Monster Burmese python caught by 3 hunters in Florida. Was it biggest ever captured?
Three hunters recently captured a massive Burmese python in the Florida Everglades.
Zach Hoffman, Jan Gianello and Justice Sargood caught the invasive snake near Everglades City just after midnight on May 31.
The constrictor was so large that Hoffman had to get a bigger tape measure.
“At first we measured with a 15-foot tape measure that we had lying around, and it wasn’t long enough,” Hoffman said. “Then I took a measurement with a 25-foot tape. When I read the number out loud we couldn’t believe it.”
First identified in Everglades National Park in 2000, the Burmese python may be the most destructive foreign animal in the park’s history.
The massive constrictors can grow to more than 18 feet and weigh over 200 pounds.
Did the trio’s catch break the record for the longest python ever captured?
Here’s what to know about the behemoth catch and the biggest pythons ever caught in Florida:
Python Challenge 2025 registration now open
Registration for the 2025 Florida Python Challenge — a 10-day event to remove invasive Burmese pythons — is open.
This year’s hunt runs from July 11 to July 20, Florida Fish and Wildlife announced May 15.
Participants can win money prizes in several categories, including a $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize.
FWC works with partners and the public to hunt and kill the snakes, including the annual Florida Python Challenge.
Python Challenge 2025 dates: When does hunt start, how long does it last?
The 2025 Florida Python Challenge starts at 12:01 a.m. July 11 and ends at 5 p.m. July 20, Florida Fish and Wildlife announced May 15.
What prizes can hunters win in the Florida Python Challenge?
There are $25,000 in cash prizes up for grabs for this year’s hunt.
The top prize of $10,000 goes to the person who catches the most pythons. Those with the most catches in the Novice, Professional and Military categories win $2,500, while runners-up in each group receive $1,500, and $1,000 is awarded for the longest pythons caught.
Can you shoot Burmese pythons in the Florida python hunt?
There is no established firearm season during the time of the event. The use of firearms during the competition is prohibited.
What do they do with pythons caught in Florida?
Burmese pythons captured in Florida must be humanely killed. While they are not protected in Florida, anti-cruelty law still applies.
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Step 1: The method should result in the animal losing consciousness immediately. These tools should result in the immediate loss of consciousness:
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Firearms (not allowed in the Florida Python Challenge and otherwise subject to property-specific and local rules) or pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) air guns
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Step 2: The animal’s brain should be destroyed by “pithing” which prevents it from regaining consciousness.
Burmese pythons must be killed in a humane two-step process that ends in the snake’s brain and brainstem being destroyed after it is rendered unconscious.
Where in Florida are Burmese pythons? How far north do they go?
The invasive snakes are distributed across more than a thousand square miles in the Everglades and southern Florida. Burmese pythons have been found across the state and are slithering north. They may even reach Georgia.
3 men catch giant Burmese python in Everglades. How big was it?
From left to right, Jan Gianello, Zach Hoffman and Justice Sargood pose with the 16 foot, 8 inch female Burmese python they caught near Everglades City on May 31, 2025.
At 12:30 a.m. on May 31, Zach Hoffman, Jan Gianello and Justice Sargood were on their way home from an uneventful night of python hunting when they decided to check one last spot and spotted a huge Burmese python ‘laying halfway on the road, half in the ditch.”
Sargood grabbed the python’s head and wrestled with it, while Hoffman and Gianello controlled the rest of the snake’s body to keep it from coiling too tightly.
➤ ‘We couldn’t believe it’: Giant python wrangled, caught by 3 hunters in Everglades
Once they had control over the large python, it was humanely euthanized.
They attempted to measure the snake with a 15-foot tape measure, but it came up short. A 25-foot tape measure did the trick, and the hunters determined the massive python to be 16 feet, 8 inches long. The hefty snake weighed 105 pounds.
Longest Burmese python ever recorded was caught in Southwest Florida
A group of python hunters caught the longest Burmese python ever measured on July 10, 2023, in the Big Cypress National Preserve in eastern Collier County.
The monster snake was 19 feet long.
18-foot pythons captured in Florida, Everglades
The previous record was held by python hunters Ryan Ausburn and Kevin Pavlidis who captured a python measuring a whopping 18-feet 9-inches in 2020.
Python elimination hunters Kevin Pavlidis, left, and Ryan Ausburn nabbed a record-breaking 18-foot, 9-inch python.
In 2013, Jason Leon captured a then-record 18-foot python in southeastern Miami-Dade County. The massive snake weighed 128 pounds.
Licensed python hunter Mike Kimmel, alone on a spoil island in the Florida Everglades, caught a 17-foot python in 2020.
Heaviest python ever caught in Florida
Conservancy of Southwest Florida biologists caught the heaviest Burmese python ever recorded in the Florida Everglades in 2022. The colossal female python weighed an eye-popping 215 pounds and was nearly 18 feet long.
A 198-pound Burmese python was captured in November 2023 in the Big Cypress Preserve, making it the second-heaviest ever caught in the Sunshine State. The massive snake was 17 feet, 2 inches long.
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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Burmese python caught in Florida Everglades. Is it largest ever?
