the last few years than I've ever seen before.
We've had attacks. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. We've had, I believe, a couple in the past few years. each year, where people are out turkey hunting, or sitting on the ground calling for a turkey, calling for a coyote, something like that.
And a coyote, or, I'm sorry, a panther comes in and thinks some guy got mauled on his face, or something like that. You know, it's pretty wild. Of course, the animal realizes what's happening and gets out of there.
But he still gets attacked.
But he still gets attacked. Me, personally, just from python hunting down there. over the years, I've seen a dozen or more of them. I've been sleeping in my tent in the middle of the night out in the Everglades, and I'm woken up by a panther growling right next to my head outside my tent, circling my tent for about 15 minutes. Oh, Jesus.
Shotgun in the tent? I did. I had a shotgun in the tent. I also had a baby raccoon I rescued in the tent with me. Oh, whoa.
That I think may have been, you know, a reason. he was stalking me a little bit. And I pop out of my tent with my shotgun and my flashlight. I thought it was a big bull gator, just from the sound. I've never heard a panther growling inches from my head.
And, dude, it is bone chilling. Bone chilling.
Oh, my gosh.
It was so deep and, like, just devilish sounding. I thought it was a big bull gator. It's the only thing I could think it was. And it would be on this side of the tent, right next to my head. Then it was on the other side of the tent.
Back on this, no footsteps in between. I'm like, what is going on? You didn't hear anything? Nothing. I'm like, am I surrounded by alligators?
Like, what's going on?
Oh, my God.
I pop out of my tent, and nothing's there. Nothing. Not a thing. Wow. So the only thing it could have been is a Florida panther.
Maybe two of them. I don't know.
Wow.
Yep. That's so creepy that they can sneak around and not make any sound at all.
Well, it makes me think how many times did I have one right next to me, and I had no idea.
I saw one in Montana two years ago. Excuse me, in Utah, two years ago. And it freaked me out. And I was in a truck 30 yards from it. My friend Colton goes, a cat.
I go, where? He goes, under the tree. And I look, and I see the glowing eyes. Yep. Because it was dusk.
And then I put my binos on him, and I was maybe 30 yards away. And his fucking head was like a pumpkin. It was a big male. I've seen cats before. I've seen small ones.
Like, I saw one in Montecito, California, and it was like 50, 60 pounds. I thought it was a coyote until I saw the tail. And I was like, oh, shit, that's a cat. But this one was different. This one had massive forearms.
I mean, just massive. It was just sitting there with his pumpkin head.
And that's it. The mountain lions are a different, you know, they're not a different species or breed, but they're different physically than our Florida panther, but not anymore. Really? So. our state government, in all their wisdom, took Texas cougars, brought them down to Florida, and interbred them with the last few remaining Florida panthers we have.
Oh, no. So they're no longer a Florida panther. They're now Texas cougars, and they are bigger. They are more aggressive. And, you know, we're dealing with it for sure.
What a stupid move. We've seen that. It's the cane toads, cane toads in the sugar cane fields. The bufu toads that we're dealing with now, same thing. They brought them in to control insects in the fields, and they winded up eating everything but the insects, basically.
And now they're a big problem. If you look at the—.
Are those the kind of toads that eat rats?
Yeah, they're venomous, actually. They're toxic. They produce a toxin from them, and some people try to get high from them.
Oh, those are the people that cut themselves and put the toxin on their arm, I think?
Yes, or they'll smoke the skin or smoke the dry toxin. Really? Yeah, I don't know how effective it is.
What is bufu? What is the actual chemical compound? It's like, there's a word.
I want to say one of the toads, it's similar to DMT.
Okay, that's 5-methoxydimethyltryptamine. That comes from some toads. Is that the bufo toad, though? Here it goes.
Bufagin is a toxic steroid obtained from the toad's milk, the poisonous secretion of the skin, gland and the back of the neck of a large toad. Yeah, the cane toad. The toad produces this secretion when it is injured, scared, or provoked. And what does the toxin do?
That's like a real poison that gives you some crazy visions or something. But that's not the same one as the one that produces dimethyltryptamine.
Yeah, it may not be. It's definitely not a toad. I would suggest trying to get high off. I think you'd get more sick than anything.
What about just Google getting high off cane toads?
Yeah.
Toad venom addiction and abuse. People have fucking toad venom addictions.
Licking toads, particularly cane toads, can be dangerous. However, it may cause muscle weakness, rapid heart rate, and vomiting.
Well, so I used to have a dog.
This is right there. My dog's getting high on cane toads.
They love it. A dog can die from it very easily. It's a big risk, smaller dogs especially. But I used to have a dog that would search them out, chew them up, and just sit there and trip balls all day long.
Okay, this is saying that it does secrete synthetic 5-methoxy-DMT.
That's what I heard. It was similar to it.
Oh, okay. So the cane toad is the one they use for that. I've heard of people doing that. What they've done is they take the toad, and they rub the toad on a windshield. And they get all it out, and then they scrape that stuff off of the windshield, and then they smoke that.
I'm like, Jesus, Louise-us.
That just seems so degenerate.
Yeah, that's rough.
Mike Tyson said he died after smoking psychedelic toad venom.
He calls it the toad. A lot of dudes call it the toad. Yeah, I've never done that one. I mean, I've done the synthetic version of it, but I've never done the—.
What was that like?
This episode is brought to you by Experian. How many subscriptions do you have? It might take you longer than you think to figure it out. These days, it's far too easy to get a load of subscriptions that you might completely forget about. That's why I love services like Experian.
It's like a personal assistant for your subscriptions. Experian can cancel over 200-plus subscriptions in categories like streaming services, meal kits, entertainment apps, and more. You can save an average of $270 per year. Plus, they'll even let you know if your provider offers you a better deal to stick around. It's time to take control of your subscriptions.
Download the Experian app. Results may vary. Not all subscriptions. eligible. Savings not guaranteed.
$270 a year. average. Estimated savings with one-plus cancellation. Paid memberships with connected payment accounts required. See Experian.com for details.
This episode is brought to you by Circuit of the Americas. It's almost time for racing here in Austin, Texas, with the United States Grand Prix taking place this October 18th to 20th. Imagine watching drivers whisk away at 230 miles per hour, strapped to an engine half as hot as the surface of the sun, and cornering with 77 pounds of force weighing on their necks, nearly twice the g-force as a space shuttle launch. This will definitely be one of the biggest weekends of sports, entertainment, music, and incredible food in the U.S. With racers like Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Sergio Perez, along with performances by Sting and Eminem.
I've died and gone to heaven! This is 36 hours of unadulterated entertainment across the weekend. Three days of Formula One racing on a real F1 track, plus Sting performing Friday and Eminem on Saturday on the Circuit of the Americas Superstage in Austin. Experience and explore 1,500 acres across one of the most beautiful racing circuits in the world. Featuring covered grandstands, 30-plus Austin musicians performing around the venue, an incredible festival atmosphere with unique villages, fan zones, and local eats and drinks.
This includes the all-pro smoke show featuring the best of Texas pitmasters cooking over open flames. Get your tickets to this once-in-a-lifetime event today at thecircuit.com. That's thecircuit.com or text RACE to 511511.. Don't miss the greatest weekend of motorsports, music, entertainment, and food in the United States here in Austin October 18th, 19th, and 20th. Just text RACE to 511511 or go to thecircuit.com today.
It does feel like you died. It feels like you cease to exist. It's the only experience I've ever had where you cease to exist. When you take regular DMT, you're still there. You're still experiencing it.
When you take that 5-methoxy, like, you go away, and you think, like, oh, no, I fucked up. Like, you really think you're gone.
So the natural's the way to do it.
Well, I think that's natural, too. I think your body produces that as well. They're all just all the really potent ones. They seem to have something to do with human neurochemistry. Like, your brain makes all of them.
Like, that's the craziest.
Yeah, it's very interesting. But it's just crazy. these fucking people have addictions. There's an addiction center to licking toes. I didn't think it would work if you just licked it.
I thought you had to smoke it.
I wouldn't think so either.
Hey, these kids today, they find a way.
That's it.
They huff, paint. They do whatever the fuck.
Where there's a will, there's a way. Especially where you live, bro. Oh, yeah. Especially where I live.
I mean, it's the one state where you could say the state and then a man. Everybody goes, oh.
Oh, yeah. And we're very proud of that. We're very proud of that. Yeah, so.
There's so many Instagram pages and Twitter pages dedicated to people in Florida doing crazy shit.
Yeah, yeah. I think I've been Florida man a few times. Add that to my belt.
How did you get involved in hunting pythons? First of all, can you bring that python head up? Yeah. Let me see that python head.
I need to see it, because I purposely didn't look. This is actually the one that bit me. Oh, God. That I almost bled out in the middle of the Everglades. Caught by myself in the middle of the Everglades.
Oh, my God. Dude, that bit you? Yeah, yeah. And this snake, 17 foot 7 inches, 135 pounds. And that's no eggs inside of it, no meal inside of it.
That's solid snake muscle. And at the time, that's about what I weighed. So, it was a fair Everglades battle royale.
Oh, my God.
Can I see it? Yeah, absolutely.
Now, tell me the scenario. What happened?
So, I was.
The mouth on this thing.
Yeah, and look at all those teeth.
Look at that. It's insane.
Yeah. And the head actually has shrunk substantially from the freeze drying process. All critters freeze, dried that for me. And, you know, it takes all the moisture out of it and really shrinks down. So, I was out hunting the Everglades.
I was actually out in my 14 foot john boat by myself. And I was checking spoil islands out there. These islands were dug maybe 100 years ago or more when they dug the canal. They were made 100 years ago when they were digging the canal. And they've been up there, you know, gaining vegetation, getting real nasty.
And a lot of these critters come up on them to breed, to feed, and to nest. And I was out there looking for, you know, a python, like I normally do. And I came across her. I knew immediately when I saw her that she was very large, possibly the largest python I've captured. And I could only see the back half of her, maybe like the back third of her.
But I could tell she was a monster. My heart is pounding. I'd be lying to you if I said it wasn't. But, you know, my main fear in a situation like that is not that this snake is going to kill me. I'm confident in how to handle these animals, confident in my ability.
But I'm worried this thing is going to get the best of me, overpower me, and possibly I lose it. It gets away into the swamp to eat more of our native wildlife. Coming across an animal like this, even with the situation we're in in the Everglades, is still a once-in-a-lifetime, you know, opportunity. It really is. I've caught a number of them, but I spend a lot of time out there.
So I'm getting ready to capture this snake, building myself up to it. The safest way to go about it is to find the head, grab the head with both my hands, and keep her from coiling on me, wrapping around me. I can't find her head. Her head's buried in vegetation, buried in the maiden cane. I just can't see it, and she's working her way slowly off the island.
So I know I've got to quickly do something. I'm afraid if I get closer to her head, I'm going to spook her, and she's going to try to start moving away. I grab onto her tail, and this is kind of a bad situation to be in, especially with all the thick vegetation. These snakes can easily overpower you and will actually drag you out into the swamp. There's just no stopping it.
It intertwines in all the weeds and just drags you. So I know grabbing this thing, my goal is to piss it off and get it to start striking at me where I can see that head and grab a hold of that head. Otherwise, this thing's gone.
So I get a hold of it, and it starts dragging me. It's pulling me off the island.
So is it wrapped around you, or are you just hanging on?
No, it's stretched out. But you're hanging on. I'm hanging on to it, yeah. This thing's eaten alligators, eaten deer. It's the biggest thing out here.
It's not worried about nothing. It's not scared of me, you know what I mean? It's kind of seeing what I'm doing. So I got a hold of it, and it's starting to...
Are you wearing gloves?
No.
How are you able to really grab it?
If I had gloves on, I wouldn't be able to grab it. I need my bare hands to be able to work and feel everything, have the grip. Gloves will just get in the way.
Eating something with a texture to it?
I don't want any of that. I don't want any of that. They just get in the way. So I got the snake dragging me out into the swamp, losing this battle. I'm able to dig my heels down into the limestone that I'm standing on, the limestone island, and I'm able to stop her.
I'm not gaining on her, but I got her stopped, and we're kind of in this Everglades tug-of-war right now. And she starts to get pissed off. She starts hissing. She starts turning around on me. And this is what I want, but I gotta not get bit, you know what I mean?
Holy fuck. A snake this size, to my advantage, they're slower than a smaller snake. They have a lot of body mass. They're gonna tire out quickly, and her strikes aren't gonna be lightning fast. So she's striking at me.
I'm dodging her strikes. Oh my god. Everything's going good.
It's Lloyd Mayweather out there.
Doing a little duck and weave. Everything's going good. Normally, when a snake strikes, it's gonna strike out, recoil back, get ready, strike again, recoil back. That's how they strike. That's how they get that power.
They kind of like recoil their body. So it struck. I dodged it. It recoils back like a third of the way and hits me with this little sneak attack strike that I wasn't expecting. This snake is anywhere from 10 to 20 years or more old.
So it's been around the block. It's a smart snake.
Snakes don't normally do that. I think she kind of knew what she was doing. She struck. She got me on my arm. Got an artery.
Got some veins coming off my artery. And that doesn't do it justice at all. Their teeth are all, they're punctures. They're like needles. So they puncture down deep.
You can see that top one gets right into my main vein. And the real bad one was on the top of my arm that you can't see where it's on this. I think it's an artery. I may have been wrong. Coming on the top of my arm.
And I got very lucky. Normally when they bite, they latch on. And she would have latched on. She would have wrapped around me. And I would have been in a very, very bad situation being out there by myself.
Thank the good Lord. I had him on my side that day. She struck. She bit. I was able to grab her head.
And I don't know if it's how I pushed it forward and pulled her off or what. Because all their teeth are recurved like fish hooks almost.
Got her right off of me. Grabbed her head. Pushed her off of me. She didn't latch on. She was trying to bite again.
Maybe that. She didn't think she had a good bite. And she was trying to re-grip. But I got lucky. Now I have her head.
I'm bit. I'm spraying blood all over the Everglades. But I have her head. So now my main thing is controlling her, without exerting myself too much. Because every time I'm doing anything, I've never seen blood come out of my body like this.
Really. My heart's pounding. Adrenaline's going.
My main thing is just to stay calm. I don't think I'm necessarily going to bleed to death. The amount of blood I'm seeing across my mind. But I really don't think I'm going to bleed to death. I'm worried about blacking out from blood loss.
The heat. Exerting myself. What's this snake going to do if I black out? It's going to wrap around me. It's going to kill me.
100%. I don't think it would necessarily be able to swallow me and eat me. Maybe. But it could definitely kill me. So I'm really trying to control my heart rate.
Trying not to exert myself. The snake's biting at me. Going nuts. You can see the video on my YouTube of where I'm just covered in blood.
I have a snake bag with me to put whatever snake I was planning on catching in the bag. This snake is way too big for that bag. So I actually am able to use that bag to tie off my arm and kind of do a little redneck.
While you're holding it down?
Yeah. Why? I got the head in one hand and I'm tourniqueting my arm. I think it was like this. Tourniqueting my arm with the other.
And got my arm cinched shut. Kind of got the bleeding under control. And I was able to kind of collect myself. This snake is pretty much worn out at this point. She's cold blooded, so they gas out after about a 10 minute fight.
She's like a limp noodle. So I'm kind of just laying on her, catching my breath. Now I got to get her back to my boat, where I can put a bullet in her head. Because I don't just walk around out there with a gun. All these snakes I catch alive, put them in a bag, and it's just easier to not have a gun on me.
Jesus!
Why would it be so hard to have a gun right there?
Well, I'm literally crawling through cane and sawgrass and it gets snagged. You can lose a gun very easily and it's in the way. And 99.9% of the time I'm not going to need one. Especially me, I'm the kind of guy where if I come across a 30 foot snake. You know, which pythons don't get that big.
Let's say I come across a 30 foot snake, something crazy. I ain't shooting it. I want to catch it. Dude, that's what I'm all about.
Oh, my god, this is you after this thing, bit you.
Yeah, this is right where I'm getting ready to try to tourniquet my arm.
Holy shit, man. And you're filming this.
Yeah, I got my shoulder cam on and then I put a GoPro on the ground.
This is wild.
And, you know, normally I don't always get great footage. I mean, I get pretty good footage with my cell phone, my shoulder cam. But, like, I was set up this day and I knew I had my GoPro running when this thing bit me.
Are you cinching up at the top of your arm above the wound?
Above the wound, above the wound. Yeah, above the wound.
And, you know, to be honest with you, the first thought that went through my mind when that thing bit me and I have all these cameras going and I see all this blood is this video is definitely going viral. Just don't die.
It would really go viral if you died.
Yeah, I'm sure it would have. Yeah. I found GoPro footage.
So now you have to carry this thing out while you're holding on to its head.
Yeah.
While she really is like a limp noodle.
While it's still alive.
She really is like a limp noodle.
Yeah, she's gassed out. She is done. That's insane. She is done. Wow, man.
That's man shit right there, son.
Not a lot of human beings are capable of doing that. And just keeping it together, it's creeping me out just watching you hold on to that thing as you're walking through the woods with it.
What I think it is more than anything, and I hate to kind of take away from myself, but it's what we're taught as kids. We're taught to be fearful of snakes, that they're this evil, dangerous thing. And I can't tell you, I think that's why I've been so successful on social media is these people, they just freak out watching these snakes. They can't believe it. And they're not really that crazy.
They're really not.
I think you're just used to them. I think they're really fucking crazy.
There's a reason why they're only in one state like this. Look at the size of that thing, man. That thing's enormous. And they eat alligators.
Oh, yeah.
I think, bro, I think they would eat you.
I've rescued three alligators from pythons. Wow. That's actually how I started my social media is I made the news, went kind of viral for rescuing an alligator from a python. I had a guy out on a guided hunt with me. He recorded it, videotaped it, and it made the news.
And a local clothing brand, Flowgrown in Florida, made my Instagram, made my social media, and was like, dude, you've got to start using it. We'll send you clothes. And that's really how it all got started.
That's crazy. That's how it got started. That's amazing. Look at these things.
And, actually, this was the smallest of the three I've rescued. It was the third one that we finally got on video, because I never used to really record anything.
Imagine how fucking confused alligators must be. Like, I thought we were at the top. We were at the top forever.
What happened?
What the fuck is going on?
2023, times are changing.
So, the source of all this, I thought initially that it was people releasing pets, which it was. But it was also. there was some sort of like a python research center, and it got damaged.
So, there's a lot of speculation with that. To me, that python research center is kind of more of like an urban myth. Oh, really? Yep. There's never been a facility named.
There's this place that they keep speaking of, people keep mentioning. We don't know what it is. No one's ever been, oh, it was this facility. It's just not a thing. And, yep, people were releasing pets that got too big.
They were escaping as well. But, to me, that's not enough to be where we're at today. Really? It's just not enough. Why don't we have anacondas all over?
Why don't we have, I mean, we do have Nile monitors, but why don't we have Nile monitors everywhere? Why don't we have caiman everywhere? We have some caiman, but nothing like the python. To me, it was, and, you know, I do have some things that are leading me to believe this. I'm not just pulling this out of my butt.
But, you know, this is definitely an opinion, I would say. I believe that they were intentionally released by somebody or multiple people, probably reptile breeders, in a hope that they could stop importing pythons from overseas as pets and start farming them in state and collecting them out of the Everglades, reproducing them, getting big breeders out of the Everglades, using them, and then cutting out that essential middleman.
Whoa.
And, you know, there's definitely been a lot of things that kind of confirm this to me. And I'm not the only one that believes this either. But I definitely don't want to get into, like, necessarily mentioning names or anything like that.
Yeah, we don't have to mention names. So what gave you this, like, what evidence is there of this?
Well, just from what we've seen with other species, for something to take hold like this and become so prevalent, it needs to be intentional. There needs to be thousands to be released at a time. Really? And during the height of the Burmese, it was the most popular pet being imported into Florida. During the height of it, you would have a thousand come in in a week in a crate, and they would, you know, sell them all over the country.
And I think it was the kind of thing where it's like, well, we can, let's dump one of these crates out there and see what happens and see if we can start farming them out there. These people, I've even just hear how they talk about the python problem in Florida. And it's, I don't know, there's definitely something to it.
How do they talk about it?
Kind of defending it, almost, you know, like, oh, leave the pythons alone. What? Who does that? Different old school breeders that I would, the old reptile importers, like the kind of, some of the founding fathers of it, the exotic pet trade in Florida.
Dude, I think you just uncovered a giant conspiracy.
Yeah, well, it is. It is, for sure.
Somebody needs to look into this. People are actually responsible for this. This episode is brought to you by Experian. How many subscriptions do you have? It might take you longer than you think to figure it out.
These days, it's far too easy to get a load of subscriptions that you might completely forget about. That's why I love services like Experian. It's like a personal assistant for your subscriptions. Experian can cancel over 200 plus subscriptions in categories like streaming services, meal kits, entertainment apps, and more. You can save an average of $270 per year.
Plus, they'll even let you know if your provider offers you a better deal to stick around. It's time to take control of your subscriptions. Download the Experian app. Results may vary. Not all subscriptions.
eligible. Savings not guaranteed. $270 a year. average. Estimated savings with one plus cancellation.
Paid memberships with connected payment accounts required. See Experian.com for details. This episode is brought to you by Blinds.com. Do you know the right? window treatments aren't just about privacy?
They could actually save you some serious cash on your energy bills, too. But is it really worth the hassle? It's a lot of waiting for some pushy salesperson to come to your house with an overpriced quote. Sucks, right? Well, say goodbye to all that nonsense, because Blinds.com has revolutionized the game.
Blinds.com lets you do a virtual consultation with their award-winning design experts whenever you have time. No pushy sales rep in your home. Just hop online, and Blinds.com will send free samples right to your door. How cool is that? Whether you're a do-it-yourself beast or you prefer professional installation, Blinds.com has you covered.
And guess what? You can get your entire house done for one low price. No hidden fees. No showroom markups. What you see is what you pay.
Now, I get it. Ordering online can be sketchy, but not with Blinds.com. They've covered more than 25 million windows. And they've got a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Blinds.com is hooking up my listeners with an exclusive $50 off when you spend $500 or more.
Just use the code ROGAN at checkout at Blinds.com. Go to Blinds.com and use the promo code ROGAN. Limited time offer. Rules and restrictions apply. See Blinds.com for details.
Yeah. There have been people caught. There have been people caught. And I may be wrong on this, but I believe the guy was given, like, life in prison or something crazy. But I think it was on the West Coast.
He was caught. It was a sting operation where they have surveillance, him dumping hundreds and hundreds of reptiles into— I don't know if it was the Everglades. I think it was maybe the western—probably the western side of the Everglades Conservancy area. And everything from chameleons, tegus, monitors, pythons, all kind of different species.
And why was he doing that? Aren't they valuable?
Yep. But what we're seeing in the state is people doing that to farm them, especially with chameleons. People will go out, and they'll dump maybe 50 chameleons into an area in a specific tree more often. And then they'll come back a year or two later, and there's a huge population of them. And then they go out, and they pick them, and then they sell them for $50 to $100 each.
You could go out and make $3,000 in a night just from a couple hundred dollars of chameleons you put out there a year ago or so. And it's become a business. And there's right and wrong ways to go about things. By no way am I knocking the reptile trade or anything like that. As a kid, I grew up with 20 different reptiles as pets and breeding them and selling them as pets.
There's nothing wrong with that. There's a right and wrong way with anything like owning a gun or anything else.
We shouldn't necessarily make these animals illegal, because what we've seen when just recently they've made iguanas and tegus illegal in Florida to own as pets. And we're seeing people dump their pets because FWC has been going around, and they said they wouldn't, but they have been. They've been going around and actually euthanizing people's pets. And to someone that this iguana or this python even, or anything, to a lot of people, it's like a dog. It's like someone killing your dog.
It really is. And they would much rather turn it loose and give it the chance to survive than to have it euthanized. And then what you're left with is irresponsible pet owners. You're left with people that are breaking the law to own these animals, probably don't have proper enclosures, probably don't take good care of them, and probably will just release them when they're done with them. So you take all of the good away and you're left with the bad, when instead we should put regulations in place, proper regulations, where people then are forced to house these animals correctly.
And the problem is no longer pet iguanas or pet pythons. It's wild breeding animals. And when they made these iguanas illegal just this past year, they've now stopped all of that free management we had of people coming from all over the country, coming to Florida, catching these iguanas, catching these tegus, taking them out of the state and selling them where they can't survive anyway because it's too cold. And it was helping us. It was helping control these populations.
Now all of that is gone. You're not allowed to do that anymore. And this year in particular, I'm seeing more baby iguanas than I ever have in my entire life. It's out of control.
So that was the primary way that they were regulating, or that they were controlling the population size? was people coming in and grabbing them?
No, that's not the primary way, but that was a huge way. What percentage do you think? That was? on top of what myself and other people in the state are doing. Especially for the juveniles and baby iguanas, that's 90%.
Whoa.
That's what they're. after. They go out there. They trap them. It may even be bigger than I'm thinking.
A lot of people were making livings off, coming down here, catching them, taking them out of state.
And out of state they can't survive?
No, it's too cold. You see it just with you. don't have these animals surviving in North Florida. It gets too cold.
That's crazy, then. So it's almost like a perfect scenario, because they can't be invasive. They can't survive.
And that's the thing. We all fought against this when they were trying to get these new laws passed. Because at face value it seems like, oh, yeah, make them illegal. It'll help. But when you talk to the experts and the people that really know, it's counterproductive.
And at this point there's so many iguanas in Florida that the idea of eradicating them.
No, we're never getting rid of the pythons. We're never getting rid of the iguanas. They're here to stay. But management is absolutely essential.
Is it possible to manage the pythons in the Everglades?
Yes, it is. You know, how effectively it is remained to be seen. I feel right now we're losing that battle. But that's because the state really ties our hands. For the general public, it's almost impossible for them to go out and hunt these pythons.
They just don't have the access. You know, they're not getting compensated for it. Nothing like that. A lot of these areas where the pythons are, you're not legally allowed to go off the trail in a vehicle. And that's the only way you can get around.
So you have to stay on trail?
You have to stay on levees, roadways.
Is there an extensive trail system or is it mostly just wild?
No, it's mostly just wild. And here's another thing which you're going to get a kick out of. In the National Park itself, you are not allowed to remove invasive species. If you come across a 20-foot python eating a deer, you are not allowed to do anything. Because it's inside the National Park and everything inside the National Park is protected.
Even the invasive wildlife. Now they do allow state contractors to go in the National Park and remove these pythons. But that's not nearly enough. We need the general public involved. We have a lot of people wanting to help.
And inside the National Park, even a state contractor is not allowed to get off the road in any sort of vehicle, airboat, anything. And that's the only way you can get around. The Everglades is 1.5 million acres of impenetrable swamp. You know, half of it's underwater, sawgrass that will slice you open, twice as tall as you, and too thick to even get through. So you would need an airboat, you would need a swamp buggy, and none of this is allowed.
And we really saw kind of the tides of battle, kind of change, I guess you would say, when it became a National Park. So we had python sightings in the Everglades in the 60s. They were seeing these snakes. And nothing was done. What was actually done was the Florida gladesman, who historically lived and survived off the Everglades and was a keeper of the Everglades, was kicked out of the Everglades when it was made a National Park.
It's another thing. It's a rabbit hole I don't necessarily want to go down to.
How many of those guys were kicked out?
Hundreds, maybe thousands. It's hard to say.
So it was all the folks that were living in there.
Yeah, so they actually had camps out there. They built camps and they'd live out there. Some would go out there, recreation. A lot of them would live out there, make their living out there. Gator hunters, commercial fishers, moonshiners, drug smugglers, all kind of stuff.
A lot of these camps was actually, especially when you're getting more into, the pythons starting to take over, when they were really trying to get everyone out. Which, that's not. the reason they were trying to get everyone out was because of the pythons. It was because they were trying to turn it into National Park and they felt like these people shouldn't be in there. They were burning down camps.
And there's actually stories of burning down camps with gladesmen inside and all kind of shady stuff going on. That's maybe a topic for another time.
How long did it take to move these people out of the forest?
So the National Park, I believe, was started in like 47.. It was actually finalized sometime in the 60s, maybe the late 60s. And then from there, I want to say the whole exodus kicking everybody out, probably 20 years or so. 15, 20 years. And it's still kind of a raw spot for a lot of us.
A lot of us don't like the Park Service because of everything that happened. And we feel that the Everglades should be open to the people to enjoy it. And, you know, enjoy it in the right way, of course. But we really seen that when the gladesmen, the eyes and the ears and the keepers of the Everglades was removed from the Everglades and our access was limited, the pythons took over. The water quality went down.
We're seeing fracking in our Everglades. We're seeing oil drilling, all kind of stuff that, you know, we feel the Everglades should be represented and preserved in a better way.
Do you think that that was one of the reasons why they wanted to get everybody out so they could extract the resources?
I think there was definitely some, you know, ulterior motives, for sure. I work closely with a lot of these state departments, you know, so I'm not trying to ruffle too many feathers. But, yeah, there's definitely some shady stuff going on in the Everglades. Why are we not allowed to enjoy our Everglades, but, you know, we're allowed to take from her natural resources and diminish her, the government is.
And not manage the invasive species at all.
And not manage the invasive species properly and not manage the water properly. Our Everglades is dying, is dying because of their water quality issues.
What is the source of the water quality issues?
It's a very complicated issue. And it's not one that I'm extremely versed on, I would say. I mean, I definitely know about it, but, you know, I don't want to say the wrong things.
Overpopulation, too many people moving to Florida.
Pollution based?
Pollution based, agricultural based.
And the core of it is not allowing the water to flow south how it needs to. naturally. So, the Everglades is the greatest filter in the entire world. It's a natural wonder of the world. It really is.
And right now we are not using it the way we should. There are steps being taken to send water south and to start to restore some of this natural flow. But the problem is, if we restore the natural flow to where it was, Palm Beach, all the way down to Miami, returns as a swampland. All of the sugarcane, which is huge money, at the south of Lake Okeechobee is swamp and is no longer being able to use for sugarcane. And we see a lot of that, you know, make the decisions in what happens with our Everglades and conservation.
Is it a lot of corruption? A lot of money driven? Rather than we need to set aside this piece of land, have it gather water, treat water, send it south to be filtered through our Everglades and provide water to where it's dry. Clean, healthy water. And then it can be filtered out through the Bay of Florida.
We're seeing more where that lands being kept for agriculture or something else, or where a project gets started and then it's lobbied and nothing gets done. We're seeing a lot of just promises not being made as well.
So have they dammed the flow of this water?
Yep. So there's a series of levees and locks that control the water. in South Florida. It's controlled by South Florida Water Management. And, you know, they started managing the water a hundred years ago or more, I believe, maybe even much further than that.
And that's really where we went wrong is we should have learned to kind of work with the water flow more and not totally shut it off the way we have. And totally made it man-made, which, you know, like I said, they're trying to reverse some of that. They just built a new lock that's going to help send some of the water south through Tamiami Trail and 41.. But it's just not enough. We need more water to be filtered and cleaned and less of it to be dumped out into the estuaries on the east and west coast.
This water will remain stagnant and it'll build blue-green algae, which is actually a bacteria. And this bacteria produces toxins. I believe it sucks up all the oxygen in the water. And I don't know if you've seen these fish kills we've had on the east and west coast. But that's exactly what it's from.
is our water management. So it's not just the Everglades, but it's the east and west coast. And that's because they're taking the water that needs to be sent south, cleaned and filtered, and they're sending it out into these estuaries where it kills everything. And it's, you know, they're protecting, which, you know, I'm not blaming U.S. Sugar by any means.
U.S. Sugar does a lot to actually help Florida conservation. But it's just kind of a situation we've got ourselves in where there's not a great solution. besides, you know, really taking away a lot of this money.
And our estuaries are just suffering for it. Our Everglades is suffering for it.
Have they done anything to try to figure out how to mitigate whatever pollutants are getting into the water? Have they tried to figure out some sort of a solution?
I'm sure. I'm sure. I don't know if it's gained any traction, because right now we're having algae blooms, as we speak, on Lake Okeechobee and different areas. And no, I don't know of any solution to really combat that algae bloom. And especially once they have it, you know, it's the water levels get so high, they have to flow it out.
Is there a way to do this without flooding Miami?
I'm sure there is. I'm sure there is. But to get it in a way where everyone's happy and on board with it and there's the money to do it, is another thing.
But so how did Miami get built? Was Miami originally swamp and they just filled it in?
Yep. The canal systems were able to redirect the water. And, you know, I'm sure they, which, you know, I don't know exactly how Miami is built, but I'm sure, yeah, they built up on the limestone, on the swamp. It's essentially limestone bottom down there. And then they divert the water with these canal systems and they're able to, you know, send it in areas that's not Miami or send it through the canals through Miami out into the intercoastal and things along those lines.
And they have a series of locks and gates that help control all this. So it's very complicated. And, you know, I wish I knew.
But if the natural flow of water would happen, if they just removed all the levees and just let everything flow all the way down, it would flood Miami.
Yeah. Yeah. It would flood all through, which, you know, who knows? They've. maybe, if you could take away everything they did, all the ground being built up and everything.
Yes, it would. It would be a swamp.
Wow.
It's kind of crazy when someone sets out to do something to make it habitable for people and doesn't take into consideration that this is just this immense ecosystem.
You'll get a kick out of this. So, in an effort to dry up the Everglades while they were doing this, they wanted to dry the Everglades up. They actually, from airplane release, released Melaleuca seeds over the Everglades because Melaleuca sucks up water. So now they pay contractors to go out and remove the Melaleuca from the Everglades because it's sucking up all the water.
Oh, boy.
It's that's crazy.
There's so many instances in human history of people putting in a species to try to mitigate another species and having that species run amok. Like the Australia situation with the wild cats.
Yeah.
It's insane.
It is.
Well, they have feral cats everywhere in Australia. They've decimated ground nesting birds and they kill everything.
Everything. Everything. We see it in Florida. We see it in Florida. We have feral cats like crazy and they're killing everything.
We saw the numbers. We read the numbers on one day on the podcast about how many animals get killed every year just in the US by feral cats. And it's in the billions.
It's mind blowing.
It's so crazy. There's such little murderers.
I think they've said like 15 to 20 different species are attributed to them being extinct. Yeah. Because of the cats.
It's crazy.
Yeah, it is.
So the Florida situation as it stands, what are the official efforts to mitigate the python population?
So...
What do you think they could do? Could they just open it up to people? So, in a perfect world, if you were the king of Florida and they said, hey man, python cowboy, tell us what to do. And you're like, this is what we're going to do. You're going to open this up to vehicles and put a bounty on these things.
Not necessarily. No? No, not necessarily. So that can be a little bit risky. You know, we've seen, not so much in these past python challenges, these past python challenges, the tournaments we have in Florida, where the general public goes out there and competes for money catching pythons.
They've been great. They've been super successful. We're not seeing much bad come from them. But in maybe six or seven years ago, maybe six years ago, I think it was, when they first came out with these competitions and there wasn't any education behind it. It was a free for all.
You had a bunch of rednecks riding around in trucks with shotguns and AR-15s, shooting every snake that moved, leaving trash out there. And it was just a terrible thing. Barely any pythons were caught or removed. And it just was not beneficial. Now, with all the education we put out between the news, social media, TV shows, you know, the state programs, we see a different kind of snake hunter out there.
We see people that are trying to help, trying to do things the right way. They care about the ecosystem. They don't want to leave behind trash. And, you know, that is very encouraging. for me to say something more like, yeah, let's, let's have a public bounty system where the general public can get out there and do what they need to do.
But in order for that to be successful, we do need more access. You know, if they want to protect the national park and all that, that's fine. OK, let's still allow people to remove invasive species when they come across them, whether they're state contractor or just some average Joe. But we will have penalties in place for anybody harming a native snake in the national park, where then people will be careful not to get in trouble and do something illegal.
Outside the national park, which, you know, we have all kind of Francis S. Taylor, Rocky Glades, Frog Pond, all these different areas, Area 3, 2, 1, that have pythons in them and that we should allow more access, more airboat access, more buggy access year round and show people how valuable these snakes are. The skin is extremely valuable. It makes beautiful leather. There's people lining up to buy this leather.
I fund my entire python operation off this leather. I've actually quit. I resigned from the state. I hunted. I was one of the first state python hunter hunted for them for maybe about five years.
This past two years, I decided to resign from the state because I'm not allowed to use a dog if I'm hunting for the state, which is, you know, a little funny.
That sounds crazy.
Yep. So, you know, my thing is showing people that I'm funding my entire operation off these snake skins. You can possibly make a living off. these snake skins, definitely make some side money, and you're going to be getting out there helping the Everglades. If they were to add a bounty on top of that, I think in the very beginning, you might see a little bit of what we used to see, where you just have people out there for the wrong reasons, you know, trying to just get a picture with a snake or whatever.
But I think they're going to quickly see how hard it is. They're not just catching snakes like they thought they were. And all those weekend warriors, all those people, they're going to die off, and you're going to be left with the general public that really does want to help. They're going to be good at it, and that's the only way we're going to get that under control. You know, it's going to have to be a delicate process to get there, I feel like.
You know, maybe everyone has to sign up for a license, and then for that license, they go through some kind of training course, like we do already for the Python challenges. And to me, that is the way to go. We need more than just these state contractors who, to me, they're all hunting the same spots. They all hunt the public highways or these couple of levees that produce pythons, and they're just driving the road all night up and down. And we need to get out in the swamp to get where they're nesting, where they're breeding, and where they're eating our native wildlife.
And we're just not doing that like we should be. And that's why I've been putting so much into this Python team I've been putting together, specifically to use dogs to help us find these snakes. And just this nesting season alone, I've completely proven that that's the only way to do it. This season alone, I found, maybe I think, eight nests now. Which, to give you an idea, before this Python season, there was like a handful of nests ever found in the state.
It's a very rare thing. Very, very rare. Before I used a dog, I found one nest. That's it. I don't know of any other person in the state of Florida that has found more than one nest.
So, for this last two months alone, I'm finding that many nests. I'm finding underground pythons. We never really understood how much they nest underground that we have this season, with my dog finding these snakes actually underground. And, you know, that's where a lot of them are going to nest. Almost every snake I've found in a hole.
Is this one finding them underground?
Yeah, I took out Seek One Productions. They're like a hunting media company.
Oh, this is crazy. You're actually digging into the ground.
And my dog, Otto, alerted me to this hole. And he let me know that there is a python in this hole. And to be sure, I took my little camera, stuck it down in there. And sure enough, I could see a python in the very back of the hole.
How do you train your dog to find pythons?
You know, there's definitely training that goes into it, but it is natural ability. These dogs are extremely talented. Not every dog will be a snake dog, especially, you know, I have 20 or more hunting dogs right now. I use them all to help me with invasive species and different things like that. Only a few of them will find me a snake.
Dogs, in their instincts, generally don't like snakes. They want to stay away from snakes. A lot of the dogs I've found, the snake's like invisible. It'll be stepping on it like it ain't even there. But a few of my dogs, I don't know what it is, they're really, really good at it.
Really good at it.
And so just completely natural that they gravitate towards snakes.
We train all of our dogs. Don't get me wrong. But mainly the training was for other stuff ahead of time. And I'm just transferring it over into snakes. These dogs, I work with them every, especially my dog, Otto, who's really getting the snakes for me.
now. This dog's with me every day. What kind of dog is Otto? He's a German Wirehair Pointer.
He's adorable. You look so happy.
No, he loves it. He loves it. I always say when I die, I want to come back as Otto because he is the happiest freaking thing in the world.
And so, Otto's the best one that you've ever had for snakes.
He is my best python dog.
He's got a snake in his mouth.
He's my phenomenal python dog, my phenomenal iguana dog. And, I mean, he'll do everything else as well. There's nothing that dog cannot do.
So when you find those eggs, do you destroy them?
Yeah, so what I actually do is I'll—.
Oh, he just dashed up the iguana.
They normally don't make it that easy. That iguana was sleeping. I don't know what it was doing.
Yeah, so I'll freeze the eggs, which kills them. And then I preserve them and donate them, sell some as educational displays for schools, research, stuff like that. Because it is, they're a dinosaur egg. They're huge. Twice as big as an alligator egg.
And how many eggs will a female python produce normally?
So, on average, what I've been finding this last season, which has really kind of, you know, given us a lot more data, your average-sized snake is going to lay 20 to about 60 eggs.
And what is their primary food source out there now that they've kind of decimated most of the wildlife?
But I would like to add that they're capable of 100 eggs or more.
Oh, wow.
A really big one? Oh, yeah. A 16-footer, a 17-, 18-footer, they get that big. Excuse me. So they can lay a large clutch of nest—or large clutch of eggs, I'm sorry.
Wow. We just found a nest this season underground as well. It was an underground 16-footer, and she was on a nest of 70 active eggs. And especially on an—. Yeah, it's crazy.
Well, it shows what we're up against, too. Yeah. It can get discouraging.
One snake gives birth to 70 snakes.
Yep. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I'll kind of get to that. So, you know, especially an underground nest like that, almost all of those are going to survive. When they're hatched, they're already two foot long, which is—yeah, which is about the size of most of our adult native snakes. So they're getting preyed on, maybe for that first month, and then after that, not much is messing with them.
And they grow very, very quick.
It was mostly birds preying on them?
Yep. Birds, owls, stuff like that. Sometimes alligators a little bit, but pythons are eating alligators more than alligators are eating pythons.
So what is their primary food source now?
Right now, rats. Everglades rats. There's a lot of rats out there. And alligators, I would say. They've wiped out most of all the other mammals, and, you know, they're working on our wading birds for sure.
But I've been seeing them eat a lot of alligators.
So that's probably their primary food source.
Yep. Wow. Which, honestly, you know, this may sound bad, but I'd rather them be eating alligators than anything else. We've got plenty of them. They're not going to wipe out the alligators by any mean.
Right. But they will wipe out everything else.
We're—90 to 99% of our small fur-bearing game in the Everglades has been wiped out by pythons. And that is real. That is real.
So deer. Like, if you want deer hunting—.
This is small fur-bearing mammals. So this is like—.
Raccoons.
Marsh, rabbits, raccoons, otters, things along those lines. Our deer are wiped out as well. Our deer populations are in a fraction of what they used to be. And that's because of large pythons, our water management, and panthers, for sure. So, you know, everything's really kind of struggling.
What about black bears?
Oh, yeah. We've got black bear down there. The black bear, I don't know. I don't think they're getting affected by too much other than the water.
So the water is a primary deterrent of yours, it seems like.
Yep. Absolutely.
That's the big one, huh? Absolutely. And a lot of it's agriculture, a lot of it's fertilizer, pesticides.
Yep. We have very high mercury levels in our water. That's why, actually, a python over 10 foot in length really shouldn't be eating. Its mercury contents will be dangerous high.
Shouldn't be eating? People are eating pythons?
You can. I wouldn't say people are down there having it for dinner every night. I've eaten it a number of times.
Yeah? What does it look like?
Very chewy. Very, very chewy. I'm no chef by any means. I think if you knew what you were doing and you were able to get it really tender and nice, it wouldn't be too bad.
Like sous vide or something?
Yeah. Yep. The flavor is not bad at all. It's nice white meat. You're kind of eating it off the ribs, like fish, kind of, almost.
But it's not bad at all. The iguana is delicious.
Yeah, I've heard iguana is very good. I've seen a lot of people kill them and cook them on YouTube. Yes, sir. Where they cook some stir fry. How do you cook iguanas?
Again, it's not something like, hey, darling, I got some iguanas fried up for dinner. I'm feeding most of it to my livestock and then making leather products from the skin. But I've barbecued it. I've kind of pan fried it in some General Tso's and pineapple. And that was actually really good.
I got a big male that had like these huge cheeks. And in the cheeks, there's a nice medallion of meat. And that's how I fried that up. It was good.
Does that taste similar to anything?
It's almost like a dark meat frog leg. Okay. Which sounds maybe a little gross, but it's not bad.
Frogs are pretty good.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Frogs are delicious.
Yeah. It's just. people have to get past the fact that it's a frog.
Yeah. Same thing with python and iguana.
Yeah. So is that a common thing where people hunt and eat iguanas now in Florida?
Not so much to hunt them, to eat them. I think that's more just like a YouTube thing. People love that stuff. It's more so you have people hunting them because it's fun. It is.
It's a really fun thing to do. I do guided hunts for it. And I do guided hunts for just about everything in Florida. And I always say I've never seen people have so much fun as I do on these iguana hunts. I mean you're just – you may shoot at 100 iguanas in the day and watch my dog go in and catch it, bring it back.
Are you using air guns?
Yeah. We're using really high-end semi-automatic air rifles, .25 and .30 caliber. This is actually out on a golf course.
Look at the size of these suckers.
And, yeah, that's a big breeder. That's what I'm looking for when I'm out there. I'm removing any iguanas, I see, but those are the big problem. Those big breeders, they usually have a harem of like five or six females. And, a little fun fact, they have two peckers.
So they're out there slanging it, you know what I mean?
And they're everywhere.
Yeah, they're everywhere. They are everywhere.
And is there a limit? Like if you're after invasive species, are you allowed to shoot as many as you find?
Yeah, yeah, it is. I don't want to make it seem like, you know, the iguana thing is just a free-for-all in Florida. The iguanas, they're in these real residential areas. You know, urban settings where you just can't really walk around and shoot stuff in people's backyards. You're trespassing.
People are calling the cops on you. I'm permitted and licensed to do this in the various areas I do. Someone will hire me, bring me in. And, you know, definitely for people to go out and do this on their own, they need to be careful. They need to make sure they're in a public area where they're allowed to do that.
Your dog just jumped in the water and caught a swimmer.
Yep.
That's amazing.
Yeah, he'll dive down, pick him up off the bottom and jump him, grab him out of trees.
It's crazy that this one dog is just so good at reptiles and snakes.
We have a number of them backing him up now. They're not quite as good as him, but they are.
Do they learn from him?
Yeah, yeah. I usually have him mentor them a little bit, take them out, see how they do it or see how he does it. And, you know, they'll pick it up. Him, though, he's just had so much experience. I've had him since six months old out on golf courses helping me, and he's just got it down.
See, you can see here he knows to re-grip because the tails break off. And here, watch this, he drops it trying to show off for the clients. And he is very upset, but that old dad's got his back there.
Wow. Yeah.
Was it hurting his mouth?
No, he was just shaking it around and excited and wiggled out of his mouth. A lot of times when he catches them, especially after he gives them a little bit of a thrashing, they just give up. And I think he was kind of thinking this one was a little gave up and was being silly with it. He ain't supposed to do that. That's not good.
He's supposed to keep hold of it until it gets back to me. Yeah.
When you're out there, like on a typical day, how many iguanas are you seeing?
Depends on where I am. Depends on if this is my first time removing iguanas on this golf course. I have communities and golf courses and city parks that I've been managing for the past couple years. And I may go me or send one of my guys, and, you know, we may only get 15 to 20 that day. Or I may go to a brand new one.
that's like Jurassic Park, and I'd get over 100.. Really? Oh, yeah. Like Jurassic Park? Like Jurassic Park.
Six-footers. Really?
What's the biggest one you've ever seen?
Biggest one I've ever seen? Shot them.
Six and a half foot, maybe a little more. How big do they get? The problem is, I don't measure or weigh them. all. Right.
Pythons I do, but the iguanas I just don't.
What's like the biggest iguana ever?
Six and a half foot, basically. I've never heard of one bigger. 20 pounds, essentially.
That's like as long as this table, almost.
Tip to tip, almost. Short.
That's insane for an iguana. Like, what does that weigh?
It looks like it weighs about 50 pounds, but they're 20 pounds that big. About 20 pounds. 15 to 20 pounds. 20 pounds is monsters for an iguana.
Dude, is there any video that we could see of, like a Jurassic Park type situation? Do you have any videos of them? like all over a golf course?
There's definitely some on YouTube. I think of one in particular where it's like 100 of them running from this guy just walking, playing golf. Generally, when I see that, I'm blasting, so I'm not really taking too much video.
So yours is semi-automatic? You can fire off multiple shots?
Yeah, semi-automatic. I got eight shots and I keep spare magazines on me and swap them out real quick.
And a lot of times, too, when I get into a place where I know it's covered with them, and a lot of times they'll close down the area for the day for me, I'll bring in my guys and we're all geared up. We all got guns, we got a couple dogs, and we're just annihilating them all day. We'll just come in and wipe them out.
What's the most you've ever shot in a day?
Close to 200.. Close to 200.. That's so crazy. Just iguanas, and then on top of that, we'll have different invasives. We'll get cane toads while we're there, Muscovy dogs, Egyptian geese.
Sometimes pigeons will become a big problem. They're also invasive. They'll have us remove them, and it kind of becomes a little bit of a cleanup. This is a big boy.
Booyah.
Yep.
So is there any video, Jamie, of a bunch of invasive pythons on a golf course? Just Google python infestation golf course.
Yeah, there's one video in particular where I was blown away. I was like, oh, I gotta get out there.
Now, do they pay you per python? How does that work?
For the iguanas?
I mean, for iguanas, right?
Yeah, it kind of depends on how I... There is no state bounty for iguanas. I want to make that clear. A lot of people think there is. There's not.
Should there be?
Yeah, that would be great, but I don't see how that would be possible. I really don't. Because of where iguanas are and how many iguanas people would be getting, the budget would have to be huge, and you would have a bunch of people just running around the city shooting stuff. You would have guys getting shot. You would have windows getting shot out.
Right, right, right. You need... Professionals. Yeah, you really do for iguanas more than anything. Pythons, they're out in the middle of the Everglades, away from people, and you're generally going to be grabbing them or just shooting them point blank.
So it's kind of a little bit different. But it all depends on how I work the job. Most jobs, I'll set it up to where it's, per iguana. That way, they kind of know what they're getting into, and I like to kind of stay motivated in each one. It's like, cha-ching, cha-ching.
Right, of course.
So that's generally how I'll do it, and every place is different. I may have a place that's only $10, $15 for an iguana, and I've got places that's $100 or more per iguana I get. So it's all different.
That could be a very profitable day.
Go ham. It can, it can.
Do you find any videos of...
It's nothing that's super impressive. I mean, I'm seeing... Here's one with tons of red iguanas. Hold on.
Is there more than one type of iguana that's invasive down there?
So we have the green iguana, which they do get orange. Those are the big orange ones. you see. Those are just big dominant alpha males that turn that orange, like, kind of like a peacock, you know, sort of thing. But we're also dealing with Mexican spiny-tailed iguanas, and they're not quite as big of a problem.
We are seeing them in certain pockets, in certain areas, you know, kind of populations booming. The main thing about them is... Yeah, look at all that poop.
This is crazy.
And, you know, when we first start in areas, especially areas where I first start doing guided hunts, it'll look like this, and we clean it up pretty quickly. We're seeing huge results for the iguanas, and even the pythons in a lot of the areas that we're focusing.
Wow.
And these are all just invasive species that are brought over as pets.
Yep, yep. Well, you know, these specific ones weren't necessarily pets. These were probably wild-born. But, you know, their lineage does come from. escaped and released pets.
Right. Yeah.
It's just crazy how much of an impact that can have.
It is. You know, and it's kind of cool to see, not necessarily cool, but interesting to see the differences in impacts. The pythons are wiping out our native wildlife, and the iguanas, while they do have impacts on our native wildlife, specifically our burrowing animals, like our gopher tortoise, our burrowing owls, and they're both protected and threatened species already, they, more so, have an impact on our infrastructure. They cost our state millions and millions of dollars every single year. with the burrows they dig, the vegetation they eat.
They dig under houses, too, right? And they fuck with the structure of the...
Yep. So they'll dig these burrows to lay nests, and they'll undermine housing foundations, sidewalks, seawalls. And the main concern has been roadways and our levee embankments. As I was explaining earlier, those levee systems manage our water, which is absolutely crucial for the state of Florida. And the iguanas will degrade the embankments so much where they have to come in and totally rebuild them back up.
To give you an idea, the town of Davie, which is just a small town here in South Florida, last year or the year before, they spent $1.7 million repairing iguana burrows along their levee embankments. That's not roadways, that's not houses, that's not sidewalks, seawalls, just the levee embankments. And you spread that across the whole state, I mean, you could be talking $50 million, maybe more. Dade County, Miami-Dade, has been talking about upping their budget for iguana removal, which I'm planning on putting a bid in for it. Their budget before was just not adequate for what needs to be done.
They're now comparing it to the mosquito problem. And the mosquito problem, I believe they spend like $40 million a year on. So, I think their budget in the prior years was like $250,000 for iguanas, and they're quickly seeing that we need to spend millions on these reptiles to get them out.
Have you seen this insane research they're doing about injecting mosquitoes with vaccines?
Scary shit.
Yeah, what the fuck are they doing?
Scary shit. Well, they want you to get that damn shot anyway.
This is crazy. This one's crazy.
Yeah, that is.
Like, the idea that you're going to contain those mosquitoes once you release them out in the wild?
Yeah, what's going to happen? We've seen how things have gone wrong before.
How do you not learn from all the stuff we've been talking about earlier today? Invasive species, cats, toads. The fact that you've got some genetically engineered mosquito, and you're releasing it on the human race. Like, holy shit, man.
Well, here's something on that too. So, they're doing that. They've already released them in Florida, from my understanding. They're already out there.
Which mosquitoes?
The modified ones. I don't know about the...
Not the vaccine ones.
Not the vaccine, but the modified ones.
What are these modified ones supposed to be doing?
I guess helping with the mosquito population? How so? I don't know. But I do know, supposedly, and I'm pretty sure this is accurate, we had our first case of malaria in Florida, like, ever. Or, for a very, very long time.
Texas as well.
Texas as well. So, you know, it's a little...
Same places where they're working on these fucking mosquitoes.
Same places. they're working on these fucking mosquitoes.
Yeah, I don't know if that's why. I'm not saying that's why, but I am saying that I am very concerned when human beings are making a decision that can affect, rather, the entire population that lives down there, or in the entire country, or anywhere where there's mosquitoes. How can you not say that these things are going to go everywhere?
Yeah, well, you know, like you said, what if it goes bad? Then what? What do you do?
Well, this idea that we're supposed to trust these guys, they know exactly how everything's going to work out. Like, fuck off.
Yeah.
Yeah, what are you doing? No.
Yeah, just like they knew about COVID.
Just like they know about everything. There's never been one thing. they've ever gotten perfectly right. And this is a giant overstep. It just seems like that involves everyone.
v1.0.0.260408-1-a910ba6_os