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- Researchers revelaed the largest Florida python ever found, an 18-foot invasive Burmese python that weighed 215 pounds.
- They used ‘scout snakes’ to track this behemoth python down because it would be impossible to find otherwise.
- Inside the snake’s belly they found over 120 eggs, clumps of hair, and parts of a deer.
Some huge news is coming out of the Florida Everglades. Field biologists revealed they recently captured, removed, and measured the largest Florida python ever found.
The pythons found in South Florida, predominantly in the Florida Everglades, are Burmese pythons which are an invasive species in the Sunshine State. Burmese pythons first started appearing in Florida back in the 1970s.
Legend has it that a large hurricane came through and exotic pet dealers released their animals into the Florida Everglades so they had a fighting chance as they fled from the storm. I’ve yet to see any concrete evidence corroborating that tale but it is very likely that Burmese pythons were introduced to the wild as pets and they instantly flourished in the climate.
Largest Florida Python Ever Found: 18 feet and 215 pounds
There have been some MASSIVE pythons found throughout the years. Recently, the Python Cowboy found his biggest nest yet with a mama python guarding 45 snakes ready to hatch. But that snake had NOTHING on the size of this Burmese python discovered a few months back and recently revealed in National Geographich.
Measuring nearly 18 feet long, it 17.7-feet in length. This Burmese python was so heavy they actually thought the scale had broken. When they weighed it and the scale read 215 pounds, intern Kyle Findley told Nat Geo he thought the scale was broken because there was “a line in the sand” with the size of these snakes. They weren’t sure they’d ever find one weighing over 200 pounds… Then game this behemoth that is now the largest Florida python ever found.
A snake that big has a monster appetite!
A 17.7-foot snake has to eat A LOT of food. And there are only so many ‘big’ species in the Florida Everglades these snakes can feast on (panthers, bobcats, alligators, crocodiles, bears, deer, raccoons, etc).
So it wasn’t a total shock when they opened up the snake and found “bits of fur, clumps of dissolved bone and a chunk of a hoof, evidence that the python’s last meal was an adult white-tailed deer” according to Live Science.
How scientists found the largest Florida python ever discovered
What is a shocker is how they managed to find and catch this gargantuan female snake that was carrying 122 eggs. They used a male python who sought out the female and they tracked it.
Burmese pythons are virtually impossible to spot in the Florida Everglades, even for the experts. There was an experiment a few years ago where researchers replicated a typical Everglades scenario and put some snakes in there and tried to get experts to identify them all. Even the experts were only able to find a fraction of the snakes in a controlled environment.
And an 18-foot Burmese python who doesn’t want to be found will likely ensure she’s not found, even if its the largest Florida python ever recorded. So they used ‘scout snakes’, males that are outfitted with GPS trackers, who slither out into the wild in search of a mate.
This led them to the largest Florida python ever recorded, this absolute behemoth.
The Florida Python Challenge
In August, the annual Florida Python Challenge will be held from 8/5 to 8/14. The goal is to remove as many of these invasive Burmese pythons from the state of Florida as possible.
Anyone is free to enter the challenge to try and win huge (money) prizes. But there’s a bit of required training that must be done before entering. You can learn all about that right here if you’re interested in participating in the 2022 Florida Python Challenge.