A family in Central Florida found an amazingly big snake on their land over the weekend, after getting brave enough to point a flashlight into a drainage pipe.
Inside the culvert sat a beefy Burmese python, literally piled on itself in layers.
Landowner Aaron Brown says it proved to be 16-feet, 4-inches long, once they wrestled it out into the light. That’s nearly twice the average for pythons in Florida, experts say.
“I still cant believe the size of this thing,” Brown wrote Feb. 7 on Facebook. “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.”
Even more startling, the reptile was carrying 100 eggs, Fox 13 News reported.
The snake, which was euthanized, was found in the Zolfo Springs area of Hardee County, about 75 miles southeast of Tampa. That’s about 100 miles north of the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve, where pythons and other large constrictors have created a stronghold.
The python Brown discovered is among the biggest found in Florida, which is trying to eradicate the unwanted predators before they destroy entire ecosystems.
Pythons average 8 to 10 feet and 200 pounds in Florida, though a record 18-foot, 9-inch python was caught last year, according Florida Fish and Wildlife. The state encourages people to “humanely” kill the snakes when possible.
Brown told Fox News 13 he was driving when he “caught a glimpse of something shiny in the grass” and realized it was a python. A team of family members set out to catch it, and eventually used a hook to pull it from the culvert, the station reported.
The carcass was given to python hunter and Discovery Channel TV personality Dusty Crum, of “Guardians of the Glades” fame, Brown said on Facebook.
Much of the social media reaction to his experience has been a mix of shock at the size of the snake and frustration that pythons have become a problem due to irresponsible exotic pet owners.
“I would like to take this time to say ‘Thank you sir’ for your good deed, cause that snake is to big to be roaming around free,” one man wrote on Brown’s Facebook page.
“I wonder how many cats/dogs that thing has eaten,” another person wrote.
