Slithery Surprise: Mama pythons, nests discovered in Big Cypress National Preserve
MIAMI - A nursery raid of sorts in the Big Cypress National Preserve landed a couple of Burmese python big mamas, their hatchlings, and nearly two dozen eggs.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Officer Matthew Rubenstein was on routine patrol in the preserve on July 11th, when he ran into Alex McDuffie, a python contractor, who had just bagged a hatchling.
The two looked around the area and found 18 more hatchlings.
Sensing a nest nearby, they continued to search and found a mulch pile with a 10-foot female Burmese Python sitting on 23 unhatched eggs.
But that wasn't the end.
A few feet away, they found a second nest with 74 recently hatched eggs.
The female python and hatchlings were given to McDuffie and the 23 unhatched eggs were turned over to the Big Cypress Python research program.
The FWC said the following night McDuffie returned and captured the female python from the second nest - she came in at 17 feet and 6 inches.