Some guys at a local machine shop in Broussard, Louisana were in for quite the surprise this week when an absolutely massive Burmese python wound up inside their place of employment.
The snake, which weighed 131 pounds and is more than 16 feet long, is not a native species to the area – and, in fact, is now considered an “invasive species” in places like the Florida Everglades.
Record-breaking 17-foot Burmese python captured in the Florida Everglades. https://t.co/kH0QSxfR5M pic.twitter.com/BbrJWviPHS
— ABC News (@ABC) December 7, 2017
Burmese pythons, which are native to Asia, first became a huge problem in Florida following Hurricane Andrew in 1992 – the costliest storm in the state’s history.
During that Category 5 hurricane, thousands of buildings were destroyed and damaged – including one large building that was a breeding facility for Burmese pythons. An unknown number of snakes escaped into the wilderness.
But, this Louisiana machine shop wasn’t worried that one of these had made it their way – nope, they actually knew exactly where this snake came from.
According to a Facebook post by Moores Machine Shop, their “unusual visitor” was brought in by a neighbor who needed to have the massive reptile weighed. He came to the shop because he knew they had a scale big enough!
“We had an unusual visitor today at Moores!” the post started out. “Only a few guys were willing to make friends with him! The rest wanted to cook some rice!”
“Disclaimer: This was someone’s pet from around the corner. He came by to get the snake’s weight. The snake is a Burmese Python. He weighed 131 lbs and was 17′ long!”
Along with that statement, they also uploaded a few pictures of the fearless workers who were holding it up!
Check out the full post below and watch a CBS News special on Florida’s crazy python problem, too!
https://www.facebook.com/Moores.Machine.Shop/posts/2652260894802098