Python found in Orange Co. neighborhood

Burmese pythons are already taking over the Florida Everglades, and now the large reptiles may be moving north to Central Florida.

In fact, just this week, residents of the Orange County community of Cypress Creek were surprised to see one of the snakes slithering down the street.

"It just said 'ssss!' You know 'ssss!'" said Louis Bokar, who spotted the nearly 13 foot python.

"All we could see was this thing … coming like that and then curling around... and hugging the wall ... blending in," Bokar continued.

Bokar thinks someone in a nearby apartment complex may have released their pet into the wild.

He has another theory too, that the snake may have migrated north through waterways connected to the everglades.

Pointing at a nearby pond, Bokar said, “it has a lot of little tributaries that eventually connect it to this, Shingle Creek, which is by the way is part of the runoff system for the Everglades."

No matter where it came from, it freaked out people in the quiet little neighborhood.

A private trapper took the super sized snake away. Florida Fish and Wildlife said Burmese pythons are good swimmers, so it is theoretically possible that the snake came from the Everglades

On Wednesday, Florida's governor asked wildlife officials to begin trapping pythons, the same way the state handles nuisance alligators.

The program will be carried out by qualified herpetologists who volunteer. The Burmese pythons they capture will be euthanized.  Trappers can begin hunting the snakes Friday, initially focusing on state lands south of Lake Okeechobee.

Gov. Charlie Crist said that python trapping will ensure a healthy future for Florida wildlife and habitats in the Everglades.

In Congress, Florida lawmakers on Tuesday called for organized hunts of thousands of pythons believed to be living in the Everglades.

Burmese pythons, one of the world's largest snakes, can grow to be more than 20 feet long. Some estimates put the population in the Everglades around 100,000.

 

FOX 35's Tom Johnson contributed to this report.