Longest python ever caught in Florida

Author: Amy Galo Writer: Matias Abril
Published: Updated:
longest python
Longest python ever caught in Florida. CREDIT: WINK News

A 19-foot, 125-pound invasive python has been captured in Naples, and some of the people who caught it had never been python-hunting before.

Jake Waleri is one of them, and his mom Ana woke up to a rather peculiar text in the middle of the night.

“You wake up to a text, that’s a picture of them, you know, with the friends draped with the snake across their shoulders, and you think ‘well, that’s great.’ And then later the next morning, I got a video of Jake having to literally throw himself at the python and capture it by himself, and that’s when my heart stopped,” Ana said.

Jake the Python Hunter wasn’t expecting to face such a ravenous reptile.

“We were getting ourselves into a fight that was a little bit trickier than we first anticipated,” Jake said.

Well, it certainly is impressive. Jake and his friends caught the longest Burmese python ever measured in Florida.

“He took me a little too seriously,” Ana said. “I always say whatever you do be the best at it. They really did it this time.”

The snake was in her late 20s and wasn’t easy to catch.

“This one just blew me away when I came up to it and saw what he had caught,” said Stephen Gauta, python hunter.

The net didn’t work, so Jake had to change up his technique.

“I originally walked up to it, thinking I could just come behind it and grab its head like a normal grab, but then the snake went absolutely crazy,” Jake said. “It was trying to wrap me up trying to strangle me and my friends. Luckily, were able to pull it off, and you know, we were able to capture this thing safely.”

Jake’s friends had never even been python hunting before.

“I think they got the true Florida experience,” Jake said.

The snake was already measured by the Southwest Florida Conservancy and confirmed to be the longest ever captured in the state. The Conservancy now wants to run some tests and find out more about her.

On Thursday, a Burmese python nest containing a record-breaking 111 eggs was discovered in the Everglades.

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