A 13-foot-long (and growing) python was seized from a New York home and taken to a zoo

NEW HARTFORD, NY — A 13-foot-long (4-meter-long) tiger python was confiscated from a man in upstate New York who kept the still-growing snake in a small aquarium, authorities said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection said it received a complaint on August 28 about an illegally kept snake in New Hartford.

Environmental Protection Officer Jeff Hull responded and found the snake in a 4- to 5-foot tank.

The snake weighed 36 kilograms and was 4 meters long. It appeared to be in good health and was still growing, the Department of Environmental Conservation said in a press release.

The snake was taken to the Fort Rickey Discovery Zoo in Rome, which has the necessary state permit for such an animal, the authority said.

The snake’s owner said he was not prepared for how quickly the snake would grow, the agency said. He was ticketed for keeping wild animals as pets and possessing dangerous wild animals without a permit.

Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia and have become popular pets in the United States. They are an invasive species in Florida, where they prey on native wildlife.

Burmese pythons can grow up to 5 meters long. The animal seized in New York, an albino Burmese python, was yellow and had an arrowhead-like pattern on its head.