Big Snakes: Adventures with Reptiles in South Florida

MidCurrent reader Collin Ross sent in several pictures last week as proof, perhaps, that no matter where you go in south Florida, your chances of seeing a snake over ten feet are improving daily. Besides this beast in Big Cypress National Park, Ross has captured a 9-footer in Everglades National Park and an 11-footer near the old Cutler power plant in Biscayne bay — all of them Burmese Pythons (note that Wikipedia’s distribution map fails to include South Beach).
Of his more recent trip, Ross says: “Since the weather has been junk and damn cold we decided to hit the Cypress Swamp for a few hours. Used to spend lots of time in this place many years back banging on bass, looking at migratory birds, and checking out the swamp lizards. It always has a way of presenting some boggy beauty.” (See more photos.)
“This place has gators galore: probably saw close to 1,000 in only a few hours, many 10-footers. The family was certainly not very comfortable with all the gators, but it would get worse. I was running a tight creek in route home and was about to hit a giant log going 25mph. And as the family gasped I saw what it was…about 14 feet long and 100 lbs.”