The University of Southern Flordia just announced that biologists caught the biggest Burmese python ever found in the state. The female snake was almost 18-foot-long, weighed 215-pounds, and was carry about 122 eggs.
The snake was found in the woodland areas of Collier County’s Picayune Strand using a radio-equipped male “scout” snake named Dion who led the team of researchers to her. The snake was then euthanized in a technique that was humane and veterinarian-approved.
Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist in the state said there’s a good chance that the snake is actually one of the original pets released into the wild decades ago, however, they noted that is simply a guess and not a proven fact.
The snake carcass will be used for science at the University and tissue samples of it have already been sent to various institutions to study.
“Sky’s the limit on what we can do with the genetics,” Bartoszek said, according to New Press.
Video footage showed the massive snake laying on a lab table but there is something viewers may not have realized…the snake has actually been dead for more than six months.
Conservancy spokeswoman Katy Hennig said the snake was actually caught last December but biologists were told not to say anything about it until the official statement was released.