Large snake
dpmule
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Team captures Florida’s heaviest Burmese python
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — A team of biologists recently hauled in the heaviest Burmese python ever captured in Florida, officials said.
The female python weighed in at 215 pounds, was nearly 18 feet long and had 122 developing eggs, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in a news release.
The team used radio transmitters transplanted in 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 in an area of the western Everglades.
“We knew he was there for a reason, and the team found him with the largest female we have seen to date.”
Biologist Ian Easterling and intern Kyle Findley helped capture the female snake and haul it through the woods to the field truck.
A necropsy also found hoof cores in the snake’s digest system, meaning that an adult white-tailed deer was its last meal.
National Geographic documented
the discovery, highlighting the continued impact of the invasive pythons, which are known for rapid reproduction and depletion of surrounding native wildlife.
Easterling
Maybe He Dog will come along and give some insight as to how old a snake like this would be to attain this size.
Mule
Comments
Depends upon how heavily it is fed. I have seen hatchling Burmese grow from about 14" to 6 feet in a year. That is heavily fed in captivity, and a wild snake is unlikely to grow so fast. Growth also slows approaching maturity and slows even more after that. Theoretically, according to the books, there is no end point to growth, but practically, a mature snakes growth is imperceptible if there is any growth at all, and they can maintain the same measurement and weight for years in captivity. Chances are this animal was 12 years or older. Females are usually larger at maturity, presumably because of they require extra room to develop a large number of 4" eggs, and to store the energy (fat mostly) to develop the eggs. Generally the males put as much energy into reproduction as females, but they do in in the search for mates and competition with other males, so their energy expenditure is spread over a longer period of time.
My GOSH, 18 FEET and 215 lbs. That's extended tube 12 gauge variety. From what I have read it's a terrible thing for all the other animals that are supposed to be there. I believe you can't harvest a snake with a shotgun, I mean if you used steel it couldn't hurt the eco system, imo. Open season on those things with whatever means necessary. Would not want to wrestle than momma at all.😮
Holy frijole. #1 would not have gone to Florida a few weeks ago if she had known about this. She has a thing about snakes, worms, centipedes.
I have a deer hunting story to share about it. Will do so in a separate thread.
I have handled a lot of boas and pythons. With a 12 foot animal I was able to control the head and keep from getting bit, but was not able to also keep from getting encoiled and eventually put on the floor. 6 or 7 more minutes and I would likely have been in real trouble. I was young(er), fit, pretty strong and on the concrete anyway. Those constrictors are strong. Think: the constrict prey. With every exhale of the prey the snake constricts the coils tighter. Eventually the prey runs out of oxygen. The snake is exothermic and can go a lot longer with out respiration than any mammal.
Do they taste like chicken ?
Can you make a python egg omelet ?
Is there a python hunting season ?
They taste like snake, much like alligator or frog legs. You would not enjoy the eggs, they are not like bird eggs.
The only snake I have eaten was while I was on a trip to China back in the 90's. I pretty much ate it on a bet and there had been a few drinks consumed. It had been pickled and for the most part it was fairly tasty..
Water moccasins cross the pond at dusk. AR15 does a nice job on them.
I ate Rattlesnake once, it tasted like very mild chicken. Texture was that of a Scallop.
I "baby sat" a 6 foot boa for a friend while he was on vacation. It was very docile, being handled almost daily, but you could feel the strength when it moved.
My buddy was an RN. He worked the midnight shift in ICU at the local county hospital. One day while deer hunting, Jerry killed a rattlesnake. He gutted and skinned the snake, and cut up the snake and breaded it and fried it up. Jerry put the snake meat in a nice dish, and that night at 11pm, he took it in to work in ICU. He told the girls he had a "surprise" and all 5 female RNs ate fried rattlesnake. Then he told them what it was.
Jerry thought it was hilarious. The girls didn't think it was funny. And Jerry used to wonder why he couldn't get a date.
You must cut the head off, one foot behind the fangs !
"You must cut the head off, one foot behind the fangs !"
That's just silly. the venom glands and sacs are fully contained in the head.
I know how to debone a fish, but a snake??? Not so much.
The most common snake I have ever encountered in my area is the Garter Snake. When you pick one of them up they emit a smell that would gag a magot! I would have to be a day away from starvation death before even thinking of eating one! And even then.....I would pass!
Read it on the internet (so it must be true 😋) ! The same article reported that severed heads can still be deadly. It then went on to explain proper disposal methods ...
Severed heads can still bite for a time the same way chickens with no heads can run around a while, but severing 1 foot behind the head does nothing to change that. But, what do I know compared to the internet?😆
Most likely the eggs were fertilized so you wouldn't get egg and yoke like you were expecting anyway, but something closer to balut.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(food)
Ain't eating no snake, I have smelled too many dead/rotten ones smashed up in hay bales.
I thought about hunting Pythons in FL for money a few years ago. They pay $10 an hour and $25 for a 4' Python. Then you get $25 for every foot over 4'.
So a 10' snake will get you $175 plus the pay for hunting it. I figure if you can catch 3-5 snakes in the 8-10' range a day plus the $10 and hour maximum 10 hrs, that is good money.
I have a place to stay in FL not far from the everglades, I have a boat a Truck and a 4 wheeler so I figured it would be fun. I never did it I couldn't get someone to go with me.
Sam06... "I have a place to stay in FL not far from the everglades, I have a boat a
Truck and a 4 wheeler so I figured it would be fun. I never did it I
couldn't get someone to go with me."
As a partner or Bait???