A 13-foot, cat-eating albino python is terrorizing an Oklahoma City community
A 13-foot albino python feasting on cats and other animals has been terrorizing an Oklahoma community for months and the hunt for the enormous serpent is ramping up.
The python has been in the area of the the Burntwood Mobile Home Park for about five months, with the most recent sighting happening Friday, reported KFOR-TV.
The snake has been sending panic throughout the community.
“We’re talking, that thing has been eating opossums, foot-long rats and cats,” Trevor Bounds of Red Beard Wildlife Control told the TV station.
Bounds has been hired to hunt down the python and remove it from the community.
“The mouth on that thing is the size of your foot and when it opens up you’re going to be able to fit something pretty large in there," he said.
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Where did the 13-foot python come from?
Bounds described the python as an albino reticulated python. The species is not venomous and kills its prey by constriction.
It's unclear where the python came from but the creatures are kept as pets and it could have broken free or been let out by its owner.
Area residents tell KWTV-DT that the snake has gotten twice as big since early summer, when KOFR-TV reports that cats seemed to start disappearing.
Residents are also concerned that the mobile home park is next to an elementary school and that there is no fence between the two.
“The constricting is what can be the dangerous part,” Bounds told KOFR. “You can’t have small children or pets going near this thing, that’s why this should’ve been tackled a whole lot sooner. Things could have gotten much worse.”
Keeping an eye on the feline-eating snake
Last week, Bounds used a thermal camera to look for the snake. The camera allowed him to find that the reptile had made a home for itself in a crawlspace under the floor of one of the area's houses.
Inside the crawlspace were several animal carcasses.
“I can imagine that each one of those cats put up a nasty fight,” Bounds said. “When (the python) has been attacked that many times and to that extent, the nice non-aggressive pet snake we once knew is no more. This thing is dangerous now.”
Bounds created a trap around the home and has a 24-hour live feed to keep an eye on it, KFOR reported. The camera connected to the live feed will alert Bounds when the snake moves, hopefully allowing him to catch it.
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More on reticulated pythons
Reticulated pythons are native to Southeast Asia and typically reach up to 16 feet as adults, according to a Michigan-based reptile zoo called the Reptarium.
According to the zoo, the largest recorded reticulated python measured a whopping 32 feet in length and weighed 350 pounds.
Calling the pythons “opportunistic feeders,” the reptarium said the animals eat birds and mammals.
On average, their lifespans range from 15 to 20 years but some have lived at least 25 or 30 years, the zoo wrote on its website.