{"id":276499,"date":"2026-05-19T12:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/276499\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T12:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:19:08","slug":"registration-for-2026-florida-python-challenge-gets-underway-tuesday-heres-what-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/276499\/","title":{"rendered":"Registration for 2026 Florida Python Challenge gets underway Tuesday. Here’s what to know."},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida<\/a> wildlife officials will release more information about the 2026 Florida Python Challenge on Tuesday, which brings hunters from all over to compete for a big cash prize while also helping protect the local ecosystem.<\/p>\n

The competition has been held every year since 2013 to help raise awareness of the invasive Burmese python<\/a>, which has contributed to the decline of small mammals like opossums, bobcats and foxes.<\/p>\n

\"US-NEWS-ENV-FLA-PYTHON-PARASITE-2-MI<\/p>\n

Python incentives and education specialist Robert Edman, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, demonstrates how to catch a python during an event promoting the Florida Python Challenge 2020 Python Bowl in 2019. (Al Diaz\/Miami Herald\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Miami Herald via Getty Images<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, officials with the Florida Wish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the South Florida Water Management District and partners are holding a news conference to release more information about the unique competition that helps to support the delicate Florida Everglades ecosystem.<\/p>\n

It was a record-breaking year for the competition in 2025. The FWC said 934 people from 30 states and Canada removed a record 294 pythons during the 10-day competition.<\/p>\n

Last year was also the first time Everglades National Park was included among the official competition locations.<\/p>\n

And last year’s winner<\/a> removed 60 invasive Burmese pythons and claimed the $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize.<\/p>\n

When is the 2026 Florida Python Challenge?<\/p>\n

The 2026 Florida Python Challenge starts at 12:01 a.m. on July 10, 2026, and ends at 5 p.m. on July 19, 2026. Those who are interested in participating in the event can register here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Participants must follow the competition rules and specific area regulations of the eight competition locations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Python<\/p>\n

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, holds a Burmese python at a media event, Thursday, June 16, 2022, where he announced that registration for the 2022 Florida Python Challenge has opened for the annual 10-day event to be held Aug 5-14, , in Miami.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lynne Sladky \/ AP<\/p>\n

Those who are taking part will also be required to take the 2026 version of the Required Online Training, and training from a previous year is not valid for the 2026 registration.<\/p>\n

The Florida Python Challenge aims to raise awareness, remove the invasive snakes<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Florida Python Challenge<\/a>,\u00a0now a yearly event, includes public education and a 10-day competition in which participants attempt to capture and remove Burmese pythons from public lands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Burmese python is one of the largest snakes in the world, with adult snakes caught in Florida growing to between 6-9 feet in length, and the largest captured in Florida measuring more than 18 feet long.<\/p>\n

Because of their large size, adult Burmese pythons don’t have many predators, with humans being the exception.<\/p>\n

They can also pose a threat to human safety, with pythons also preying upon pets like cats and dogs.<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida wildlife officials will release more information about the 2026 Florida Python Challenge on Tuesday, which brings hunters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12509,28,30,29,1064,807],"class_list":["post-276499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-burmese-python","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-miami-dade","tag-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}