Florida is known for its invasive Burmese pythons, but this reptile was a surprise even to seasoned trappers.
Rhett Stanberry and Taylor Stanberry, who wrangle snakes, received a message last weekend from a homeowner near Naples about a “huge python” in their backyard, the Miami Herald reported. The Stanberrys were skeptical at first, but when the homeowner contacted them a second time, the python contractors with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission drove to the residence to take a look.
After arriving, the Stanberrys realized the snake was not a python but an albino boa constrictor that measured nearly 9.5 feet long, they wrote on their Facebook account. The couple documented their experience on their YouTube account.
“You NEVER know what you will find in South Florida!” Rhett Stanberry wrote.
He added that the boa, which is a non-venomous snake found in tropical South America and Central America, tipped the scales at 52.6 pounds.
“I almost didn’t think it was real,” Rhett Stanberry said in the YouTube video. “That is the fattest boa constrictor I’ve ever seen.”
“He’s so fat he can’t get away,” Taylor Stanberry added/
Rhett Stanberry initially thought the snake was docile, but he was wrong.
“This boa was just as defensive as a wild Burmese python,” he wrote on Facebook. “Who knows how long it’s been out there eating bunnies (and probably cats).”
The boa, which is vulnerable because its lack of pigmentation prevents it from camouflaging in the wild, will be staying at the FWC’s facility, the Herald reported. The Stanberrys hold a Class III license with the FWC, which allows the possession of a non-domestic animal.
“We are putting this girl on a diet, she’s already a meany so I’m sure she is gonna get even meaner when she’s hungry,” Taylor Stanberry wrote in a reply to her post on Instagram.
©2022 Cox Media Group
