150-pound Burmese python may be largest ever caught in Florida

South Florida Water Management District

A 150-pound Burmese python was killed in the Florida Everglades on February 4, 2014.

An 18.2-foot-long, 150-pound Burmese python was captured Tuesday in the Florida Everglades, according to state wildlife officials.

Randy Smith, a spokesperson for the South Florida Water Management District, told LiveScience’s Megan Gannon that this female python could break the record for the largest Burmese python ever seen on state-owned land.

The snake is about eight inches shorter than the longest Burmese python ever found in Florida. This snake, captured last year in Miami-Dade County, measured 18 feet, 8 inches long and weighed 128 pounds.

South Florida Water Management District

The Burmese python is 18.2 feet long.

The 150-pound python was discovered by engineers during a routine inspection of a sea wall, according to Reuters. Sea walls provide good basking spots for snakes, which like to lounge in the sun.

After being discovered, the python was shot and killed and its body was delivered to University of Florida researchers who will cut it open to see if it was carrying eggs.

Burmese pythons have been invading the Florida Everglades for at least a decade. The snakes are native to Southeast Asia but were first discovered in the Sunshine State in 1979 and have been multiplying at an alarming rate since the 1990s.

These troublesome creatures eat native animals and devastate Florida’s population of raccoons, bobcats, white-tailed deer, opossums and birds.

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