This 17-foot python found in Florida will give you nightmares

If you're scared of snakes, look away now. This one slithered straight from your nightmares.

Snake hunter Jason Leon captured a 59.8kg, 5.1 metre (17 foot 1 inch) female Burmese Python in Florida.

It is thought to be the longest snake ever caught by South Florida's Water Management District's Python Elimination Program.

Leon told NBC 6 Miami:

That snake could pretty much kill any full-grown man. 

If that snake was alive right now, it would probably take like three of us to be able to control that snake.

Gulp.

Here is Leon (on the far right) holding the snake - with some help from others, obviously.

Picture: South Florida Water Management District

The Python Elimination Program that Leon works for was introduced to cut back the troubling Burmese python population.

Burmese pythons are native to South East Asia, but Floridian swamps have become home to hundreds of them over the last 50 years.

Most of these are believed to have been brought to Florida as pets before either escaping or being released by their owners.

As predators that feast on medium-sized mammals and birds, they can have a huge effect on the ecosystem of a new environment.

HT IFLS

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