A trapper has captured a 16-foot Burmese python in a nature reserve west of Fort Lauderdale.

A Florida Fish & Wildlife python trapper made the catch of a lifetime this weekend in a wildlife area west of Fort Lauderdale.

“You have to let her work, as my Brazilian Ju-Jitsu friends say. You have to let them work,” Matthew Kogo joked as he tried to subdue the snake.

Kogo, a state trapper, subdued a 17-foot, 1-inch predator along the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area.

“It’s quality time,” he said with a laugh.

As the 2024 Florida Python Challenge kicks off this summer, experts warn that warmer temperatures, consistent rainfall and humidity could make the invasive snakes more apparent in more residential areas.

Burmese pythons Snakes are invasive and wreaking havoc on the natural wildlife of the Florida Everglades. According to the FWC, these snakes eat everything from deer to alligators and have reduced some mammal populations by up to 90 percent.

“Pythons and other snakes are exothermic, so they prefer to be active when it’s warm and humid. They’re tropical snakes,” said Dr. Andrew Durso, a wildlife biologist and professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.

“Nighttime temperatures are over 75 degrees. That’s probably a good rule of thumb for nocturnal python activity,” Durso said.

The annual Florida Python Challenge in the Everglades will take place August 9-18.