Horde of engorged ticks were devouring python alive in Everglades, Florida video shows
A group of hunters in the Florida Everglades walked up on a nightmare in progress when they found an invasive Burmese python being drained of its blood by a horde of engorged ticks.
Video shared Aug. 1 on social media by Python Cowboy Hunts shows the parasites were swollen to the size of cherry tomatoes as they dangled from the lengthy snake.
The female had become their easy target while guarding a nest of eggs, according to hunting guide and trapper Mike Kimmel, known as the Python Cowboy.
She refused to abandoned her brood, so the ticks piled on top of one another, until the snake was overwhelmed and exhausted, he said.
“Ticks on these reptiles isn’t an odd thing for me to find but this snake was just being chewed to pieces,” he says in the video.
“I mean, it had well over 100 ticks on it. Probably hundreds and there was actually dead ticks swollen up with blood in the nest, just dropping off of her. ... She was in pretty bad shape.”
However, before the python could be humanely euthanized, someone had to reach into a mound of sawgrass and grab the snake by the head — likely bursting multiple blood-filled ticks in the process.
“That’s going to be a juicy grab,” someone says in the video.
The volunteer, who was not identified, used the cuff of his shirt as a layer of thin protection and grabbed the snake’s gushy head on the first attempt, the video shows.
It did not put up much of a fight, a sign of just how exhausted the snake had become, Kimmel says.
Seventeen eggs were revealed when the snake was yanked out, along with numerous swollen ticks that had fallen off the snake.
“I think we did her a bit of a favor,” Kimmel says. “I’m sure she was tired of sitting on those eggs, getting eaten up. And we put old girl out of her misery.”
Video of the encounter had been viewed more than 80,000 times on Facebook and YouTube as of Aug. 5. Many among the commenters felt sorry for the snake, while others asked “who in their right mind” would grab it.
“Giant ticks and snakes. ... I can’t think of a worse nightmare I could have,” @S.Matt240 posted on YouTube.
“I hate snakes but I actually feel bad for this python being covered in ticks like this,” @ricardobjj24 wrote.
“This many ticks on any other animal would be fatal, these (snakes) are tough as steel,” @drb996 said.
The date of the guided hunt was not revealed.
Burmese pythons are an invasive species in South Florida and should be euthanized when caught in the wild, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
This story was originally published August 5, 2024 at 7:30 AM.