The Python Problem: Why You Shouldn’t Eat Florida’s Invasive Snakes

Florida’s python problem is well-documented. The state’s annual Python Challenge has attracted rocker Ozzy Osbourne and Chef Gordon Ramsey, who caught and cooked a python for his show the “F Word.” But despite the hype, the Florida Department of Health has recently established an advisory of “do not consume python” caught in the state, no matter the snake size, because of the risk of unhealthy mercury levels in its meat.

Rumbold thinks the health department could have selectively chosen to allow python consumption from snakes caught in the southwest area of the state, similar to advisories issued for fish based on where they are caught.

“They don’t want to have to monitor pythons over time, so they don’t want to issue anything that is region specific,” Rumbold said.

bayo Hernandez prefers his snake ground up like hamburger meat with ketchup, mustard, and mayo. Another hunter fancies the slithering scourge of the Everglades in a stir fry or chili.

But the Florida Department of Health has recently established an advisory of “do not consume python” caught in the state no matter the snake size because of the risk of unhealthy mercury levels in its meat.

“It’s unfortunate. I don’t know how much help it would have been if people were consuming pythons, but it certainly doesn’t hurt,” said Darren Rumbold, a Florida Gulf Coast University professor of marine and Earth science.

Hernandez said he also eats invasive iguanas.

“Whenever my kids come over I surprise them,” Hernandez said. “If you ask my oldest son what is the weirdest thing he’s eaten, he will say, ‘I don’t know, ask my dad.’”



Florida python hunter recounts bloody battle

Similar to fish, the department could have made portion recommendations or specified regions where mercury levels made it unsafe to eat animals caught there, Rumbold said.

“I think the health department was being overly cautious by saying let’s not let anybody eat it,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate. I don’t know how much help it would have been if people were consuming pythons, but it certainly doesn’t hurt,” - Darren Rumbold, a Florida Gulf Coast University professor of marine and Earth science.

It’s unclear when the python consumption advisory was issued. Multiple calls and emails to the department of health were not returned.

The toxicology results on 487 snakes reviewed by the department, and that led to the advisory, were explained in a March 8 letter to FWC’s non-native wildlife coordinator McKayla Spencer,

The letter, which was obtained through a request to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, was from health department administrator Michael Mitchell.

It notes that because there is no known meal size for snakes, the standard 8 ounces used for fish was also used in the python testing.

In addition to testing mercury levels in fish harvested from both fresh and marine waters, Mitchell said the FWC has also tested mercury levels in pythons because “consumers are asking if the meat is safe to eat.”

More information about the Florida Python Challenge, a 10-day competition in Florida, can be found here.

The hype around Florida’s python hunters and the annual Python Challenge has attracted rocker Ozzy Osbourne and Chef Gordon Ramsey who caught and cooked a python for his show the “F Word.”

“The only method that works efficiently is the human catcher,” Hernandez said.

More: Post archives: Legendary rock star hunts Burmese pythons in Florida.

Studies find lower mercury levels in some Florida pythons depending on area

Rumbold studied python mercury levels in areas near Naples. He published a paper in 2019 in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology about the findings. His co-author was Ian Bartoszek of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

The study found lower mercury levels in southwest Florida snakes than those in Everglades National Park. Park pythons were found in a 2012 study by the U.S. Geological Survey to have “astonishingly high” levels of mercury.

Because it’s drier in southwest Florida, there’s less mercury-heavy fish being consumed by animals that are then consumed by pythons, Rumbold said.

“The mercury biomagnifies as it gets passed through the food chain. The more pythons are integrated into an aquatic food web, the likelier they are to have mercury,” Rumbold said.

Florida’s everglades National Park

The 2019 study also found little correlation between python size, age and mercury level. In the ocean, the largest, oldest fish that have been feeding on smaller prey generally have the highest concentrations of mercury.

Florida earnestly began hunting pythons in about 2012. In 2017, the South Florida Water Management District and FWC began a more structured program to hire python hunters.

More than 14,500 pythons have been removed since the FWC and the district teamed up to combat the invasive species. The most pythons removed in a single year was 2,629 in 2020.


Pythons removed