Giant Snake Caught In Florida's 'Breeding Grounds' Is 18-Foot Long Burmese Python

Huge may be an understatement to describe the Burmese python that was caught by the Python Action Team Removing Invasive Constrictors (PATRIC) of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Friday. The reptile measured close to 18 feet and yes, it can be in one of those spine-tingling events that most would rather stay away from.

FWC mainstay Kevin Reich captured the Burmese python (Python bivittatus), which also weighed around 83 pounds, at the Big Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee, Florida, said Geek.com.

Fox 13 meanwhile reported that the snake was female, and that it was the second largest Burmese python caught by the FWC. Last December, the Python Action Team removed an 18-foot, 147-pound female Burmese python in the Everglades.

The news website added that the largest python caught in Florida can be traced back in 2013. The massive serpent “was over 18 feet, 8 inches long and weighed 128 pounds.”

FWC meanwhile claimed that most Burmese pythons in Florida can grow between six and 10 feet in length, but there have been reports that some of these reptiles can “exceed 20 feet.”

“As adults, they are larger than nearly all native snakes,” the group said, while pointing to South Florida throughout the Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park as the snakes' breeding grounds.

This is not the first Burmese python the FWC has captured in Florida. In July, another Burmese python measuring 16 feet and weighing 165 pounds was caught along with around 50 hatched eggs beneath a home in Broward County, four miles south of Alligator Alley.

Python hunters also caught a 17-foot female python “with 73 eggs inside of her” in South Florida in April of this year.

Wildlife officials said that the snake, which topped in at a massive 140 pounds was the largest python ever removed from Big Cypress National Preserve at that time. They caught the reptile “using male pythons with radio transmitters” and it allowed them to track the males “who then locate breeding females.”

Environmentalists believe that these snakes are invasive in and around the Florida Everglades. Burmese pythons are responsible for killing deer, alligators “and other important wildlife in the area,” and that their presence is causing a long-term damage to its ecosystem.

The Python Action Team Removing Invasive Constrictors (PATRIC) was designed by the FWC to persue their non-native constrictor management efforts. According to the FWC's official website, the team is tasked survey for non-native constrictors in specific areas, respond to survey requests where a non-native constrictor was reported, and deposit captured non-native constrictors at designated drop-off locations.