Tinker, it's too late for worrying about Cobras being loose here in Fla. In west Miami, they showed one of the animal catchers, catching a Cobra about six or seven feet long, in a tomato field. The Cobras, aren't the only bad boys getting out into the wild. As for Iquanas, they are everywhere. I was sitting at a traffic light, in Stuart, Sunday, and noticed something in the hedge at a gas station to my right, and there was a little red, and blue iguana, or something like that bobbing his head, and then running around in the hedge. Iguanas of all types are all over Palm Beach County. My Brother has a bunch of Cuban Jungle Anoles in his yard, and neighbor hood. They look like a cross between a Velociraptor, and a snake. I have Curly tails from the Bahamas up here in Port St. Lucie. I did not think they would do well this far north, but apparently they do. I saw a boa, on the side of the turnpike once on the way to work in Jupiter, about ten years ago. At first I thought it was a big Diamond Back, but when I pulled off the road, and backed up, I saw it was a boa, about six ft. long. Kinda mangled,Thankfully. But if I saw that one, how many more are there out there? One of the stations I used to work at was in a horse community, and we would get snake calls, and one was for a python in a stall. Like Eddie said idiots get a snake, and it is cool for awhile, and then it is too big to handle, so rather than kill poor ol Puffy, or sell him back to the pet store, or someone else, they release it. Anyway, I am in agreement with Eddie. If they are going to allow these exotics in the state of Fla. where they can thrive, the buyers, and pet store owners, should have to pay a bond, and when the snake, or other exotic dies, they should have to take the remains to the game commission, and get paper work, and proof that it died, and did not escape. It should have a micro chip implanted, to verify it. If it escapes, then the bond would be forfeited. But I don't personally think they should be allowed into the state. On the show where they showed the Cobra in a commercial tomato field, they also showed a place where a guy had all kinds of dangerous exotic snakes, and some of the cages were in disrepair, and some empty...... the owner, was told fix the cages, and try to find the missing snake, or snakes. I think that they should all be banned, or like I said before, micro chipped, and if someone is hurt, or pets, or live stock is harmed, a fine should be paid the former owner, or a lawsuit levied against them.
Wayne