Florida hunters should never cut off the head of a python
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Naples Daily News on MSN
Florida Python Challenge: 10 questions for expert ahead of competition
The News-Press and Naples Daily News asked Kodiak Hengstebeck of the FWC 10 questions about this year's Python Challenge.
A ball python, also called the royal python, is a less troublesome cousin to the Burmese, and has been eating its way through the Everglades for decades. Ball pythons are native to west sub Saharan Africa. Ball pythons are among the most popular snakes ...
Large pythons have shared forests, grasslands and river systems across Asia for thousands of years, yet two of the region's most famous species are often mistaken for one another. The Burmese python and the Indian rock python belong to the same genus and were even treated as closely related forms of the same species for many years.
The 2025 Florida Python Challenge yielded 294 Burmese pythons, the most since the challenge began. Taylor Stanberry won the Ultimate Grand Prize of $10,000 for capturing 60 pythons. Michael Marousky caught the longest python, measuring 15 feet, 11 inches.
