4-metre-long python confiscated after owner admits he was unprepared for snake’s rapid growth

In August, a 13-foot-long snake was confiscated from a home and donated to a zoo after the owner admitted he was unprepared for the snake’s rapid growth.

According to a Facebook post from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) on Tuesday, September 3, Environment Conservation Police (ECO) officer Jeff Hull confiscated the snake from a New York City home while responding to a complaint about an “individual with a large snake that the complainant believed to be illegal.”

ECO Hull identified the snake as a Burmese python from a photo because it had an arrow-like pattern on its head. According to the DEC’s post, this species is illegal in New York without the proper permit.

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When ECO Hull arrived at the home, he found that the snake (which weighed 80 pounds, was 13 feet and 2 inches tall and was still growing) was housed in a 4- to 5-foot tank. The reptile was in good health.

According to the Facebook post, the snake’s unidentified owner said he was “unprepared for how quickly the animal would grow and realized he could no longer care for her.”

The owner received tickets for possession of wild animals as pets and possession of dangerous wild animals without a permit, and the snake was removed from the home and donated to Fort Rickey Discovery Zoo in Rome, NY, which has the necessary permits to house the snake.

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According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC), Burmese pythons are considered an invasive species in the state and are native to India, southern China, the Malay Peninsula, and some islands in eastern India.

According to the organization, the largest Burmese python ever caught in Florida was 18 feet long, but the average size of an adult snake is 6 to 9 feet.