{"id":337384,"date":"2026-07-12T01:46:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T01:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/337384\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T01:46:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T01:46:27","slug":"catch-a-python-this-florida-restaurant-will-accept-it-as-currency-nbc-6-south-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/337384\/","title":{"rendered":"Catch a python? This Florida restaurant will accept it as currency \u2013 NBC 6 South Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the 2026 Florida Python Challenge<\/a> is underway, one Florida restaurant will let you cash in your catch for a pizza. <\/p>\n

The python challenge kicked off on Friday as avid and amateur hunters alike compete for cash prizes as they work to rid the Everglades of the ravenous, invasive Burmese python.<\/a><\/p>\n

The ultimate grand prize is $10,000, but another $15,000 in cash is available across different categories.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event, hosted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the South Florida Water Management District, features Everglades National Park as a partner and one of eight official competition locations.<\/p>\n

What to do with your python?<\/p>\n

After successfully catching the invasive reptile, one common question most people ask is what do you do with it<\/p>\n

One thing hunters can do is take their python to a check-in station. There are several stations throughout Florida. <\/p>\n

The next step is to humanely euthanize them.<\/p>\n

NBC6 spoke to an expert who said there is a two-step process to killing pythons, which includes loss of consciousness and then the complete destruction of the brain. <\/p>\n

Wildman’s Pizza, Pasta and Python<\/p>\n

A restaurant in Everglades City called Wildman’s Pizza, Pasta and Python<\/a> will accept pythons in exchange for a free pizza. <\/p>\n

“I’m the first place in the world to accept python as currency,” said Dustin Crum, owner of Wildman’s Pizza, Pasta and Python. “So you can trade in a python for a pizza. We do python toppings, python pizza, iguana, you know, whatever. “<\/p>\n

At Wildman’s, customers will get to learn everything they need to know about pythons, and be able to buy items made from python skin. <\/p>\n

“The fat I use to make the snake oils for the skin, creams, soap,” Crum said. “The bones we make jewelry, everything gets used.” <\/p>\n

Although there are health regulations when it comes to making python pizza, Crum found a way to get around that. <\/p>\n

“Yeah, I can’t sell that stuff, I just gotta give it away for free,” he said. <\/p>\n

The 2026 Python Challenge ends at 5 p.m. on July 19.<\/p>\n

You can\u00a0sign up here<\/a>, on the challenge’s official website, up until the last day of the competition\u2014but only after you’ve read and understood all the rules, completed the online training and passed the quiz with a score of at least 85%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the 2026 Florida Python Challenge is underway, one Florida restaurant will let you cash in your catch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1684,52738,12688,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-337384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-animals","tag-animals-and-wildlife","tag-burmese-pythons","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337384","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=337384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}