How to Identify Invasive Reptiles in SW Florida Power Point slideshow compiled by Ecology students at New College of Florida.
Invasive reptiles covered in this guide:
Below is feedback that was received since the Invasive Herpetology Workshop:
From Leslie Anthony, author of Snakebit: Confessions of a Herpetologist:
Thanks again for your hospitality and involving me in the workshop.
I had a really good experience in South Floridia, though we found no pythons either road-driving at night or checking traps with Skip’s student contingent in the Everglades or Ron Rozar and Karen Garrod’s impressive trap array down on Key Largo—a rapid response project well worth looking at. I spent a fair bit of time with Skip and he is not just a fountain of knowledge, he is a geyser! I’m sure any visit you make with the students will be well worth it.
I reallythink this whole over-the-top invasve species problem in Florida is worthy of more than a magazine article and will see if my publishers are ultimately interested in a book of some kind. It’s insane what’s going on down there!
Here’s a picture of Skip with the skin of a 16-foot female that one of his radio-tagged Judas snakes led him to.
Case Study of the Need for Cutting-Edge Field Ecology in Sarasota County
The Invasive Herps workshop on September 22, 2008 was an opportunity to bring best practices, share data and management practices, and develop “one voice” for Florida challenges with invasive reptiles. Scientists, county managers, state workers, students and trappers gathered to present information and discuss strategies. This workshop was organized by Dr. Meg Lowman from New College who hosted participants, organized meals, created program, and collected a list of state practitioners for this topic.
This one-day workshop is a model of what Base Camp Sarasota could offer – easily, effectively and with minimal effort. Base Camp Sarasota could offer accommodation for science professionals, a go-to place, and a think-tank setting. It could begin to collect some of the much-needed data sets that were sorely missing from this first-ever invasive reptile workshop. BCS could become a center for the creation of best-ecological-management practices in Florida, and assemble scientists, students and managers in a setting that could gain name recognition for environmental solutions. Nowhere in southwest Florida’s watershed ecosystems does such a field station exist. In the aegis of “build it, and they will come…….” Any scientist from the northern temperate regions of America will tell you that field biologists would flock to a subtropical habitat for year-round research, instead of hanging out in the libraries during the January and February snowstorms of Harvard, Vermont, Cornell, Chicago, Michigan and other major centers of ecological research.
Thank you to the TREE Foundation and New College for hosting the Invasive Species Workshop, and for setting the stage for future efforts through Base Camp Sarasota!
You can view a contact list of all participants by opening this document:
Invasive Herp Workshop Participants
(Document is password protected to avoid SPAM bots. Use password: herps)
Below is a video playlist of select speakers, the full agenda list, and a photo gallery from the event.
(Video playlist tips: Use the scroll bar to access all videos thumbnails, click to play, click the 
button to view in full screen.)
9:30 AM – Coffee, posters and herp displays
10:00 AM – Opening Introduction – The invasion ecology of large reptiles in South Florida – Defining a new battleground
Meg Lowman, New College
10:15 AM – Sarasota County – Management challenges of invasive herps
Kenya Leonard, Sarasota County Environmental Services
10:30 AM – Cooperative research and education for control of Burmese pythons in Greater Everglades ecosystems
Michael R. Rochford, Michael S. Cherkiss, Matthew L. Brien, Skip Snow, Kenneth Rice, Michael E. Dorcas, Alexander Wolf, Brian Greeves, Laurie Wilkins, Gordon Rodda, Robert Reed, Kristen Hart (US Geological Survey), and Frank Mazzotti
11:00 AM – Nonindigeneous amphibians and reptiles in Florida: defining the invasion process and identifying continuous pathways.
Kenneth L. Krysko (University of Florida Museum of Natural History), Joseph Burgess, Kevin M. Enge, Louis A. Somma, Michael R. Rochford, Stuart V. Nielson, and Jennifer L. Stabile
11:30 AM – Preliminary data on the Argentine black and white tegu (Tupinambis merianea) in central Florida
Bernard Kaiser, Larry Connor, Ross Dickerson, Kevin Enge (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), Scott Hardin, Kenneth Krysko, and Catherine Smith
12:00 PM – Are invasive fishes causing the collapse of Florida’s native semi-aquatic herpetofauna?
Steve Godley, Biological Research Associates
12:30 PM – Lunch provided by TREE Foundation
1:30 PM – Reptile Trapping Techniques – Challenges and Frustrations
George Cera, SW Florida trapper
1:45 PM – How far can they go? Exotic in NE Florida
Joseph Burgess, Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
2:00 PM – Exploring potential management strategies for invasive Cuban treefrogs and coquis
Steve Johnson and Monica McGarrity, University of Florida
2:30 PM – What, why, and what does it all mean?
Kevin Enge, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
3:00 PM – Break
3:15 PM – Is there a role for invasive journalists in the exotic species problem? Public education as a solution
Leslie Anthony, author of Snakebit: Confessions of a Herpetologist
3:30 PM – Paradise lost: the status of introduced amphibian and reptile management in Florida
Todd Campbell, University of Tampa
4:00 PM – Discussion – Where to go from here? Group discussion led by Meg, Kenya, Kristen, Kenney and Todd
Video segment from SNN about the problem with invasive reptiles locally, with footage from the recent Invasive Reptile Workshop organized by Dr. Lowman here in Sarasota. Video of the talks at the workshop are coming soon.
The night before the Invasive Herpetology Workshop, Dr. Meg Lowman hosted a dinner party that included some of the invasive reptiles they would be discussing the next day. Below are some photos courtesy of Leslie Anthony:
PowerPoint presentation “Planning a Biological Field Station” by Dr. Meg Lowman:
Google Video Segment of potential location for Base Camp Sarasota
