The statistics are:
- Prey: Length 26 feet, weight 320 pounds
- Predator: Length 4 feet (?), weight 90 pounds.
Here in Minnesota we love to tell fishing stories that can be real whoppers, but this one told by Everglades Outpost founder Bob Freer beats all. I heard the story yestesterday on National Public Radio’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me” show.* Freer and his crew were confounded by a very large snake lurking under a house – the hole would not admit a full-grown adult. Luckily a kid watching the proceedings stepped up to help. The snake hunters tied a rope to his leg and handed him a stick with a napkin tied to it. With the 90-pound boy (brave or foolhardy?) as bait, they fished out a 26-foot long, 320 pound reptile – a python, I presume.**
“We told him to make sure not to tell his mother.”
– Bob Freer
PS. Pictured here in my hand is a Ball python – a popular pet due to being so small (several feet in length and a few pounds at most) in addition to their endearing eponymous tendency to curl up into a comfortable coil.
* See the transcript of “Animal Expert Bob Freer Plays Not My Job” here
** The National Park Service just released their latest statistics on the proliferation of Burmese pythons in the Everglades – see the year-by-year count here.