The snake is the third largest captured in the state.
An 18-foot Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) was removed from the Florida Everglades by the state’s Python Removal Contractors with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. The snake was captured in the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area of the Everglades and is the third largest snake captured by the FWC, according to Dispatch.com.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission
Burmese pythons are an invasive species in Florida.
The FWC noted that as the weather cools, more sightings of the invasive snakes are more than likely as they tend to slow down in the winter months and try and thermoregulate.
In March 2017, district-owned lands were opened up to selected professional python hunters initially in Miami-Dade County. The hunt was later expanded to Palm Beach, Broward and Collier counties. The hunters are paid $8.25 an hour for up to eight hours a day to hunt in the Everglades. The district also offered cash incentives based on the size of the snake (payments of $50 for pythons measuring up to 4 feet and an extra $25 for each foot measured above 4 feet ) as well as $200 for any python nests the hunters come across and eliminate.
The Burmese python is one of many invasive species that are running wild in Florida. The species is well established in the Florida Everglades and authorities are actively trying to reduce their populations. They can grow to more than 20 feet in the wild and weigh more than 200 pounds. Their native range is in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Myanmar.
