Reptile & Amphibian Forums

check this out...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=817&e=1&u=/ap/indonesia_giant_snake

Officials: World's Largest Snake Caught

Mon Dec 29, 6:28 AM ET

Add Strange News - AP to My Yahoo!

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesian villagers claim to have captured a python that is almost 49.21 feet long and weighs nearly 992.07 pounds, a local official said Monday.

If confirmed, it would be the largest snake ever kept in captivity.

Hundreds of people have flocked to see the snake at a primitive zoo in Curugsewu village on the country's main island of Java, Republika daily reported. It splashed two large pictures of the reptile across its back page.

Local government official Rachmat said the reticulated python measured 14.85 meters (49 feet) and weighed in at 447 kilograms (985 pounds).

The Guinness Book of World Records lists the longest ever captured snake to be 9.75 meters (32 feet). The heaviest — a Burmese Python kept in Gurnee, Illinois — weighs 182.76 kilograms (403 pounds), the book said on its Web site.

Rebublika said the snake, which was caught last year but only recently put on public display, eats three or four dogs a month.

Reticulated pythons are the world's longest snakes. They are capable of eating animals as large as sheep, and have been known to attack and consume humans.

The species is native to the swamps and jungles of Southeast Asia.

I saw this too, anyone know for sure if this is true??
My favorite part of the story is where it says the snake eats 3 or 4 dogs a month, those better be BIG dogs like mastiffs, or something LOL!
Jason
-----

Yes, it is true and here is a pic.

I wish the pic has something of a size reference in it. From that pic, it could just be another 20' retic......not that a 20' retic is small, but it would be a worm next to a 49 footer.

Brandon Osborne

where did you get the picture?

Thanks.

There is also one with the caretaker. this thing is a monster!

here is a litle better pic look second row down 4 th pic
http://www.reuters.com/newsPhotoGallery.jhtml?type=topNews
big snake!
-----
2.2.0 Ball Pythons
1.1.0 Madagascar speck. Hogs
1.1.0 Bull snakes (triple hets)
1.0.0 Columbian redtail
1.2.0 Corns (1 albino, 1 okeetee, 1 reverse okeetee)
1.0.0 St. Bernard

Character is doing the right thing when no one else is looking

That snake in the photo is probably 16-20'. A large snake by any means, but not the snake mentioned in the story. If it is?....someone needs a new tape measure.

Brandon Osborne

I would say the snake is in the 20-25' range and definatley not 900 lbs. I would say between 175-250 lbs. For anyone that has kept very large snakes, this was an easy one. They're about a snake off.

Brandon Osborne

The problem with foreign countries using feet as a measurement, is most don't know how to. That's why all other countries besides the U.S. have the metric system. Anyone can see it's not 49' long.

Brandon Osborne

this snake is probably 16-20' and 125-175 lbs. Still a large snake.

Brandon Osborne

The four people observing the animal are at least 4 feet tall, give or take an inch and probably wiegh-in @ 95#.
The 4 people could by the looks of the rolls in the retic easily all fit in him/her. so it is approx 360 # & 30 feet.
The original post had wieght and length in metric.That might be something we could decifer.

Having kept several retics of 20', I can't definately say that snake is not 30'. The 3 people in the background are also behind another rail set back from the cage the snake is in. The man looking directly down at the snake is right against the cage. If you've ever seen a 20' retic face to face, you would know this snake is not as big as you say. The original post also said the snake was 49 FEET and over 900 POUNDS. In addition, a 49' retic would way over a ton. Check out the retic forum and see what the retic keepers are saying. I'd give it 20' at best.

Brandon Osborne

>>>>>The four people observing the animal are at least 4 feet tall, give or take an inch and probably wiegh-in @ 95#.
The 4 people could by the looks of the rolls in the retic easily all fit in him/her. so it is approx 360 # & 30 feet.
The original post had wieght and length in metric.That might be something we could decifer.

Baracade they must be giant Asians. They would have to be 150#
making the snake in the range of 600#
I have in all seriousness been around a 20 foot burm. Its head is the size of a 4 slice toaster.
In the picture with the man standing directly next to it it seems to have a very girthy body, at least 4 times bigger than my Burm and the head on this retic seems to be much bigger than the man standing next to it.
I'm not saying that a third world country newspaper and zoo might not be giving the exact info, but i am thinking this is a big a$$ed snake.
Anyway,I peeked at the boyz and gurlz from the retic forum earlier and didn't really see anything valid in those comments.Any more than mineI did see a picture of a white bodied yellow marked Jampya dwarf that is absolutely georgeous. Hope those dwarves prove out and at some point they develop a lavender albino with them. I want a small lavander retic.
Guess the Gueniss book folks need to get notified and get right out there. Maybe you could contact them. Or perhaps your retic forum friends.
The trouble is since they took away the God from a tribe of people that shuns mankind it may have shrunk for the photo shoot. Or it may reject and refute all claims from a first world country. Never know what Gods are thinking.
Take care Brandon, and for what its worth you are probably right. But that is a big a$$ed snake

Baracade they must be giant Asians. They would have to be 150#
making the snake in the range of 600#

.......I should follow a different line of wording than the one you are using, but for fun lets go down that road. If those giant asians in the background weigh 150 lbs.(assuming they are NOT behind a baracade), how much does the largest asian weigh and exactly how tall is he?.......

I have in all seriousness been around a 20 foot burm. Its head is the size of a 4 slice toaster.

.......I really cant picture a 20 ft. burm with a block head, much less one that looks like a 4-slice toaster. But really things seem larger than they really are later(kinda like the fish story).......

In the picture with the man standing directly next to it it seems to have a very girthy body, at least 4 times bigger than my Burm and the head on this retic seems to be much bigger than the man standing next to it.

.......If this retic really is 49' that must be another one of those giant asians, because he is standing at the tail of the snake. Lets say I take my finger(which is closer to my eyes) and block something out of my vision, does that mean my finger is larger than the object that it is blocking? So now lets look at that picture again(remember the closer to the camera the bigger it will appear). Now after making a fool of myself at my own expense(and enjoying every moment of it) I will not even begin to critique your other posts. :~) .......

Peace,
Ian Daviss

I'm not saying that a third world country newspaper and zoo might not be giving the exact info, but i am thinking this is a big a$$ed snake.
Anyway,I peeked at the boyz and gurlz from the retic forum earlier and didn't really see anything valid in those comments.Any more than mineI did see a picture of a white bodied yellow marked Jampya dwarf that is absolutely georgeous. Hope those dwarves prove out and at some point they develop a lavender albino with them. I want a small lavander retic.
Guess the Gueniss book folks need to get notified and get right out there. Maybe you could contact them. Or perhaps your retic forum friends.
The trouble is since they took away the God from a tribe of people that shuns mankind it may have shrunk for the photo shoot. Or it may reject and refute all claims from a first world country. Never know what Gods are thinking.
Take care Brandon, and for what its worth you are probably right. But that is a big a$$ed snake

Java are asians.Thank you so very much for your kind reflections and infinite wisdom. I almost feel wiser having read your knowledgable thread. I really can't thank you enough. Thanks again purpostorous.

If everyone in the world had an open mind like yourself. . .well I guess we'd be a bunch of "airheads." Make sure you know what you are talking about before you try to argue a point. I dont believe an asian person would like to be refered to as "the giant asian", or be discriminantly labled as 95 lbs and 4 ft nothing. Shall I continue with other derogatory comments made by none other than yourself?

Peace,
Ian Daviss
(the now wise labled wise and all knowing)

of the wantabe politcally correct.If you are to tell someone what to do as you are with me, perhaps you should be a little wiser. First off Mr. politically correct. You are absolutely wrong in your assumption.Having spent 3 years in Asia on behalf of my country to defend this particular nation I can say that my observations are first hand and solid.
I was also posting with a degree of humor which you seem to have vacant in your slander.
Anyway, Ian the propostorous, please take this offline with anymore of your foolishness, let me know if you need a more current e mail and I will happily give it to you as I do all the other keyboard empowered folks that like to $hit my way.

I never said the snake was not a large one. After all, I estimated the length at around 20'. Could be more.....could be less, but it's no 30' snake. Several years ago, I worked for a well know commercial breeder and took care of 6 very large retics. These animals all came from Bob Clark, and three were weighed at 175-200 lbs. and were 19-20' in length. When coiled, these 3 larger retics were about 4-5' in diameter.....and this is in a standard flat coil, not a piled or overlapping coil. These were very large, robust pythons, that basically did what they wanted and went where they wanted.....very intimidating animals to say the least, but never had and dangerous situations.

I respect your opinion, but stick to my guns on this one. In most cases, when people are measuring a snake, it is WAY overexaggerated. Nothing cracks me up more that the guy with a 150 lb. 10' burm, that in reality, weighs about 50-60 lbs. I would love to see a 30' retic, whether in a photo or in person. The girth alone would be astonishing. Pictures will play tricks on our eyes......kind of like the retic that was capture after eating a human that has been circulating for years. I smell hoax.

Peace.
Brandon Osborne

in zoo's. What were the the retics eating? Dog is often on the human menu in most of asia minor.