Florida pythons are being spotted more often near neighborhoods. Is suburbia their next conquest?

It was about 2 in the morning when Claudilio Cruz, a member of a road crew spreading asphalt on U.S. 1 in the affluent Miami suburb of Pinecrest, heard frantic honking.

When he looked up he was blinded at first by headlights, but then noticed something, frankly, unbelievable: A 14-foot Burmese python slowly slithering across the six-lane highway. Another car almost ran the snake over. Cruz managed to stop traffic — for the safety of both the late-night drivers and the snake.

This was not the middle of the Everglades. This was the middle of suburbia. The snake was less than a mile from the Dadeland mall, amongst a strip of office buildings, car dealerships, restaurants and shopping centers.

How had the huge reptile gotten there, and are there more of the apex predator infiltrating suburbia? It was among more than a dozen reported python sightings so far this year in suburban or industrialized settings across South Florida, as experts say they’re spotting the snakes more often.

Go to the South Florida Sun Sentinel for the full story.