A startling milestone has been reached in Florida’s war against the invasive Burmese pythons eating their way across the Everglades.

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida reports it has captured and humanely killed 20 tons of the snakes since 2013, including a record 6,300 pounds of pythons killed this past breeding season, according to a June 9 news release.

To put that in perspective, 20 tons—or 40,000 pounds—is a mound of snakes the size of a fire truck … or a fully loaded city bus.

What’s startling is those 1,400 snakes didn’t come from a statewide culling. They came from a 200-square-mile area in southwestern Florida, the Conservancy reports.

The greater Everglades ecosystem, where the snakes are thriving, covers more than 7,800 square miles, according to wildlife biologist Ian Bartoszek, the Conservancy Science Project Manager who oversees the python program.

It’s estimated tens of thousands of pythons are roaming the region, the U.S. Geological Survey says.

“I guess the real question is what did it take in native animals to make 20 tons of python? … It still amazes me how big these animals get and how many of them are out there,” Bartoszek told McClatchy News in a phone interview.

“Pythons have indeterminate growth and the more they eat, the larger they become. On this project we have captured the largest female by weight at just under 18 (feet) but weighing a massive 215 pounds and the largest male at 16 (feet) and 140 pounds.

“Their size is a reflection of the available prey base. We probably grow them larger in Southwest Florida because we still have deer and medium-sized mammals for them to prey upon. In portions of the eastern Everglades, it is likely the reverse.”

University of Florida researchers have identified 85 species of birds and mammals (including reptiles) that are being eaten by pythons in the Everglades, leading to fears they are decimating some native mammal populations, Bartoszek says.

Southwestern Florida’s wetlands are like a buffet for pythons, putting the region and the Conservancy on the front lines.

It’s only with the help of technology that the Conservancy has gained ground since starting the python program in 2013, Bartoszek says. This includes a scout snake program that fits radio telemetry trackers on 40 male pythons, so they can be tracked to reproductive females during mating season (November through April). Those females are humanely euthanized and the tagged males are freed to track down more females.

The program has prevented more than 20,000 python eggs from hatching, the Conservancy says.

“Long-term monitoring has shown signs of positive effectiveness of these efforts, as scout snakes increasingly struggle to locate mates or the females they find are smaller in size,” the Conservancy says.

Bartoszek’s team, which includes biologist Ian Easterling, made headlines in 2024 when it walked up on a 115-pound python swallowing a 77-pound deer. That amounted to 66.9% of the snake’s body mass and proved they are eating larger prey in Florida.

Among the other disconcerting discoveries made: the snakes are expanding their range. They are well-established in counties along Florida’s southeastern and southwestern coasts and sightings are now being reported near Lake Okeechobee, Bartoszek says. That’s about a 110-mile drive northwest from Miami.

“The Burmese python always continues to surprise me and I have an internal memory reel of all the firsts we have seen on the project. The most visceral ones are when we see first hand what they are consuming,” Bartoszek said.

“But those are counterbalanced by seeing native wildlife fighting back, like when we discovered a bobcat that had predated upon one of our scout snakes. Or when we had tracked hatchling pythons over many summers and would eventually be tracking the predators that consumed them, including an endangered eastern Indigo snake. Those feel like wins for the home team when you get to see the Everglades fighting back.”

Burmese pythons are native to southeastern Asia, but they began appearing in Florida in the 1970s, according to the South Florida Water Management District. It’s suspected the snakes were pets, and they were either released by their owners or escaped captivity, the district says.

“The Burmese python is decimating native wildlife across their invaded range. … The python team’s work on reducing the local population of the invasive snake allows our native wildlife safer conditions to recover,” said Rob Moher, Conservancy of Southwest Florida president and CEO.

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida is an environmental organization based in Naples that works to protect natural resources and wildlife in Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties.

It collaborates with the U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, University of Florida, Florida Fish and Wildlife, South Florida Water Management District, Rookery Bay Research Reserve and Naples Zoo.

2025 The Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.