The Florida Python Challenge returns in 2026, running from July 10 to July 19 with a total prize pool of $25,000 and an Ultimate Grand Prize of $10,000 for removing the most Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

Everglades National Park joins eight other official competition locations, with registration open through the final day and online training and educational resources available at FLPythonChallenge.org.

The event runs from 12:01 a.m. July 10, 2026, to 5:00 p.m. July 19, 2026, across eight sites with area-specific regulations in place.

Rules include humane killing guidelines to render snakes unconscious and destroy brains before disposal, reflecting strict ethical handling standards.

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Officials emphasize partnership and citizen engagement as essential to addressing exotic species and habitat threats.

Burmese pythons are nonnative and invasive in the Everglades, with guidance that they may be humanely killed on private lands with landowner permission and no permit required.

Participants must carry a registration notification; only pythons removed during the event count, and searches cannot involve firearms, dogs, or air guns across levees or rights-of-way.

Officials stress the event’s goals of raising awareness about nonnative species and encouraging public involvement in Everglades conservation.

Pythons are a significant problem in Florida, with impacts on native wildlife and examples of large prey in their diet highlighted.

Participants can report sightings via the exotic species hotline at 888-483-4681.

Veteran hunter Donna Kalil notes the snakes are opportunistic, with extensive removal experience since 2015.