Florida’s wildlife has always been wild and unpredictable, with alligators, sharks, turtles, lizards, and snakes. And don’t forget the insects, like the mosquitoes, no-see-ums, and dare we mention the flying palmetto bugs.
The list gets even longer when you look at the invasive species that keep turning up, like the Nile monitor lizard that made headlines recently. But nothing outdoes the Burmese python problem. This past week, biologists made headlines by hauling out a record-breaking 8,080 pounds of these invasive snakes (plus 4,100 eggs) during the 2025-26 breeding season. That’s nearly 2,000 pounds more than they removed the season before.
The numbers don’t lie: this year’s python removal effort in Southwest Florida topped their previous record. On June 10, 2026, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida updated everyone: their team had pulled 177 pythons weighing a combined 8,080 pounds out of the region. For comparison, in 2025, they removed 6,300 pounds throughout the season. Since their work began in 2013, they’ve now pulled over 20 tons of these snakes from just a 200-square-mile area.
During mating season, which is November through April, biologists keep a close eye on the pythons, not just to count numbers but to keep the population in check. Burmese pythons out-compete native animals and throw everything off balance in the Everglades and elsewhere. This year, technology played a big role. The biologists relied on radio telemetry and a network of 40 tagged male pythons, nicknamed “scout snakes.” These scouts led researchers right to large breeding females, often before the females could lay eggs.
“This was our first four-ton removal season. Our tagged scout snakes helped us zero in on breeding snakes hidden deep in the landscape—catching them before they could lay eggs,” said Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist who leads the Conservancy’s python program. He’s been at the heart of the fight against these pythons for years. “Our science-based approach is putting real pressure on python populations. The goal is to keep these numbers going down.”
Looking at the season’s results, the average female python removed was 95 pounds. The largest tipped the scales at 153 pounds and stretched to 17 feet long. That’s a monster. And most females carried about 70 eggs; a quarter of them had white-tailed deer remains inside, a clear sign of the damage they’re inflicting on native wildlife.
And the eggs? Biologists collected and removed 4,100 of them just this season. Since 2013, the Conservancy’s team has taken out 1,750 pythons, weighing over 53,000 pounds in total from Southwest Florida.
The work continues, and every year, the State of Florida invites the public to help by hosting the “Florida Python Challenge,” a statewide hunt to remove more snakes from the Everglades. The next competition runs July 10 through July 19, 2026. There’s no quick solution, but for now, every python pulled from the wild is a small victory for Florida’s fragile ecosystems.
Click here for more information about the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.
