By Peter Covino

Lifestyles Editor

I never have seen a python in the wild. But if I do, there finally is an app for that.

You’ve got to love living in Florida. We’ve got alligators, coyotes, fire ants, armadillo and wild hogs.

And now the Burmese python has its own smart phone application.

IveGot1 is available for both iPhone and iTunes and according to the Nature Conservency, this is the time of year when you would most likely need to call the Python Patrol.

Yes, there really is a Python Patrol (call 888-IveGot1) if you don’t have an iPhone. Operators, apparently, are standing by.

Like all Florida tourists, the python loves those warm sunny days in winter, so the colder weather brings the invasive snakes out of hiding. This is the time of year when you just might see a python, sunning himself in the middle of the road.

The chances of seeing a Burmese python wearing a Florida T-shirt and slinking down U.S. Highway 192 are pretty slim.

Most python sightings have been miles to the south in and around the Everglades.

“We have 24-hour response by law enforcement in 10 counties, although anyone in Florida can leave a message,” said Nature Conservancy Biologist Cheryl Millett, who runs the Conservancy’s program. The counties where a responder trained by the Conservancy to capture invasive snakes is dispatched are: Miami-Dade, Monroe, Collier, Hendry, Broward, Palm Beach, Glades, Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties.

If, in your travels, you should happen upon a python or any other invasive species, the Conservancy encourages  you to take a photo and call that number to report the sighting to the Python Patrol.

The Nature Conservancy began the Python Patrol in 2005 to help prevent the spread of snakes out of Everglades National Park and into the Florida Keys where one had been discovered after feeding on an endangered Key Largo wood rat. People who work outside for a living were encouraged to call in sightings and trained responders up and down the Keys captured the intruders. Now the program is being implemented across the southern part of the state.

According to the Convervancy, pythons eat a wide range of wildlife species, including birds, mammals and alligators up to 4 feet long.

“By capturing snakes in the counties on the edges of the major infestation in the park we may be able to stop the spread and prevent new breeding. And by capturing them in the park we hope to suppress the population,” Millett said.

If giant snakes crawling on your front lawn is not enough of an incentive to report a snake, try this on for size: the scientific community is becoming increasingly concerned that the gentler, Burmese python could interbreed with the more agressive (read: man-eating) African rock python, which also has been found in the Everglades. The two species have interbred in captivity.

This has all the makings of a bad Syfy movie.

Fortunately  cold weather last year in South Florida may have reduced the pythons numbers (which had been estimated in the thousands) by half.

If you see a python, or any other invader, including fish, the iPhone ap lets you submit an image of your sighting and caputures your location as well. IveGot1 allows for both online and offline reporting if you are in a remote location. It will upload the information when you have network connectivity.

The application gives  you a lengthy list of animals to choose from. Click on an animal in the list (the Egyptian geese for example).

It shows your current latitude and longitude. There is a small map in the corner as well. The camera icon shows up on the ap to take a photo and there also is a box for obervation note taking as well.  

A separate list is available for vegetation invasive species as well.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is partnering with the Conservancy to respond to reports. And wildlife officers continue to be trained to properly capture and bag snakes.

“We encourage everyone to become more familiar with distinguishing invasive from native reptiles by taking the free online REDDy training offered by the University of Florida,” Millett said.  Online REDDy training is at http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/reddy.shtml and offers a certificate at end of the 40-minute free training, plus ID and reporting handouts.