Snake hunters catch 17-foot python

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Another day, another behemoth serpent rearing its head amid Florida’s Burmese python invasion.

This time, Panhandle python hunters made hiss-tory after corralling a nearly 200-pound snake — the second largest ever bagged in the state.

Mike Elfenbein Conservationist

“Her head was the size of a football."

The Floridian — who is not a professional snake hunter — and his son, Cole, had just met three other men searching for Burmese pythons, an invasive snake from Southeast Asia that is now running rampant across the southern United States.

Mike Elfenbein Conservationist

“We all came across this giant snake in the road at the exact same time.”

It reportedly took all five people to get the reptile under control.

Mike Elfenbein Conservationist

“My son grabbed her by the tail. And the other three guys all piled on in the middle. And with all five of us sitting on top of her, she was still literally able to lift her body off the ground and keep moving."

The monster Burmese python officially measured 17-foot-2-inches long and 23 inches in girth, and weighed 198 pounds, as confirmed by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. This marks the second-heaviest snake ever caught in the Sunshine State.

The biggest was a 215-pound, 18-foot bruiser that was bagged by researchers in 2022. Meanwhile, the longest-ever Burmese python was a 19-foot behemoth caught this past summer in Big Cypress National Preserve.

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