Florida Python Challenge 2023 Runs Aug. 4-13 With $30K In Prizes

FLORIDA — Florida's annual effort to remove invasive Burmese pythons from the wild kicks off Friday, and more than $30,000 in prizes are up for grabs this year.

The 2023 Florida Python Challenge kicks off at 12:01 a.m. and continues until 5 p.m. Aug. 13. The 10-day challenge, hosted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and several other agencies, is designed to raise awareness about invasive species in Florida and their impact on the state's ecosystem.

The challenge is open to both professional and novice hunters, officials said. Participants this year will have a chance to win a share of more than $30,000 in prizes.

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"There is nowhere in the world like America's Everglades, and we need to continue to protect and restore this national treasure," Ron Bergeron, South Florida Water Management District board member, said in a statement."Removing invasive pythons from across the Greater Everglades ecosystem is absolutely critical, and we must do everything we can to combat this invasive species."

According to the FWC, Burmese pythons are not native to Florida and can negatively affect native species. They are found primarily in and around the South Florida Everglades, where they prey on birds, mammals, and other reptiles. A female Burmese python may lay 50 to 100 eggs at a time.

A contractor last month found the largest Burmese python nest in the state with a record 111 unhatched eggs in the Everglades, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission wrote in a Facebook post.

The invasive snakes’ nest was found by Brandon Rahe, a contractor with the agency’s Python Action Team Removing Invasive Constrictors (PATRIC) program. These contractors work year-round to remove non-native snakes “from the sensitive Everglades ecosystem” throughout the year, FWC said.

Since 2000, more than 18,000 wild Burmese pythons have been removed from the state of Florida, officials said.

Participants in the 2022 Florida Python Challenge removed 231 invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades, an increase from the 2021 number and more than double those removed in 2020. Nearly 1,000 people from 32 states, Canada and Latvia registered for the 10-day competition in 2022.

In Florida, anyone can capture and humanely kill nonnative reptiles like Burmese pythons at any time, so long as they're on private land with landowner permission or on 25 commission-managed lands throughout South Florida.

Learn more about removing pythons in Florida.

To participate in the Python Challenge, residents must sign up and pass a 30-minute training course to complete registration. Click here to register for the challenge.