According to the FWC, the 2026 Florida Python Challenge included 907 participants from 30 different states, Canada and Vietnam. The hundreds of hunters managed to capture and huma

The 2026 Florida Python Challenge ended on July 19, and organizers have officially finished tallying the number of bagged snakes. Over 10 days, 907 participants hunted down a collective total of 280 invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) across the Everglades.

Annual 10-day competition drew more than 900 participants from across the U.S. and abroad.

By exploiting the snakes' mating behavior, a team in southwest Florida removed a record 8,080 pounds of invasive pythons in just six months. The effort points to a simple but effective idea: use the snakes' instincts against them to stop the next generation before the population grows further.

More than 900 contestants vying for the $10,000 grand prize scoured South Florida for 10 days during the 2026 Florida Python Challenge.

Burmese pythons in Florida are devouring animals as small as rabbits and as big as deer and alligators. How they do it is fascinating and unsettling.