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Tag: burmese python

  • Python Found In Florida Measures 18 Feet

    While snakes are not a rare sight in Florida, an eighteen-foot Burmese python is.

    On February 4, a massive 150-pound Burmese python was killed in the Florida Everglades by workers with the South Florida Water Management District.

    The agency’s spokesperson Randy Smith says that it is not uncommon for the workers to come across snakes, and that it actually happens quite frequently. However, the workers were shocked to find one of this magnitude.

    “Needless to say, when you get one this big, it raises eyebrows,” Smith said. “It’s just such a large animal. They have no predators. They’ll eat anything, even alligators. They are ferocious creatures.”

    The men were working in a wooded area when the snake was discovered. They immediately called their python coordinator, who killed the snake with a shot to the head.

    While pythons are not poisonous, they are capable of squeezing their prey to death, and have been wreaking havoc on Florida’s wildlife. So much so that Florida had a contest last year to see who could capture the most pythons. A total of 68 were turned in, some measuring as large as 14 feet.

    Although the 18-foot python was mind-blowingly big, it is not the biggest that Florida has ever seen. In May 2013, a man noticed a python that measured 18-foot, 8-inches peeking its head out of the bushes in Miami-Dade County.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • 18-Foot Python: Burmese Behemoth Found In Florida Almost Ties Record

    An 18-foot python found in the Florida Everglades almost tied in size with the state’s record setting snake.

    The Miami Herald reported that the massive Burmese beast was captured on Tuesday by python control on the L-28 levee, roughly 5 miles north of Tamiami Trail. Engineers came across the creature while inspecting levees in the Everglades. South Florida Water Management District spokesman, Randy Smith, said, “It looks to be about 18 feet,” adding, “It could very well be a state record.”

    That was almost the case. Burmese pythons typically reach about 20 feet in their natural habitat of Southeast Asia. The current state record for a snake found in Florida reportedly was measured to be 18 feet, 8 inches and weighed in at 128 pounds when snake collector Jason Leon killed it. The python captured by Hill this past Tuesday met the same fate before its corpse was sent to the University of Florida to also be measured and weighed.

    At 18 feet 2 inches, the female serpent fell short of the existing record by merely half a foot, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

    The cold-blooded creatures spend their days atop the leaves, doing what Floridians do: sunning themselves for hours on end. However, this species is currently being battled due to a rising concern that they could alter the ecosystem in a detrimental way. The southern state’s reptile residents have reportedly grown to a population comprising upwards of 150,000 in the Everglades and have been consistently consuming the indigenous species as their main source of food.

    But who is truly to blame for the python proliferation? This colossal species of snake – the largest in the world – is reported to have found a home in the Everglades following the use of the wetlands as a convenient dumping ground by pet owners.


    Image via Youtube

  • Python Pizza: Can You Say ‘Yum?’

    Python Pizza: Can You Say ‘Yum?’

    You know what Florida’s missing? Some python pizza.

    Just kidding – Florida actually has it.

    That’s right, your traditional dough, cheese and sauce has taken a turn towards reptile by featuring the meat of a Burmese python. And just when you thought that was daring, this “Everglades Pizza” also counts alligator sausage and frog legs as some of its toppings.

    Why, oh why, would a pizzeria even think of creating a pizza with this type of meat?

    “It was just to create talk about the shop and being creative and this thing literally just went viral,” says Evan Daniell, the owner of Evan’s Neighborhood Pizza in the Gulf Coast city of Fort Myers.

    This pizza isn’t for the faint of heart, or the broke: if you want to try this exotic pie, you’ll have to shell out a cool $45. The hefty price comes in part of the care it takes to create the pie. In order to remove some of the gaminess from the snake meat, Daniell marinates it for hours, then slices it into small pieces. He then pops the meat into the oven, and knows that when the meat turns from pink to white, it’s done. Daniell also makes sure that every slice on the pizza will have that precious meat on it.

    Here’s what Twitter has to say about the python pizza:

    Now before you get all offended about the pizza shop’s protein choice, it actually has a good reason to do so – pythons are taking over. Well, they could be, as they are on the top of the food chain in Florida with no known predators.

    “There could be thousands or tens of thousands of Burmese pythons in the wild here,” stated Roberto Torres, a field officer with The Nature Conservancy an interview.

    The snakes can grow up to 20 feet in length, and will eat anything they can capture, including dogs, cats and birds.

    To raise awareness about the python invasion, many chefs in Miami have added the meat to their menus. However, the ingredient isn’t from Florida snakes – current food safety regulations do not allow any pythons that are captured and slaughtered in the state to be served as food in restaurants. Daniell gets around this by ordering his meat from a farmer in Vietnam.

    Sounds tasty!

    Image via Wikimedia Commons