The 2026 Florida Python Challenge ended on July 19, and organizers have officially finished tallying the number of bagged snakes. Over 10 days, 907 participants hunted down a collective total of 280 invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) across the Everglades. While hunters did not catch quite as many snakes as last year (294), the winner shattered the record for most pythons caught. This achievement earned him a hefty first place prize.
Speaking with Tampa Bay News 10, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission program coordinator Sarah Funck confirmed that professional python hunter Tom Rahill received $10,000 for personally nabbing 96 of the apex predators. That’s 36 more pythons than last year’s winner, Taylor Stanberry, although she did make history in 2025 as the first woman to take the top spot.
Burmese pythons began proliferating in the Florida Everglades after their accidental introduction into the region during the 1970s. With no major competition from native predators, the invasive snakes exploded in population while decimating local wildlife. Conservationists estimate between 100,000 and 300,000 pythons now live in the state, despite ongoing efforts to rein in those numbers. An average adult Burmese python reaches about 13-feet long, while pregnant females can lay up to 70 eggs at a time.
Rahill has professionally hunted pythons for over a decade and is the founder of Swamp Apes. The nonprofit offers conservation projects to veterans and first-responders. During this year’s competition, he also helped one veteran catch a 17-foot-long python.
While the nine additional prize winners across the professional, novice, and military tiers have yet to be announced, it’s hard to envision a much bigger snake getting crowned the longest python. Then again, it’s certainly possible—the longest Burmese python on record was nearly 19-feet long.
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