17-foot python seized from Lakeland home

September 10, 2009
Contact: Gary Morse, 863-648-3200;
Patricia Behnke, 850-251-2130

An anonymous tip to the Wildlife Alert Hotline sent Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) investigators to a Lakeland residence in search of two illegally kept Burmese pythons. What was hidden from the world shocked even investigator Daryl Amerson, a 24-year FWC veteran who thought he had seen it all. 

Amerson discovered an 11-foot-long male Burmese python, dwarfed by its female companion, a 17-foot behemoth of the same species that weighed more than 150 pounds.

Michael T. Hall (DOB 11/20/71) of 1836 Jupiter St., Lakeland, owned the snakes but did not have the required state permit to keep them. The FWC lists Burmese pythons as reptiles of concern, which requires owners to purchase an annual $100 permit.

Owners are required to have the pets microchipped and must follow specific caging requirements based on the size of the reptile. They also must keep a written and approved contingency plan in case of escape or natural disaster.

Hall was charged with second-degree misdemeanors for not having the required permit and not having a critical-incident plan. Additionally, Hall received a warning for not having the animals microchipped. The snakes were taken to a licensed facility.

The new rules for captive wildlife went into effect in January 2008. People who owned reptiles of concern prior to the effective date are still required to purchase the reptile of concern permit.

The FWC hosts Pet Amnesty Days several times a year. At these events, people who can no longer keep nonnatives as pets can turn them over to the FWC for placement. The next Pet Amnesty Day will be for reptiles of concern only, at Gatorland in Orlando on Oct. 3. 

On Wednesday at the FWC meeting in Howey-in-the-Hills, the Commission directed staff to look at the science behind personal-pet ownership of reptiles of concern and breeding and sale by Florida's reptile industry and bring back a report at the next meeting in December in Clewiston. 

To report wildlife law violations, call the toll-free Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-3922.