I saw a picture of a giant snake taken by a helicoptor pilot in the 1950s. He took it in the Congo in africa. He said the snake was 50 ft long. Was this real and how high could it jump and strike if that big, and how fast could it chase someone. What would you do if you saw it and how could you fight it?
It wasn’t real. So the rest of your questions have no answer.
The largest snake found in Africa is the Rock Python, which has a maximum length of around 20 feet. The longest snake anywhere is probably the reticulated python of Asia, which may be a few feet longer.
Really? The longest snakes are maybe 20 to 25 feet long? I didn’t know that - for some reason I would’ve thought they’d be longer - upwards of 30 or 40 feet; no clue why I thought that…
ETA: 49-foot python captured in Indonesia
Old (2004) MSNBC article on a snake found that could be as long as 48 feet; seems like it needed to be verified. Article states that the longest known at that point was ~32 feet…interesting. Fighting my ignorance.
There have been claims for years that reticulated pythons and green anacondas grow to thirty feet or more, but I’m pretty sure the longest reputably measured specimens of those species were under 25 feet. Visual estimates are notoriously wrong, and skins stretch, so they don’t prove much.
Quoting my self from a previous thread:
[QUOTE=Crotalus]
The cottonmouth was in a swamp in north Florida. I encountered it while I was wading through knee-deep water among some trees with a couple of guys. It took us a half hour to get that snake into a bag, during the course of which it bit everything it could reach, including a stump, our snake hooks, and itself. While we were trying to subdue this snake, and after, we guessed that it was five feet long, which is big for a cottonmouth. When we got it back to the lab the following week we measured it. Three feet ten inches. Not even experts can accurately judge a snake’s length.
[/QUOTE]
Obviously not the the same scale as a huge python, but three experienced snake handlers were off by 25% on a snake we had in our hands.
There is a $50,000 prize available from the Wildlife Conservation Society for a live snake that exceeds 30 feet in length. This prize has been available for around 100 years, and remains unclaimed. IIRC the longest snake found and verified was 27 feet in length. If there were any longer snakes someone would have brought one in to claim the prize. They don’t exist.
And if you did find a 50-foot snake, what kind of pet would it make?
49 foot python captured in Indonesia, NBC News (2004). Reticulated python.
The longest snake in captivity is 25’, according to Guinness (2012). Reticulated python. With video
This extinct snake was about 50 ft.
Bet it could take on a gator!
Even if we assume this was an exaggeration and it was a real, 25ft python, pythons are constrictors. They don’t “strike” like cobras, and they don’t chase you across the veldt. They move very slowly across the ground. They tend to lurk around at the edge of water and then lunge at their prey.
Basically, if you can see the python from some little distance away, it isn’t going to be able to do any harm to you unless you stand there and let it. A python’s chief weapon is surprise. Surprise… and fear. A python’s two chief weapons are surprise and fear.
And ruthless efficiency.
And, just for fun:
Well, they might exist (30-footers, not 50-footers), but there’s no believable proof. I had thought that there were reliable measurements of green anacondas and reticulated pythons that approached 30 feet, but I’m unable to find evidence of that now.
The people who are most likely to find a record-breaking snake are probably least likely to have any idea that a prize exists for such a thing. They are most likely to simply eat it. 
Learjeff, that 49-foot reticulated python turned out to be less than half that size.
The longest snake ever is recorded by Guiness as one that measured over 32 feet. However that snake was dead, and dead snakes can be stretched, and have been in attempts to claim the record. There are no credible claims of a snake exceeding 30 feet in length.
Jim and Marlin having a relaxing time with an anaconda.
Ironic, given that the islanders
.
It clearly hadn’t been calibrated. 
Your snakes should always be NIST-traceable.
I understand that people tried bringing in bigger snakes to claim the prize, but were never heard from again. :eek:
I imagine the problem was that the python was coiling itself up in 3D space. For maximum accuracy you should always keep your
snakes on a plane.
But e.fred may have a good chance at success. I say we encourage him to give it a try.
Hah! Just can’t trust the news, can we? I should have pointed out that I didn’t credit the 49-foot claim, based on the later Guinness records. But then, Guinness doesn’t check every claim.