Invasive species in your area

Discussion in 'Animals & Pets' started by FatBack, Aug 21, 2019.

  1. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    Hello from Florida, home to tons of invasives. In my fish tank are 3 invasives I caught from our local river. Green iguanas are a common pest, not far south of me. Also have monitor lizards and tegus.

    Plants galore, Burmese pythons in the Everglades. I have just scratched the surface. This was in my yard earlier (tons of them) a Cuban tree frog. This is one of the larger I have seen. You are encouraged to kill them but I dont feel like going on froggy mass murder. They have been here since 1920's and my killing them wont make a dent.

    DSCN0162.JPG DSCN0161.JPG
    Also cane toads, if a dog bites one, it can die from the toxins in the large glands behind the eyes download (4).jpeg
     
  2. Moonglow

    Moonglow Well-Known Member

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    Be excellent material to put on the end of blow gun darts...
     
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  3. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    Or hollow point pellets.
     
  4. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    I live in NW Florida. We don't have all the same invasive challenges that exist down-state. We do have starlings (introduced to the U.S. in the 1800s), fire ants, a variety of plants (including kudzu, cogon grass), lionfish, brown widows, and wild hogs.
     
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  5. Hand Solo

    Hand Solo Banned

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    Florida is a state I love to visit. The gulf side. Ft. Myers.

    I could not live there.
     
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  6. Seth Bullock

    Seth Bullock Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    My son lives in Virginia, and he likes bass fishing. I was fishing with him a couple years ago, and he caught a large snakehead. It is a predatory invasive fish native to Asia and Africa. Fishing regulations require fishermen not to release them back into the water alive.

    I got this photo off the internet, but this is what it looked like.

    Northern-Snakehead.jpg
     
  7. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    Wow! How do they taste?
     
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  8. Seth Bullock

    Seth Bullock Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    My son tells me they have a reputation of being very good. Cooks up white. He tells me there are some restaurants in the area that will pay $20/lb for the meat.
     
  9. Hand Solo

    Hand Solo Banned

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    That sounds like a very lucrative side hustle.
     
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  10. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    Fl native, can't imagine leaving.
     
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  11. Hand Solo

    Hand Solo Banned

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    I have enjoyed my time in Florida, but it is too humid for me. And the rattlesnakes are massive. A bite from one of those can end you.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2019
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  12. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    Those are a bit further South of me (SW Fl) Same with Peacock Bass (in reality, a type of cichlid, like tilapia, though established all over) We have hopolo catfish, poor man's lobster. Have one in my tank

    upload_2019-11-26_21-22-2.jpeg
     
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  13. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    It does get worse with age. AC is a must. Only seen a couple rattlsnakes in all my days. For the most part, you gotta be pretty deep in the woods.
     
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  14. Hand Solo

    Hand Solo Banned

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    My grandparents lived in Sarasota and rattlesnakes were everywhere.
     
  15. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    I'm about 50 miles west in Arcadia. As a boy, I had a "pet" moccasin, always wanted a rattlesnake, never found one as a boy. These day's, I'd just observe one.
     
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  16. Hand Solo

    Hand Solo Banned

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    I have cottonmouths where I live. Very swampy. Growing up in NC I was around copperheads. Mean, nasty snakes the both of them.
     
  17. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    Canebreak or timber rattlers get pretty big, up there. Copperheads and timbers are said to only inhabit a small area(s) in N Fl. Though my buddy drives heavy equipment and swears he has seen a copperhead here.
     
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  18. Hand Solo

    Hand Solo Banned

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    Copperheads hide under things, so when you are clearing an area out there they are!
     
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  19. btthegreat

    btthegreat Well-Known Member

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    Lol, so much humor to be had but for the subforum chosen:lol:

    Many of ours tend to be fish. But this first 'invader' from the Southeast states and Mexico is probably as about as popular everywhere he is introduced intentially all over the planet, with ecologists as any can possibly be.

    But this guy is considered invasive, first came to Oregon from Virginia as pets in the early 20th century.

    Here are the plants
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2019
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  20. Hand Solo

    Hand Solo Banned

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    Opossums are amazing animals. The longest living mammals on earth I believe. Their blood temp is so low they can't get rabies. A great scavenger.
     
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  21. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    The mosquito fish are common and native here. You can go to (IIRC) the county extension office and get something like 5K for free, for mosquito control. They give live birth and outbreed roaches. Have some in my 150 gallon, outdoor goldfish pond.
     
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  22. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    Plus they eat tons of ticks and are near immune to pit viper venom.
     
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  23. btthegreat

    btthegreat Well-Known Member

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    the Asian carp and grass carp
    The Chinese mystery snail
    The European starling
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2019
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  24. btthegreat

    btthegreat Well-Known Member

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    Actually there is a specific statute in Oregon describing exactly where they are or are not permitted ( and outdoor ponds and enclosed waterways are a definite yes) but these little guys have not read page 5 section A (2d) .
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2019
  25. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    I hear they are an invasive pest in Ozz.
    Many state laws on fish, like hear you cant buy or sell live snakeheads (sometimes wanted the aquarium trade) but you can up North, reason being they cant survive a winter and establish as an invasive (disclaimer: I read this long ago on a monster fishkeeping forum)
     

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