An 18-foot, 8-inch python killed in Miami-Dade County is , according to state wildlife officials.
Jason Leon of Miami spotted the snake while out for a drive on May 11. He grabbed the snake by its head and attempted to drag it out of the brush, but the animal began to twist itself around his leg, prompting Leon to kill it with a knife.
“The FWC is grateful to him both for safely removing such a large Burmese python and for reporting its capture,” Kristin Sommers, head of the comission’s Exotic Species Coordination section, said in a statement. The previous record-holder was a 17-foot, 7-inch snake captured in August 2012. That python was carrying a clutch of 87 eggs, another record.