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Ginormous Florida Python Tops 200 Pounds & Over 20-Feet Long

CRESTVIEW (CBSMiami/AP) — Florida is known for its big snakes but there's one in the Florida panhandle that may be slowly slithering toward a world record.

Emerald Coast Zoo co-owner Rick de Ridder says their female reticulated python named "Ginormica" weighs more than 200 pounds and is a little over 20 feet long.

Her diet consists of previously frozen goats and pigs.

Ridder says she could near world record size in a couple of years.

The record holder is currently a 25-foot-long reticulated python named "Medusa" who lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

Ginormica is about 6-years-old and is an excellent swimmer. He told the Northwest Florida Daily News she could live to be about 75-years-old.

Reticulated V. Burmese Python_1
(Left) Reticulated pythons have black, white and yellow markings on a gray background and a thin line down the center of the head. (Right) Burmese pythons have angular bown blotches that resemble a giraffe pattern and a dark wedge on the back of the head. (SOurce: FWC)

 

Reticulated pythons are similar in size and shape to Burmese pythons but have a different scale pattern and coloration.

Typical reticulated pythons are a grayish color with black, white and yellow markings along the back and sides.

Burmese pythons have angular bown blotches that resemble a giraffe pattern and a dark wedge on the back of the head.

Burmese pythons are the species causing serious harm to the fragile Everglades ecosystem by eating native wildlife such as possum, rabbits, deer, bobcats, alligators, and other indigenous wildlife.

State wildlife officials estimate there are as many as 100,000 Burmese pythons living in the Everglades.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

 

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