16-Foot Burmese Python, Pregnant With 100 Eggs, Found On Florida Family's Property

A family in Central Florida was in for a shock when they spotted a mammoth Burmese python on their property. Landowner Aaron Brown was in his vehicle when he spotted the huge reptile inside a culvert.

"I drove past it and said, 'That's a big snake.' I had my mother with me and she said, 'Well, get out and get it.' I said, 'You get out and get it. If that joker catches me, you can't help me,'" Aaron recalled. His property was located in Zolfo Springs, Hardee County.

The python was 16 feet, four inches long, nearly twice the average size of pythons in Florida, Miami Herald reported.

Brown called his cousin William Wilkinson for help. "We were trying to pull him back and pull him back but he got back on us," said William. They managed to pull the snake out using a hook and shoot it.

"Once we got him pulled out, it was like, 'My God! What a snake!'" William recalled. "We measured him and laid him down and the two kids down beside him to get a rough idea and ended up finding a tape measure," said William.

The snake weighed 300 pounds. What was even more shocking was the fact that the python was pregnant and was carrying 100 eggs inside it.

Brown took to Facebook to share his experience. "I still can't believe the size of this thing. Honestly, I caught a glimpse of it and it took a few seconds for it to process. And I was like: holy cow, what a snake," he wrote on Facebook.

His post garnered so much attention, with people expressing both shock and frustration about pythons turning up on private properties.

"I would like to take this time to say 'Thank you sir' for your good deed, cause that snake is too big to be roaming around free (sic)," one man wrote.

The family then alerted python hunter Dusty Crum. "We are down in the Everglades trying to stop these pythons from migrating further north in all directions," said Crum. Zolfo Springs is 100 miles north of the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, where a large number of pythons and other large constrictors can be found.

While the average size of pythons found in Florida was 8-10 feet and weighing 200 pounds, the biggest one to be spotted so far was 18 feet, 9 inches long. According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, pythons that enter private lands can be killed humanely with the landowner's permission. The commission also encourages people to remove and kill pythons from private lands whenever possible.