Abstract
On July 8, 2019, South Floridians woke up to a headline describing the removal of a sixteen-foot-long Burmese python and fifty of its eggs from beneath a suburban home near the Everglades. This is a common spectacle in South Florida. Floridians, long accustomed to their scaly, cold-blooded co-habitants, have seen these types of headlines since the 1980s. With increasing frequency, non-indigenous species are entering the state's public eye. Perhaps more remarkable than these snakes' presence beneath Floridia homes is their welcomed presence in households across the country. However, this trend in pet-keeping poses the most risk to ecosystems in Florida, once described as "America's soft underbelly when it comes to invasives."
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Recommended Citation
Pemberton, Andrew
(2020)
"Invading Eden: Exotic Pets and Invasive Species in South Florida,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 99:
No.
1, Article 8.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol99/iss1/8
