Reptiles and Amphibians

Reader Mail: Everglades Python Hunt Stinks

Python Hunters Wear Snake Piss-Like Cologne, Apparently

Surely you've heard of Florida's ongoing snake hunting challenge, but have you ever thought about the types of people that actually are out there participating? Much like the beasts they're hunting, they appear to be a strange breed.For instance, apparently they wear the stench of snake urine-like a ... More >>

2013 Python Challenge: Few Reptiles, Many TV Crews

PETA Demands Python Hunters Stop Decapitating Snakes

Experts around the country have raised all kinds of concerns about Florida's mass orgy of python killing set for this weekend. Would-be snake hunters only have to read a couple of PDFs to qualify, leaving them in grave danger of death by dehydration, snake bite, swamp rot and god knows what other Ev ... More >>

Hundreds of Maniacs Sign Up To Hunt Pythons in the Everglades This Weekend

Does slogging around a foreboding, swampy wilderness searching for man-hungry pythons that can grow longer than a city block sound like your idea of a fun weekend? For hundreds of people from around the country, the answer is a resounding yes.More than 400 souls who have apparently never seen cinema ... More >>

Florida Police Respond to Missing Child Alert to Find Home Full of Hundreds of Caged Animals

When police arrived to the home of Jeffrey O'Neil and Jennifer Kovacs in Oldsmar, Florida, they found guinea pigs, hedge hogs, squirrels, and seven Burmese pythons. They just couldn't find the 16-month-old girl the couple was also supposed to be caring for.

Florida is Hosting a Python Hunting Contest: $1,000 for the Longest Snake

Invasive pythons continue to reek havoc through out Florida's swampy ecosystems, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has come up with a novel way to help control the population: a hunting contest. Yes, the FWC is offering prize money for the most pythons bagged overal ... More >>

Florida Man Kept Endangered Sea Turtle in Backyard, Planned to Eat It

A sea turtle named Lucky almost became turtle soup. The extremely endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle was caught by a fisherman back in May. The man decided to bring the turtle home and put it in a tank in his backyard to fatten it up and eventually planned to eat the turtle. Luckily, a neighbor rat ... More >>

Pythons May Have Eaten All the Rabbits in the Everglades

​Peter Cottontail's Florida cousin is no longer hopping down any bunny trails in the Everglades. That's because he was eaten by a python.A new study says that rabbits may have been completely eliminated from areas of the Everglades where invasive snake populations are the most heavy. Bobcats, racc ... More >>

Burmese Python Imports Now Banned in U.S.; No More Snakes On These Motherf**in' Planes

​​Ken Salazar, our cowboy hat-wearing Secretary of the Interior, is expected to announce a ban on importing Burmese pythons today while visiting the Everglades. "The Burmese python has already gained a foothold in the Florida Everglades, and we must do all we can to battle its spread and to pre ... More >>

Pythons Can Survive in Saltwater, Could Invade Florida Keys

​For now, Florida's invasive python population has largely been relegated to the fresh water of the Everglades and surrounding areas, but a new study shows the alien snakes can survive for up to a month in saltwater. That means there's potential the snakes could expand their range and start poppin ... More >>

Crocodiles at the Vagabond May 20

Snake Farm Shooting: Tom Crutchfield and Business Partner Bruce Stephenson Involved in Deadly Argument

via YouTubeTom Crutchfield was grazed by a bullet after an argument with his business partner. ​The story of the stand-off at a Homestead reptile farm has more twists and turns than a snake slithering through the jungle. Riptide has learned that Bruce Stephenson was found dead after a stand off wi ... More >>

Have Some Extra Exotic Animals Around Your House? Give Them to Zoo Miami on March 12th

​Riptide recently moved, and as with every move came a long hard look at our possessions: what were we taking with, what was being donated somewhere, and what was to be shown the dumpster. Of course, as we understand is normal, we stressed over what to do with our vast private collection of exotic ... More >>

Everglades Pythons Survived Last Year's Cold Snap

​The great alien python menace continues to ravage to the delicate ecosystem of the Everglades, and scientists hoped that last January's historic cold snap would put a big dent in the invasive snake population. Unfortunately, most of those slimy bastards managed to survive the big chill. Not even ... More >>

Happy Birthday, Alice Cooper! Three Farcical Encounters With the King of Shock Rock

​Crossfade's favorite shock rocker, Alice Cooper, turns 63 today. And even though he's probably out at some exclusive country club working on his celebrity golf game, we like the image of vintage Alice that involves prop blood, live chickens, and nightly decapitations. So to celebrate AC's birthd ... More >>

Crocodiles at Grand Central November 3

Crocodiles to Play "Kill Joe Arpaio" and Other Big Hits to Grand Central November 3

Sheriff Joe Arpaio says, "Bite me, Alligators!"​Some people don't know shit about music. And Arizona immigration zealot Sheriff Joe Arpaio can no doubt be counted among the hopeless, tone-deaf, and ignorant. Ever wonder what that guy blares while cruising the US-Mexico border in his personally p ... More >>

Crocodiles Cancel Its November 3 Show at Grand Central and Rest of US Tour

Photo by Alexandra Kacha​Only this morning, Crossfade hyped the upcoming Crocodiles concert at downtown cool kid club Grand Central with a hyperactive blurb about the San Diego band's recent single "Kill Joe Arpaio" and the Arizona sheriff's angry, Twitter-driven counterattack. This evening, thou ... More >>

Cold-Blooded Race

Working With a Monster

Pythons Banned in Florida

​Bad news for lovers of giant snakes, killing babies, Tiffany, and Debbie Gibson: Burmese pythons have been banned in Florida. On Thursday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission signed new rules that prohibit anyone from owning Burmese pythons and, actually, any other "reptiles of concern" as p ... More >>

Wildlife Cops Bust Man Selling Pythons on Craigslist

Bethany Berg Via Flicker CCThe ad on Craigslist Miami shows a photo of two large black snakes slithering on white carpet. "Ball Pythons for Cheap," the headline reads. "They are very tame and eat one mouse a week." Scroll down a bit and find a "dwarf pastel Colombian redtail boa" for $160. A bit f ... More >>

You Have One Day to Kill a Snake Or Python Hunting Season is a Failure

The idea of the government asking people to take there hunting equipment out into the Everglades and swamps of Florida to end the lives of "reptiles of concern like" may not have been the most humane thing, but boy were we excited. We mean, these snakes could kills us and our young children and our ... More >>

Knives, Muggings, and One Ugly Fight to Save SoBe's Sea Turtles

The 'Turtle Dude' Quits in Ugly Fight Over Saving SoBe's Endangered Sea Turtles

Think about the sheer shitty luck to be a sea turtle egg laid on South Beach. Drunks and party girls stumble over you and the neon lights of Ocean Drive lure you to sure death. photo by TheCoffee via Wikimedia Commons Did 'The Turtle Dude' go too far in trying to save endangered sea turtles o ... More >>

Reptiles of Concern: Let's Go Out and Shoot Giant Snakes!

As God as our witness, Florida will not rest until we put a bullet between the eyes of every alien python, anaconda, and monitor lizard in this state. They have taken our pets, they have taken our Everglades, they have taken our alligators, they have even taken our children, and this means war.The F ... More >>

14-Foot Python Found in Miami-Dade Raises Concern of "Super Snake"

via South Florida Water Management District/Sun-Sentinel​The great snake scourge of the Everglades continues to thrive despite the recent cold snap and Sen. Bill Nelson's giant snake killing parties.During a recent sweep, state officials found five African rock pythons, including a 14-foot-female ... More >>

Scientists Worried Everglades Pythons Could Morph into Hybrid Man-Eating Monsters

Last week, I wrote about a coalition of scientists trying to stop the next dangerous exotic invader from taking over the Everglades. via Wikimedia CommonsAt this point, it's probably just best to run and scream.​Dennis Giardina, a botanist who co-chairs the group, took me on a hunt for nile monito ... More >>

Glades Invaders

It's too late to stop the pythons. The real question is, what's next?

Seventeen-Foot Python Caught in Okeechobee

via Florida Fish & Wildlife​ Here's the giant snake that's on the front page of every local news website, so why not ours too? Slow news day. As part of the insane/awesome new government initiative to kill every Burmese python in the wild, this 17-footer was caught yesterda ... More >>

Bill Nelson Proposes a Giant Python-Killing Party in the Everglades

In certain times and places in U.S. history, the answer to every political problem was probably "Let's get a bunch of guys with guns together and solve this." Nowadays, this idea seems to be seriously considered only in matters of Middle East diplomacy, but Florida Sen. Bill Nelson is suggesting a ... More >>

Senator Nelson Takes Strong Stance Against Burmese Pythons

via Wiki CommonsLast week, a 12-foot-long pet Burmese python snuck into the crib of a 2-year-old Florida girl and killed her. Now, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has taken to the Senate floor to push a ban on importing the potentially dangerous snakes. "Sooner or later, a Burmese python will get the end ... More >>

Drink a Smoothie, Help a Sea Turtle at Jamba Juice Today

Jamba Juice and Caribbean Conservation CorporationSlirp for a good causeIt's a win win, folks.  Show up to Jamba Juice today, purchase a smoothie or other healthful snack, and the company will donate 20 percent of the sale to help ensure the survival of sea turtles.  It's all in cooperatio ... More >>

Florida Senate Delegation To Remain Firmly Anti-Burmese Python

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be touring the Everglades tomorrow at the invitation of Sen. Bill Nelson. The day will kick off with a briefing on the efforts to trip and track invasive Burmese pythons that make their home in the 'Glades Most of the snakes loose in the& ... More >>

Letters from the Issue of August 21, 2008

"The python is dangerous and can attack, strangle, and easily kill even a grown man. Why doesn't Selene try hunting pythons?"

Gator-Eating Pythons: A Myth?

The Search for Gustave: Burundi's Great Lake Monster

Swamp Man

Glenn Wilsey reinvented himself around the lure of the alligator

Lizard Breadth

Tip the scales at Repticon

Wet Foot/Wet Foot

American crocodiles: We just want freedom to go back home

BEST SNAKE HUNTING

Pythons in the Everglades

BEST BIRDWATCHING DAY TRIP

J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Hope on the Half-Shell

Note to self: Help save sea turtles while watching them hatch!

Best Place To Kiss A Baby Alligator

Everglades Alligator Farm

Crocodile Fears

Golfers and fishermen beware! The endangered reptile is making a comeback.

Do Not Try This at Home!

Like a lot of people, Manny Puig has a hobby. Unlike a lot of people, his hobby involves riding alligators and sharks.

Chomp in the Swamp

Tracking South Florida's endangered crocodiles is a business best left to experts and maniacs

Stinky, Crunchy, Paint-Eating Hermaphrodites

The USDA stopped the importation of giant African snails to Florida, but there were a couple left behind...

Snakes Alive