MIAMI -- The wildlife biologist reached into a plastic tub and pulled out what he describes as a serious threat to the Florida Everglades, a nine-foot-long Burmese python.

"These are clearly not native, they don't belong here, and we don't want them here," said Skip Snow, a biologist at Everglades National Park, where a population of pythons has exploded in the past few years.

Scientists said the pythons, brought to South Florida to be sold as pets, likely entered the Everglades when owners set them free into the wild, either because they no longer wanted the snakes, or because they couldn't handle them any longer. Adult pythons are often 15 feet or more in length, and can weigh more than 150 pounds.

The pythons slither through the grasses of the Everglades and use their brown scales as camouflage, waiting for birds or small mammals to pass by.

"They're patient, they can wait days or weeks," Snow told Local 10's Mark Joyella.

What concerns Sen. Bill Nelson is the python's ability to eat nearly every native species in South Florida, from small to large birds, mammals, and even alligators.

"You get a small child, you get a panther or a baby panther, something we've spent millions and millions of dollars trying to protect, and billions of dollars in the restoration of the Everglades. That's the kind of accident we want to prevent," said Nelson.

Nelson hopes to persuade the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to name the python an invasive species, which would limit or end importation of the snake as a pet.

Scientists, meanwhile, plan to set traps in the hopes of catching pythons and keeping them from spreading into the Florida Keys and throughout the state.