iStockphoto / Artur Bogacki / dwi septiyana
Invasive Burmese pythons have been proliferating throughout South Florida for decades. Their exact origins cannot be pinpointed down to a single event but the conventional wisdom is they were released prior to, during, or after a major hurricane and populations quickly began to explode as they possess camouflage uniquely suited for the Florida Everglades.
In the decades since they first began appearing throughout South Florida they have slithered their way throughout the state here in Florida, though they remain primarily concentrated to S. Florida. That is where one snake wrangler recently found a massive Burmese python with 20 eggs, living underneath a sidewalk as shelter. The snake was spotted when the sidewalk itself moved from the powerful snake underneath.
Massive Burmese Python Found With 20 Eggs Living Underneath South Florida Sidewalk
Snake wrangler Guillermo Tapanes, a member of the SFWMD Python Removal Team, is the gentleman who removed this huge Burmese python and its 20 eggs from underneath the sidewalk. He shared photos (below) of the excavation which was picked up by news outlets here in Florida.
The snake was found in Cutler Bay, Florida which is an area east of the Southland Mall and Monkey Jungle and Northwest of Lakes by the Bay on the Southern side of Miami. It is not a typical location to find a Burmese python this large, especially one living underneath a sidewalk during egg laying season with 20 eggs.
As mentioned before, this story was picked up by local Miami news stations. NBC 6 South Florida ran this segment on the big snake being captured before it was humanely dispatched:
This comes on the heels of one man in the Florida Everglades capturing an 18-footer last month, one of the largest Burmese pythons ever captured in the state of Florida and the largest so far this year. That snake is truly a dinosaur and it’s hard to fathom how one man captured that with his hands.
Egg laying season for these invasive pythons in Florida runs from April through May, typically, give or take a few weeks here or there. It offers a prime opportunity for snake wranglers to remove nests and eggs before they have a chance to hatch and cause a spike in the local invasive snake populations.
Guillermo, the snake wrangler above, is no stranger to capturing huge specimens here in Florida. He posted this to his personal Instagram page a few days ago as well:
I recently saw my first invasive python in Sarasota, the Southwest Florid town I’m in. I was on a 2-hour bike ride training for an upcoming race and happened upon a 5ft python near Waterside in Lakewood Ranch that had been ran over by a vehicle. I’ve heard about these invasive pythons making their way this far northwest but until two weekends ago I hadn’t seen one.