Portly python: heaviest-ever snake captured in Florida tips scales at 215lbs

A team of biologists recently hauled in the heaviest Burmese python ever captured in Florida, officials said. The discovery was part of the state’s python removal program.

The female python weighed in at 215 pounds (98 kg), was nearly 18ft long (5 metres) and had 122 developing eggs, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in a news release.

The team used radio transmitters implanted into male “scout” snakes to study python movements, breeding behaviors and habitat use, said Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist and environmental science project manager for the conservancy’s program.

“How do you find the needle in the haystack? You could use a magnet, and in a similar way our male scout snakes are attracted to the biggest females around,” Bartoszek said.

The team used a scout snake named Dionysus – or Dion for short – in an area of the western Everglades.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/22/heaviest-ever-burmese-python-captured-florida

She been eatin' good in the neighborhood!