COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — The Conservancy of Southwest Florida set a new record for Burmese python removal during the 2025-2026 breeding season, with biologists removing 177 invasive pythons weighing a combined 8,080 pounds from a 200-square-mile area in Collier County.
This marks the greatest biomass of invasive Burmese pythons removed in a single season by the Conservancy’s python tracking team and volunteers, the conservancy stated recently on its website.
The program began in 2013. The average weight of removed female pythons was 95 pounds, with the largest female captured this season weighing 153 pounds and measuring 17 feet long.
The females carried an average of 70 eggs, and a quarter of them contained the remains of white-tailed deer, the website post stated.
Ian Bartoszek, Wildlife Biologist and Conservancy Science Project Manager said this season marked a significant milestone for their efforts.
“This was our first four-ton removal season,” he stated in the website post. “Our tagged scout snakes helped us locate large breeding snakes deep in the landscape before they had a chance to lay eggs.”
The Conservancy’s Science team tracks 40 tagged male Burmese pythons, known as scout snakes, using radio telemetry during the breeding season. This method allows the team to capture mating males with female pythons before the females can lay eggs, the group said.
In addition to the adult pythons, the team removed an additional 4,100 Burmese python eggs from the ecosystem this season.
“Without the Conservancy’s continued removal efforts, these invasive predators would still be out there decimating native wildlife and reproducing across the landscape,” said Rob Moher, president and CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. “Every python removed reduces pressure on the ecosystem.”
Since its inception in 2013, the Conservancy’s python research and removal program has removed 1,750 pythons weighing more than 53,000 pounds from Southwest Florida, according to the group’s website.
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