A father and son never imagined that on Friday night they would end up discovering and capturing the second heaviest Burmese python ever found in Florida.
Mike Elfenbein and his Cole made the terrifying discovery when they passed by the Big Cypress Preserve on their way to a shrimp taco joint.
The capture of the snake, 17 feet, 2 inches and 198 pounds, required the intervention of five men and was so large that, at first, Mike Elfenbein thought it was an alligator.
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Elfenbein and his son said they jumped out of their truck to help three other men control the giant python. "More than a snake, he was a monster," the father said, according to El Nuevo Herald.
Humans occasionally hunt pythons in the swamps of the Florida Everglades, where these reptiles have become a serious problem as an invasive species that devours the area's wildlife.
"His head was so big, it looked like we were grabbing a football," Elfenbein said. "We were five men lying on top of the snake and she picked us up off the ground and kept going down the road, it was crazy."
After 45 minutes of struggle, Elfenbein called Amy Siewe, a professional python hunter from Collier County. She put the huge animal to sleep, and after taking it to a conservation facility, researchers measured and weighed the huge reptile.
"They examined his stomach and found deer hooves," Siewe said. "She was a deer eater and had been for a long time."
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Elfenbein said the wild experience made the five hunters fast friends. Her son is only 17 years old, they both live in Englewood. The other three men are from Tampa and were in the area to hunt pythons.
Elfenbein said he had hunted other 10-foot pythons with his son, but nothing compared to the titanic creature they found Friday. "It was powerful! I've never experienced anything like it," he said.
"This place is losing all its wildlife," Elfenbein said. "It's disappearing and pythons are responsible, but we can put some control ... For me, it was worth missing out on the shrimp tacos."
Elfenbein also works as a conservationist for a nonprofit called the Cypress Chapter of the Izaak Walton League.
The 17-foot python is no bigger than the one caught in that same reserve last July: 19 feet long and 125 pounds. Scientists say it's the largest python ever captured in Florida.
With information from NBC Miami, El Nuevo Herald and NBC2