Florida’s python population is infamous. These snakes have bulldozed through the Everglades, swallowing everything from deer to alligators, and they’re blamed for wiping out much of south Florida’s native wildlife. For years, the core python range stretched from Everglades National Park in Miami-Dade County, spread up to Lake Okeechobee, down to Key Largo, and west into Collier County. That was the established battle line.

Now, researchers say the snakes are pushing even further, establishing a new colony outside their old range. And the problem isn’t subtle. These apex predators don’t discriminate; they wipe out raccoons, opossums, bobcats, birds, even prey that’s larger than themselves. Once pythons move in, local mammals vanish, and the ecosystem gets hollowed out, left with little more than rodents and other invaders. Robert McCleery, a wildlife ecologist from the University of Florida, calls the result a “simplified ecosystem.” Despite years of effort, no one’s reversed this damage on the scale that’s needed.

It’s not just pythons, either; giant lizards have muscled into south Florida, adding to the mess. According to the FWC, reports of pythons in areas like Rotonda West, Placida, Englewood East, and South Gulf Cove began spiking in 2020. And these snakes didn’t just wander over naturally. Wildlife officials suspect people released their captive pythons, or some escaped, which lines up with what biologists would predict for a “satellite population” founded by intentional introductions, not just natural spread.

Since 1975, the U.S. has imported about 180,000 Burmese pythons. Most entered through the exotic pet trade, and plenty found their way into the wild by accident or on purpose. By 2000, these snakes had established self-sustaining populations in South Florida.

Estimating the total number of Burmese pythons slithering through Florida is nearly impossible. Their camouflage and secretive behavior give them a low detectability rate. Researchers estimate they spot only 1% to 3% of the pythons, even during active surveys. In the Everglades, it can take about eight hours just to find a single python. Because of this, FWC and its partners are still out there, monitoring and surveying for pythons in places like Charlotte and Lee Counties, hoping to get ahead of a problem that keeps on growing.

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