by: Sara Filips, Jeremy Tanner

Aware: April 18, 2024/7:50 PM EDT

Updated: April 18, 2024/7:50 PM EDT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) captured one of the heaviest Burmese pythons ever recorded.

The python was captured in the Francis S. Taylor Everglades WMA by Kurt Cox.

According to their data, this enormous snake weighed more than the one recorded in the FWC’s PATRIC program and the fourth heaviest they have on record. It is also the 22nd longest on record. PATRIC stands for Python Action Team Removing Invasive Constrictors, an initiative started in 2017 that offers money to capture pythons. Non-native constrictors that are at least four feet long are $50, with an additional $25 for each foot longer.

The heaviest Burmese python captured was a 215-pound, 17.7-foot female python in December 2021. That snake was captured by Ian Bartoszek of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

The longest snake the FWC removed was another female, which was 19 feet long and weighed 125.56 pounds. She was captured by citizen Jake Waleri in July 2023.

Burmese pythons are nonvenomous constrictors that are invasive in Florida. They usually live in or near the Everglades.

Superpredators are considered a threat to local animal populations, as well as pets and even humans. Snakes have decimated several animal populations, especially in the southernmost parts of Everglades National Park.

A study that observed animals in the Everglades while pythons proliferated between 2003 and 2011 found that raccoon sightings decreased by 99.3%, followed by opossums (98.9%) and bobcats (87.5%). At the end of the study, rabbits were no longer seen during the night surveys.

According to the FWC, it is illegal to keep these snakes as pets.

For more information on these pythons, visit the FWC website.