If you’re scared of snakes, you probably want to avoid the full-size replica of Titanoboa, a prehistoric snake going on display tomorrow at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. This isn’t just any snake, after all—it was 48 feet long and weighed one-and-a-half tons, making it the world’s largest predator at the time. Writes the Smithsonian about the massive snake:

The startling discovery of Titanoboa, the largest snake the world has ever seen, was made by a team of scientists working several years ago in an open-pit coal mine at Cerrejón in La Guajira, Colombia. This 2,500-pound, 48-foot-long prehistoric snake was found near fossilized plants, giant turtles and crocodiles, all dating to the Paleocene epoch, more than 60 million years ago.

The National Museum of Natural History will feature a life-size replica of this coiled snake (the length of a school bus) in an exhibition that will continue from March 30 until Jan. 6, 2013, when it will begin a nationwide tour through the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.

The preview is also the occasion to get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the two-hour Smithsonian Channel documentary, Titanoboa: Monster Snake, which airs Sunday, April 1, at 8 p.m.

If you’re curious, this behemoth fed on turtles and crocodiles, and one meal could carry it through a whole year.

Somewhere Samuel Jackson weeps.