iStockphoto / Mark Williams / Allard1
Invasive Burmese pythons continue to flourish throughout the Florida Everglades as these massive snakes are perfectly suited to life in South Florida swamps. They possess ideal camouflage to hide from predators and are able to find all types of prey, small and large, to proliferate throughout S.FL.
To date, the longest Burmese python caught in Florida is a 19-footer that was captured in 2023. One Florida man who goes by the name of ‘239 tarzann’ on social media recently came close to breaking that record after capturing an 18-footer.
18-Foot Burmese Python Caught In The Everglades Is The Largest Captured In Years
Elliott Totten goes by ‘239 Tarzann,’ a nod to the area code here in Florida which includes Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples, and Everglades City. He recently unveiled this absolutely gargantuan snake he caught earlier in May along with a lengthy explanation of the catch.
He said unlike other massive Burmese pythons he has caught in the past this one was (1) not full of eggs, (2) it refused to get tired and continued to fight, and that this massive specimen (3) ‘broke every rule’ he has become accustomed to when capturing these invasive snakes.
Once the dust had settled, he measured it at 17 feet, 6 inches. But he wasn’t able to get a measurement until after rigor mortis had set in on the deceased specimen which caused the tail to kink and shorten the overall lenght. Elliott wrote on Instagram that he had “no doubt it was around 18 foot.” Check it out:
Scroll over to the third photo in that gallery and look at the width of this snake compared to that woman’s legs on the ground. This Burmese python is thicker than her upper thighs!
It still breaks my brain to think that I live in the same state as these massive invasive snakes. Over the weekend, on a 30-mile bike ride I thought I’d spotted one here in Sarasota as roadkill but I posted a photo on Threads and people in my replies claimed it was likely a ball python that was previously someone’s pet. When I saw the big python on the ground I was certain it was a Burmese but apparently they continue to remain inland of Sarasota and obviously to the South.
Here in Florida, it is entirely legal to kill Burmese pythons once captured. They are a dangerous invasive species and they wreak havoc on the local ecology. These invasive snakes possess no wildlife protections and no permits are needed to capture and humanely dispatch of them.
Back in December, this 153-pound Burmese python was captured by a team out of Naples in SW Florida. For context, this is the thickness of a 153lb invasive python compared to the one above which upon close inspection appears considerably larger:
Ever seen one in person here in Florida? Share your experience down in the all-new BroBible comments section below!