There are jobs you’ll hardly stumble upon by scanning the usual vacancy boards. In Florida, there’s one that’s especially out of the ordinary: looking for and catching Burmese pythons can pay you up to $30 per hour, in addition to extra money for every snake you remove. It isn’t a gimmick or a tourist gig in the Everglades. It’s part of an official program to combat an invasive species that has been wreaking havoc on the ecosystem of the state’s southern region for years.
The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) runs its Python Elimination Program, which hires specialized agents to locate and remove these enormous reptiles from specific public lands. And the pay scheme is fairly curious: the bigger the python, the more money you can earn.
How much do they pay to hunt pythons in Florida?
The pay isn’t simply about catching a snake and collecting a reward.
According to the rates currently published by the South Florida Water Management District, agents receive $14, $20 or up to $30 dollars per hour, depending on the area where they conduct the search. They can bill up to 10 hours of work per day.
On top of that there are incentives:
Do the math with an eight-foot snake. In addition to the hours spent searching, that capture would generate $150 dollars extra.
And there are monthly bonuses. The agent who captures the most pythons can receive $600 dollars, while finding the longest one earns another $400 dollars. The program also includes incentives ranging from $300 to $1,500 dollars for reaching certain monthly capture targets.
Can just anyone get this job hunting pythons?
Here comes the fine print. It isn’t enough to simply show up in the Everglades with boots and a drive to hunt snakes.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) explains that its PATRIC program is primarily seeking hunters, anglers, and outdoorsy people who have experience capturing pythons or other large constrictor snakes. The agency also notes that it gives preference to Florida residents and especially encourages veterans to apply.
If you still don’t have experience, there is a path to start. Florida allows removing pythons year-round on 32 lands managed by the FWC, subject to site-specific regulations. The agency also offers free training on safe capture.
That said, don’t confuse the ability to capture them with automatically receiving a paycheck. The FWC does not pay anyone who finds a python. Compensation is reserved for contracted program members and for winners of authorized competitions.
Can you also win prizes for capturing pythons in Florida?
Yes, although it’s something different from a permanent job.
Every year the Florida Python Challenge is held, a competition that in July 2026 drew 907 participants from 30 states, Canada and Vietnam. In just 10 days they removed 280 Burmese pythons from South Florida.
The overall winner, Tom Rahill, captured 96 specimens and received $10,000 dollars. Other prizes went up to $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000 dollars depending on the category and the quantity or length of snakes captured.
It doesn’t exactly look like easy money. The official data itself helps gauge the workload: as of September 2025, contractors on state programs had accumulated 254,904 hours of searching to remove 18,203 pythons, an average of about 14 hours of tracking for each specimen found.
So behind this eye-catching job there’s more than a photo of you holding a giant snake. You need experience, patience, and tolerance for hours spent working on some of the toughest terrain in South Florida.
But if snakes don’t make you bolt, earning up to $30 per hour plus incentives per python is, at the very least, one of the most unusual ways to earn a paycheck in Florida.
