Case report: Observations on expulsions from 20 years of radiotransmitter implantation in adult Burmese pythons

Background

Radiotelemetry as a research tool has advanced our understanding of snake behavior and ecology. However, surgical transmitter implantation can lead to health complications for study animals, including expulsion, which may also interfere with research objectives. Two implantation methods include intramuscular and coelomic placements, and we evaluate expulsion rates of transmitters using these methods in Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in southern Florida.

Results

From 2005 to 2024, we implanted 305 transmitters in 142 adult Burmese pythons, primarily using intramuscular implantation (n = 221), then transitioning to include coelomic placement (n = 84). There were no observations of transmitter-related mortality. Overall, 98.7% of transmitters were retained, with a 1.3% expulsion rate (n = 4 transmitters). Expelled transmitters were only observed in intramuscularly implanted transmitters from 4 of 13 gravid females.

Conclusions

We observed no mortality related to transmitter implantation and few instances of transmitter expulsion, indicating that both intramuscular and coelomic implantation techniques are effective for monitoring adult pythons in the wild. However, there is some risk that females may expel transmitters when gravid, and this risk may be reduced when implanting transmitters intracoelomically. Our findings may be useful for studies of other large-bodied snake populations worldwide where radiotransmitter implantation is appropriate and logistically feasible.