Florida’s largest python ever was found after being betrayed by her mate

Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida is a national park with a big snake problem. Since the 1980s, Burmese pythons- which are not native to the area - have been threatening the local wildlife.

Experts believe the pythons were initially released into the wild by people who had been keeping them as pets until they grew too big. Still, more of the predators escaped into the park in 1992 when a breeding facility was destroyed by a hurricane.

The presence of the pythons has led to huge declines in the populations of opossums, raccoons and bobcats in the area as well as wiping out the marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits and foxes who were native to the area.

As the Burmese pythons have found themselves at the top of the food chain in this area, it is down to humans to try and root out this invasive species. There are currently estimated to be tens of thousands of the snakes in the Everglades in Florida.

One way in which researchers are trying to remove the snakes is by fitting male pythons with radio transmitters and using them to find breeding females. This is the technique that led them to find the largest python yet - a pregnant female weighing 140lb and carrying a whopping 73 eggs.

Check out the video above to see the footage of this incredible monster for yourself!