Record 16-foot python among 2,000 pounds of snakes recently bagged in southwest Fla.

A Burmese python is displayed at the kick-off ceremonies in Davie, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013 for the 2013 "Python Challenge" organized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

A gigantic Burmese python stretching a record-setting 16 feet long and weighing 140 pounds was among the more than 2,000 pounds of snakes captured in southwest Florida over the past three months, the Bradenton Herald reported Friday.
A team from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida has been fitting so-called male “snitch snakes” with tracking devices so that the biologists can study their habits and catch other slithery reptiles.
Conservancy biologist Ian Bartoszek called the recent hauls “jaw-dropping.”
There was no specific information immediately available as to the location of reptile that researchers said set a Sunshine State record.
“It’s not like I’m waving a flag and declaring victory,” Bartoszek said. “But we removed over 2,000 pounds of snakes from a fairly localized area.”
“Through active searching and radio telemetry, one little snake busted up multiple breeding aggregations,” he told the paper.
The team tracked the snakes during their peak breeding season in February, when males would often lead the scientists to pregnant females with clutches of 24 eggs or more.
Studying the record-setting python in the laboratory Thursday evening, Bartoszek remarked: “It makes you wonder—in the next ten years, what will we be dealing with?”