The Florida Python Challenge: Where Amateurs Hunt 20-Foot Snakes for Cash Prizes
Every summer, Florida invites the general public to wade into the Everglades and catch as many Burmese pythons as they can carry. There are cash prizes involved. There is a training course. There are snake tongs. And somehow, hundreds of people from across the country sign up every year to spend ten days in the swamp chasing one of the largest and most invasive predators on the continent. Welcome to the Florida Python Challenge.
How Tens of Thousands of Pythons Took Over the Everglades
Burmese pythons first showed up in Florida in the 1970s as exotic pets. Some escaped. Some were released by owners who underestimated what a 15-foot snake eats for dinner. Then Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992 and destroyed a python breeding facility near Homestead, setting loose hundreds more into the wild. The Everglades turned out to be a perfect habitat: warm, wet, and full of prey with no idea what a python was. By the 2000s, populations of raccoons, rabbits, and opossums in parts of the Everglades had dropped by 85 to 100 percent. Scientists now estimate tens of thousands of Burmese pythons live in South Florida, and a 2023 USGS study confirmed that total eradication is likely impossible.
Ten Days, One Goal, a Lot of Sawgrass
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission launched the first Python Challenge in 2013 and brought it back as an annual event in 2020. The rules are straightforward: register online ($25 fee), complete a training course, then head to one of the designated competition areas across South Florida to catch pythons by hand or with approved tools like snake hooks and tongs. No firearms, no traps, no poison. Just you, the swamp, and whatever you can grab. The 2025 challenge drew 934 participants from 30 states and Canada. Together they removed a record 294 pythons in ten days. The grand prize winner was Taylor Stanberry, a first-time competitor who caught 60 pythons and took home $10,000.
How to Join the Hunt
The Python Challenge typically runs in mid-July, with registration opening several weeks before. The $25 entry fee covers the required online training course. Participants compete in three categories: novice, professional (paid FWC or SFWMD contractors), and military. Prizes go to those who catch the most and the longest pythons, with $25,000 in total cash prizes up for grabs. Since 2000, more than 23,000 pythons have been removed from Florida, and over 1,400 of those came from Python Challenge events alone. Registration details and updates for the next challenge are posted at FLPythonChallenge.org.
