Wildlife officials seize 'monster' 18-foot python
A python named Delilah was moved by Florida Wildlife officials to a temporary home when his cage near Lake Apopka, Fla., was deemed unsuitable on Friday, Sept., 11, 2009. They measured her before moving her to a more secure location. She had escaped in the past. The 16 year old snake was measured at 18' long and 30" around. She will be moved to a snake handler in Bushnell, Fla. (GEORGE SKENE, ORLANDO SENTINEL / September 11, 2009)
APOPKA - Delilah, an 18-foot-long, 400-plus-pound Burmese python who had enjoyed a swell existence in an Apopka-area backyard feeding on rabbits, has a new home -- for now.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials removed the Burmese python from a home on Section Drive on Friday due to concerns about Delilah's size and whether the chain-link cage she was in was secure enough to contain her.
A complaint prompted wildlife officials to visit the home and check out the snake, which some officials called the largest python they had ever seen.
The snake was removed from her enclosure and brought to a caregiver with a permit for reptiles of concern. Officials were trying to determine if the Burmese python's owner had the proper permit for Delilah.
"To me it's a Goliath. It's a monster of a snake," Lt. Rick Brown with Fish and Wildlife's Investigations section said, adding it is the "largest I've ever seen."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loca...2521.story
http://www.history.com/genericContent.do?id=62096 :shocked:
Hi Freyd,
IO think the Amazonian, Anaconda is said to have the largest body mass of any living snake.
However, the largest snake from the S.A. coal measures:
Fossils of an enormous snake were discovered in an open coal mine in the Amazon rainforest. Paleontologists estimated the length of the snake to be 43 feet long and estimated to weigh 2,500 pounds!
Derek