Florida snake hunters have discovered the largest female python in the Everglades swamps. It was 5.2 meters long and weighed 63 kg.
Burmese pythons are invasive species and therefore are being captured and exterminated. This python faced the same fate, and when it was opened, 73 eggs were found inside. A little more and the snake would lay eggs.
The python was found in a burrow and it took a lot of effort to dig it out and pull the snake out.
Burmese pythons have been actively breeding since 1980 in the Florida Everglades swamps, where they are satisfied with the climate, local conditions, and especially the abundance of food. Some of these snakes were released into nature by irresponsible owners, and some escaped from the terrarium destroyed by hurricane Andrew in 1992.
A female of record length was found thanks to a radio beacon attached to a smaller male named Jude. Snake catchers have been using this technique for tracking large females in their nests through males for a long time and with equal success.
The 5.2 meter python broke the previous record held by a female caught in December 2017. It was several centimeters shorter.
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Every year, dozens of pythons are found and killed by snake-catchers in the swamps of the Everglades. In 2017, two snake-catchers from India caught 33 pythons in just two months.
For every hour spent hunting pythons, the government pays $ 8 and adds bonuses if the snake is large. Despite all these measures, tens of thousands of Burmese pythons are still believed to live in the swamps of the Everglades. They feed on young alligators and other reptiles, as well as numerous birds and even deer.
The female Burmese python lays from 50 to 100 eggs at a time, and if the weather is favorable, snakes will hatch from all of them.
In March 2018, hunters discovered a Burmese python that had swallowed whole a young white-tailed deer weighing more than itself. The python reached a length of 3.3 meters and weighed 14 kg, and the deer weighed almost 16 kg. After the python was captured, it vomited an undigested deer.
