We are almost halfway through the 2026 Florida Python Challenge, which means plenty of snakes have likely already been dispatched by this year’s hunters. But what do you do with the body of a recently disposed, 15-foot-long Burmese python (Python bivitattus), let alone multiple snake carcasses? There are plenty of options, but only one place is accepting pythons as payment for pizza.
In Everglades City, about 75 miles west of Miami, a restaurant called Wildman’s Pizza, Pasta, and Python will take customers’ recently (and humanely) killed snakes in exchange for menu items. According to the establishment’s owner, Dustin Crum, it’s a fair deal for both parties—visitors get fed, and Crum gets supplies for his business.
“We do python toppings, python pizza, iguana, you know, whatever,” he recently told NBC Miami. “The fat I use to make the snake oils for the skin, creams, soap,” Crum said. “The bones we make jewelry, everything gets used.”
Burmese pythons have increasingly strained the region’s native ecosystem since their introduction into the Everglades during the 1970s. Conservationists estimate 100,000–300,000 snakes currently live in Florida, where they are essentially apex predators against local wildlife populations. Pregnant females routinely lay around 70 eggs at a time, while adult pythons regularly reach around 13-feet-long.
The Florida Python Challenge debuted in 2013 and intermittently returned over the next few years before becoming an annual event in 2020. More than 900 participants signed up for last year’s Python Challenge, and potentially as many are currently scouring for snakes amid the 2026 competition. A $10,000 prize will be awarded to the person who nabs the most snakes, with another $15,000 doled out across other categories.
But whether or not you deliver a python to Crum’s doorstep, don’t expect to try paying for a python pizza in cash. Florida health regulations prevent the actual sale of snake-topped slices.
“Yeah, I can’t sell that stuff, I just gotta give it away for free,” Crum explained.
Aspiring hunters can still sign up for the Florida Python Challenge after completing an online training course. The event ends at 5 p.m. EDT on July 19.
