Florida’s Seven Biggest Python Captures

Yet another Florida man just had a Herman Melville-esque encounter with a monstrous Burmese python.

In a story originally published by Outdoor Life, python hunter Carl Jackson recalled being dragged by a 16-foot-long snake weighing a whopping 202 pounds in South Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve back in January. It’s the second-heaviest python caught on record in Florida.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) considers Burmese pythons to be among the most damaging invasive species in the state. The agency is so committed to exterminating them that it hosts its annual Florida Python Challenge to incentivize residents to kill as many as they can. Burmese pythons, as the name implies, are not indigenous to Florida and were first detected in the national park in 1979.

The enormous snakes can grow more than 18 feet in length and weigh more than 200 pounds. So, what are some of the biggest pythons ever caught in Florida?

Without further ado…

The Longest Pythons Captured in Florida

19 feet

In July 2023, hunters in the Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County captured the largest Burmese python ever recorded in the wild in Florida, measuring an impressive 19 feet in length.

18 feet, 9 inches

In 2020, python hunters Ryan Ausburn and Kevin Pavlidis captured a python that measured a colossal 18 feet, 9 inches, west of Miami.

18 feet

In 2013, snake hunter Jason Leon captured a then-record 18-foot python in southeastern Miami-Dade County. The snake weighed 128 pounds. 

17 feet

In 2020, python hunter Mike Kimmel (known as the “Python Cowboy”) caught a 17-foot python on a spoil island in the Florida Everglades.

The Heaviest Pythons Captured in Florida

215 pounds

In 2022, Conservancy of Southwest Florida biologists caught the heaviest Burmese python ever recorded in the Everglades. The female python, which had been feasting on white-tailed deer, weighed a whopping 215 pounds and measured 17 feet and 7 inches long.

202 pounds

Jackson, along with his wife and two kids, wrestled a female python that weighed 202 pounds and measured 16 feet, 10 inches, long (which, coincidentally, is 202 inches). After taking the behemoth to a taxidermist, they found 200 eggs inside, which Outdoor Life notes could be another record — the 215-pounder only had 122 eggs inside.

198 pounds

In 2023, a 198-pound python was captured in the Big Cypress Preserve, making it the second-heftiest ever caught in Florida.

Did we miss a big boi (or gal?) Please let us know at editor@miaminewtimes.com.