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(Miami, FL) – There any number of potentially successful “side hustles” out there these days. It’s the gig economy as we’re often told. People drive for Uber or Lyft. Some bring people meals via DoorDash and similar apps. But down in Florida? They do it differently. Down in the Sunshine State, you rake in the cash by raking in the reptiles. Side gigs come with a slither — in the form of being a snake hunter — in the Everglades.
The annual Florida Python Challenge just wrapped up. It’s a 10-day snake hunt in the swamps and mangroves of South Florida. And it finished with Aaron Mann $1,000 bucks richer — after he and his hunting partners snagged a stunning 87 snakes. The South Florida Water Management District’s Python Elimination Program encourages the culling of as many Burmese pythons as possible — given the snakes are an invasive species and make a negative impact on local wildlife.
Beginning in the 1990s, the snakes started to appear in the Everglades — after pet owners decided they didn’t want or couldn’t keep them any longer — and released them into the wild. That led to an explosion in their population, given the snakes have no natural predators.
The South Florida Water Management District has also employed other creative ways to target the pythons. Forty robotic rabbit decoys have been deployed into the Everglades — they’re robo-bunnies that are equipped with a heat signature and scent to lure the snakes, so they can be trapped.
In 2013, officials launched the python hunt. And earlier this year a new monetary reward program was established. The top prize winner takes home $1,000 — and larger snakes get a “per foot” bonus — for each foot over the average, four-foot length.
Mann’s haul was a big increase over the 2024 winner — which only resulted in 20 snakes captured. A 19-foot python was captured in Florida back in 2023, which would have been worth $425 in the new payout system. And since 2000, roughly 19,000 pythons have been removed from the Everglades — according to Fox Weather Service.
