Largest Burmese Python Gets Captured In Florida

In what’s deemed a wonderful discovery of sorts, an invasive Burmese python was captured on Oct. 2 in the Everglades, a wetland in Florida, over last weekend.

The 18.9 feet long python set all new records by a point inch as the previous record was set at 18.8 feet long. The snake was officially measured on Thursday morning by the South Florida Water Management District -- a platform that oversees the state’s python hunter program.

The two python hunters Ryan Ausburn, and Kevin “Snakeaholic” Pavlidis, captured the beauty along the L-28 Tieback Canal, which is located about 35 miles west of Miami. Pavlidis took to social media to pen his experiences that sounded nothing short of an adventure.

He wrote: “On Friday night, we pulled this BEAST of a snake out of waist-deep water in the middle of the night, deep in the Everglades. I have never seen a snake anywhere near this size and my hands were shaking as I approached her. Every python we catch can be potentially dangerous, but one this size? Lethal. One mistake, and I am for sure going to the hospital. But more importantly, this is a once in a lifetime snake. I could go out every single night for the rest of my life and never see one this big again.”

Ausburn thought along similar lines and described the act as a real “BATTLE.” “I am just incredibly grateful for this opportunity and an experience I will never forget. Realize what you have when you have it and cherish the experience at the moment. Be grateful, be respected, and be thankful,” he said, adding how marveled he and Pavlidis were upon discovering the python’s real size. “She had some size but it wasn’t until we walked to the water’s edge did I realize how big,” he added.

The capture took a detour as far as the standard processes for grabbing pythons are concerned. Ausburn had to grab the python by the rear as opposed to usually grabbing them by the head. “She immediately turned back and anchored herself around a tree. It took every ounce of strength to keep her from slipping away,” he recollected.

While Pavlidis claimed to have captured over 400 snakes in the past two years, he is certain that none of his captures came close to the size of his most recent catch.

Over 5,000 Burmese pythons have been captured and evacuated from Florida Everglades since the year 2017.