It was, Greebo. Reuters sent their Jakarta correspondent back with a tape measure, and it only came to a little over 6 metres. Can't remember the weight, but more like 200 kg. The owner of the zoo was puzzled as to how his python had shrunk, but upon consulting with one of the keepers concluded that it was because it hadn't been fed in six weeks. Apparently they had run out of dogs and goats.
But he was still adamant that it was over 150 years old. He knew this for a fact as some little old wise man visited the zoo a few years back and told him that's how old it was. They don't know which village the little old man came from so they couldn't get him to verify it's age.
I think it measured 22 ft, a far shorter then the 49 ft that was claimed. The owner swears it can stretch and contract like a catapillar, and when it was measued it had contracted. Must be a new species of snake.