Burmese Pythons in the Everglades: The Damage, the Python Challenge and How Removal Works

General public information only — not legal advice. Hunting and removal rules, permits, and allowable methods change. Confirm with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and with the agency that manages the land, before you take part in any hunt or removal.

See a python? Take a photo, note the location, and report it to FWC's Exotic Species Hotline at 888-IVE-GOT1 (888-483-4681), the free IveGot1 app, or IveGot1.org.

What is happening in the Everglades

FWC describes the Burmese python as "a large nonvenomous constrictor that is an invasive species in Florida." It says they are "found primarily in and around the Everglades ecosystem in south Florida where the snake represents a threat to native wildlife."

Other agencies agree: - U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): pythons "have severely impacted native species and ecosystems in Florida and represent one of the most intractable invasive-species management issues across the globe." - Everglades National Park (NPS): "Nowhere else on the planet has such a large constrictor been introduced and established in a foreign locale as a result of the exotic pet trade."

The response has four parts: - Paid contractors: FWC's Python Action Team and the South Florida Water Management District's (SFWMD) Python Elimination Program. - The Florida Python Challenge: a yearly 10-day public competition. - Year-round public removal: on private land and on 32 FWC-managed areas. - Research: led by USGS, NPS, the University of Florida and partners, on how to find pythons and control them better.

Meet the Burmese python

• Size:
• FWC says adults caught in Florida average 6 to 9 feet.
• USGS says wild Burmese pythons often grow to about 16 feet.
• The largest recorded in Florida was about 19 feet according to USGS; FWC says "over 18 feet."
• Look: tan with dark blotches that fit together "like puzzle pieces or the markings on a giraffe." There is a dark arrowhead-shaped wedge on top of the head, and the belly is white (FWC).
• Habits: semi-aquatic, often near or in water. USGS calls them sit-and-wait ambush predators that hide in shallow water, wetlands, brush, and even gopher tortoise burrows.
• Venom: none. They kill by constriction.
• Legal status: on Florida's Prohibited species list since April 29, 2021. FWC says they "cannot be kept as pets in Florida." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists them as an injurious species under the federal Lacey Act, which bars importing them into the country.

Don't confuse native snakes with pythons. FWC lists native snakes often mistaken for pythons: coachwhip, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, red rat snake, cottonmouth, eastern indigo snake and water snakes. Some of these are venomous. FWC's identification guide also covers lookalike nonnatives: the ball python, boa constrictor and Northern African python.

How they got here

• The pet trade: USGS says Burmese pythons "were imported to the United States for the pet trade" for decades.
• The likely start: USGS says the wild population "is believed to have originated from a small number of escaped, or released, pet pythons at the southern end of Everglades National Park in the early 1980s."
• First sightings: SFWMD says pythons were first sighted in the Everglades in the 1970s.
• Confirmed breeding: USGS says a breeding population was confirmed in Everglades National Park in 2000.

Why the Everglades suited them (USGS): - a subtropical climate like their native range - huge stretches of wilderness to hide in - isolation from people, which makes them hard to find and remove

Release is still a risk. FWC says "released pets remain a primary source of introduced species in the state." NPS's advice: "Don't Let it Loose."

The damage to Florida's ecosystem

Mammals have crashed

This is the best-documented harm. - USGS: "Research has shown that pythons are responsible for diminishing populations of mammals in the Everglades, such as raccoons, opossums, bobcats, rabbits, gray foxes, and white-tailed deer, which have declined by 85 to 100%." - NPS: "studies show that pythons are probably the main reason that mammals have declined very sharply in number in Everglades National Park." NPS points to Dorcas et al. (2012), "Severe mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park," in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The marsh rabbit study. SFWMD describes a 2015 study by USGS, FWC and the University of Florida. Researchers released 95 adult marsh rabbits in parts of the Everglades with pythons. Within 11 months, pythons caused 77 percent of rabbit deaths.

They eat almost anything

• 76 species. USGS's 2023 science synthesis lists 76 prey species found in python digestive tracts, based on 1,716 pythons collected from 1995 to 2020. Most were mammals and birds, plus two reptiles, the American alligator and the green iguana. USGS notes the number "may increase as the python population expands to new areas."
• Protected species. FWC says stomach contents have included the federally threatened wood stork and the federally endangered Key Largo woodrat.
• Huge meals. FWC: a python "can consume meals equivalent to 100% their body mass." SFWMD lists marsh rabbits, deer, wading birds "and even alligators" as prey.

Native predators lose their food

SFWMD says python predation robs "panthers, raptors, bobcats, and other native predators of their primary food sources." USGS says pythons "compete with other native predators for prey." Both agencies describe the result as a changed food web across the Greater Everglades.

They spread parasites

SFWMD says pythons carry parasites and pathogens that infect native animals. One example is Raillietiella orientalis, a lung parasite SFWMD says "is typically lethal for native snakes." USGS also lists the spread of python pathogens and parasites as a concern.

They are spreading

• FWC's established range: from just south of Lake Okeechobee to Key Largo, and from western Broward County west to Collier County.
• SFWMD: pythons were "once confined to Everglades National Park and Miami-Dade County" and now range from Monroe to Palm Beach counties.
• Detection farther north: USGS says environmental DNA (eDNA) has detected pythons in the northern Everglades at Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, "and even beyond Lake Okeechobee."
• Strays: FWC says pythons found outside the established range "are likely escaped or released captive animals." Confirming a new established area takes time.

How many are there?

• USGS: the population "is expected to be on the scale of tens of thousands of snakes and appears to be growing."
• No exact count: NPS and SFWMD say the snakes' secretive nature makes exact counts very difficult.
• Removals are not a population count.

Breeding (USGS): - Burmese pythons lay an average of 49 eggs per nest. - Larger snakes carry more; as many as 79 to 95 eggs have been reported. - An estimated 28.6 percent of hatchlings survive to the juvenile stage.

FWC's 2026 release says a female can lay 50 to 100 eggs at a time.

Why they're so hard to stop

USGS says detection is the core problem: - Visual searches find pythons less than 5 percent of the time. Where pythons are known to be present, visual detection or trapping succeeds less than 1 percent of the time. - Traps "aren't reliable." No known lure attracts them. - Detection dogs are about 2.5 times more efficient than people alone, but limited by the terrain. - eDNA can detect pythons up to 90 percent of the time where they are present.

USGS's bottom line: "eradication of the population across the landscape is not possible with existing tools." It is studying new methods, including genetic biocontrol, that "may one day provide an avenue towards larger-scale population suppression."

The Florida Python Challenge

A yearly 10-day competition to remove Burmese pythons and raise awareness of invasive species. It is hosted by FWC and SFWMD, with the National Park Service and the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida as partners.

2026 event - Dates: 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 10 to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 19, 2026. - To enter: complete the required online training, pass the quiz with at least 85 percent, then register at FLPythonChallenge.org. FWC said 2026 registration stayed open until the last day of the event. - Categories: professional (FWC and SFWMD contractors), novice, and military (active duty and veterans). - Prizes: $25,000 in total, including a $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize for the most pythons removed. - Locations (8): - Big Cypress WMA - Everglades and Francis S. Taylor WMA - Everglades National Park - Frog Pond North Public Small Game Hunting Area - Holey Land WMA - Rocky Glades Public Small Game Hunting Area - Rotenberger WMA - Southern Glades Wildlife and Environmental Area

2026 results (FWC, Aug. 5, 2026) - 907 participants from 30 states, plus Canada and Vietnam. - 280 Burmese pythons removed. - The top competitor removed 96, all in Everglades National Park. - The longest python measured 16 feet 5 inches. - More than 1,600 pythons have been removed through Python Challenge events to date.

Everglades National Park rules during the Challenge (2026 park rules): - Who can search: novice participants serve as NPS Public Python Agents for the event only. - Orientation: a one-time, in-person orientation at the Ernest F. Coe or Shark Valley visitor centers is required. - Firearms: "The use of firearms to take Burmese pythons is prohibited during this competition." - Boats and vehicles: no airboats; paddle craft only in daylight. - Where: searching only on set roads and levees.

If the park's rules and the general rules conflict, the park's rules win.

Scout snakes: don't kill them. Some pythons are research animals with fluorescent tags. Researchers track them to find breeding groups. If you catch one, photograph the tag and release it alive where you caught it; you still get credit. Hatchling research snakes have no external tag, so look for sutures or a transmitter bulge. See scout snakes.

The next Challenge. Dates for 2027 had not been posted when this was checked. FWC usually announces in spring. Check FLPythonChallenge.org.

Removing pythons the rest of the year

FWC's rules, from Removing Pythons in Florida:

The 32 areas include: - Big Cypress WMA - Everglades and Francis S. Taylor WMA - Holey Land WMA - Rotenberger WMA - J.W. Corbett WMA - Picayune Strand WMA - Southern Glades Wildlife and Environmental Area - Several stormwater treatment areas

FWC posts brochures and a map for each.

No pay for the public. FWC: "The FWC does not offer compensation for pythons except to contracted members of the PATRIC Program and winners during the Florida Python Challenge." Skins and meat may be kept or sold, but see the mercury warning below.

Humane killing is required by law. FWC says nonnative reptiles "are not protected in Florida except by anti-cruelty law." It recommends the American Veterinary Medical Association's two-step method: 1. Cause immediate unconsciousness, for example with a captive bolt, a firearm, or a pre-charged pneumatic air gun aimed at the brain. 2. Destroy the brain ("pithing") so the animal cannot regain consciousness.

Follow each property's firearm rules and local laws. See FWC's humane killing methods.

Free training: Python Patrol. FWC's Python Patrol teaches identification, searching, safe capture, humane killing and reporting. "No prior snake handling experience is required." Virtual sessions are held the third Thursday of each month, 7–8 p.m. Eastern, and self-guided videos are available any time.

Paid python removal programs

FWC Python Action Team – Removing Invasive Constrictors (PATRIC) - What it is: since spring 2017, PATRIC has paid qualified people with constrictor-removal experience to remove pythons from public lands. - The work: contractors survey assigned areas, answer reported sightings, and check in captured snakes. - Applying: preference goes to qualified veterans and Florida residents. - Getting experience: FWC suggests the Python Challenge or year-round removal on the 32 areas.

See PATRIC.

SFWMD Python Elimination Program - Where agents work: designated lands in Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, Collier, Hendry, Lee and Palm Beach counties. - Pay, from SFWMD's program page: - an hourly rate of $14, $20 or $30 depending on the area, for up to 10 hours a day - $50 for a python up to 4 feet, plus $25 for each foot over that - $200 for each verified active nest - monthly bonuses - Eligibility: - 18 or older, with a valid driver's license - consent to GPS tracking and a background check - no felony or wildlife conviction in the last 7 years - Size: SFWMD keeps up to 50 contractors.

See SFWMD's program.

Everglades National Park also removes pythons through its own authorized agent program. NPS says it has worked with FWC to open that program to FWC's contractors.

Removal totals

Removals rose sharply once the paid programs started in 2017. USGS still concludes that eradication across the landscape isn't possible with current tools. Removal reduces the damage; it doesn't end the invasion.

How to report a python

FWC asks the public to report all nonnative snakes to the hotline.

FWC says a good report has three parts: 1. A sharp photo. 2. The location, ideally GPS coordinates. 3. The date.

See FWC's reporting page.

Have a pet snake you can't keep? Never release it. FWC's Exotic Pet Amnesty Program takes nonnative pets with no questions asked and no penalty, even ones kept illegally.

Safety for people and pets

• People and pets. FWC says Burmese pythons "can pose a threat to human safety" and "may also prey upon pets such as cats and dogs."
• Visiting the park. NPS says visitors "are unlikely to see a python in the wild." Keep at least 15 to 20 feet from wildlife, and don't feed or harass it.
• Unsure what it is? Several native snakes mistaken for pythons are venomous. Photograph it from a distance and report it.
• Get trained before you capture. Use Python Patrol, and the required training for the Challenge.
• Don't eat python meat. FWC says some Everglades pythons tested had mercury levels "considered too high for human consumption." The Florida Department of Health advises: "Do Not Consume Python."
• Firearms. Follow each property's rules. They were banned for taking pythons in Everglades National Park during the 2026 Challenge.

Explore more on This Is Florida

- Florida Hunting: WMAs and public land rules - Florida Wildlife: native snakes and how to tell them from pythons - Everglades place guides: Everglades National Park, Shark Valley and Big Cypress - Florida Fishing: Florida Bay and the Everglades backcountry

Find Everglades guides and businesses in the This Is Florida directory

Licensed eco-tour operators, airboat and kayak guides, lodges and restaurants near the Everglades can list in the This Is Florida directory.

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