Record-breaking 17ft python carrying 87 eggs found in Florida

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The biggest Burmese python ever found in Florida has been caught in the Everglades - carrying 87 eggs.

The 17ft 7in snake weighed in at 74kg was found in the Everglades National Park.

Scientists from the University of Florida found the huge female reptile - the largest snake of its kind ever found in the Sunshine State with the most eggs.

They say the remarkable find highlights how dangerously comfortable the invasive species has become in its new home.

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According to the Press Association, Kenneth Krysko, of the Florida Museum of Natural History at UF, said: "This thing is monstrous, it's about a foot wide. It means these snakes are surviving a long time in the wild, there's nothing stopping them and the native wildlife are in trouble."

The BBC reports that Mr Krysko added the snake had feathers in its stomach that would help identify what it had been eating but, he added: "A 17-and-a-half-foot snake could eat anything it wants."

Pythons kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it, and have been known to eat deer and even alligators.

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