Florida scientists used female Burmese pythons as live bait to find aggressive males in the Everglades, but 3 million camera-trap photos revealed only four pythons.A study published in the journal Southeastern Naturalist Turns out that placing wild-caught female Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in cages in the Greater Everglades ecosystem failed to attract wild males.In a 90-day field test at 12 locations, researchers filtered more than three million camera-trap photos using artificial intelligence software. They recorded only three python visits to cages containing female bait and one visit to empty control cages.The study, titled “Not so deadly a lure: Captive female Burmese pythons lure does not improve wild python detection,” was written by Alex D. Potash, Maggie Jones, Michael Kirkland, Jenna Cole, Kristen Hart, and Robert A. McClary. The Research Record was published by the USGS Publications Warehouse and conducted through the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center.
Stress and chemical signals in captivity
In controlled laboratory settings, male pythons show a keen interest in the scent given off by breeding females. However, scientists suggest that the stress of living in cages may have prevented captive females from releasing pheromones, thereby eliminating the chemical scent needed to attract wild males.Understanding how pythons communicate is still limited. The authors say finding better care methods to reduce stress in captured females could improve future trials, while further work on python chemistry could help create a fake scent to track aggressive snakes.The failed female lure test comes after another setback with scent tracking. In a study published in Management of Biological Invasions in August 2025, titled “Mammalian scent lures fail to enhance detection of invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus),” researchers tested whether rabbit scent could replace live prey.Storm Miller, Michael Kirkland, Kristen Hart and Robert A. of the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center. Authored by McCleary, only 11 pythons were observed in an 84-day experiment at 21 sites. Four pythons were observed near rabbit-scented bait (feces, urine and hair) and seven pythons were observed near plain soil. While the rabbit scent attracted more native snakes by attracting live rats and mice, it did not attract pythons.
The ongoing fight in the Everglades
These scent experiments show how hard it is to find an apex predator that has wiped out native mammals like marsh rabbits, foxes, raccoons, and deer.Pythons spread into South Florida in the 1990s when escaped or abandoned pets entered the wild. Today, thousands of people live in wetlands. Females can lay up to 100 eggs a year, making control efforts urgent.Despite the challenges of scent attraction, state teams and conservation groups report steady progress through hunting and radio tracking.The Conservancy of Southwest Florida recently announced that it has removed 20 tons of pythons from the wild in a decade, setting a single-season record by removing 6,300 pounds of snakes from a 200-square-mile area since November.The main strategy of conservation relies on fitting wild male “scout” snakes with radio trackers during the November-to-April breeding season. Tagged males lead biologists directly to breeding groups, allowing teams to capture large females before they can lay eggs.“There’s very good evidence that the scout snake program is our most effective and least biased method. It doesn’t limit us to only targeting areas with human access and it’s super targeted toward those breeding females,” said Andrew Durso, a herpetologist at Florida Gulf Coast University. “But it’s expensive to radio-track these males in remote parts of the Everglades where you can’t go very easily. You need air support from helicopters, which increases the price per python removed. It’s all a balance sheet about how we want to spend the money?”Ian Bartoszek, science project manager and chief wildlife scientist at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, said his team’s work has prevented about 20,000 eggs from hatching since 2013.“Through years of research we have developed science-based methods to more effectively track this apex predator and reduce the harm it causes to our native wildlife populations,” Bartoszek said. “Burmese pythons are impressive creatures that are here through no fault of their own. As wildlife biologists, we have tremendous respect for all snake species. However, we understand the impact invasive pythons are having on the biodiversity in our region and we humanely remove them from the ecosystem.“
Removal program and public support
The South Florida Water Management District has separately tracked and removed more than 15,650 pythons through its Python Eradication Program, which hires paid snake hunters. Public support remains high, aided by annual events such as the Florida Python Challenge, which attracted 895 hunters who caught 195 pythons in 2024.Mike Kirkland, python program manager for the district, sees signs that the removal work is helping in key areas.“Every python removed is a positive for the environment,” Kirkland said. “We are getting better and better at removing this invasive species. We are learning more about their behavior and life history and their non-native range here in South Florida, which is leading to more removals and hopefully innovation and novel strategies moving forward.”Kirkland said it may not be possible to remove every single python from the wetlands, but local populations are changing.“Progress is being made. Anecdotally we are seeing some demographic changes, and regionally, we are seeing fewer large-size-class pythons in some areas. That’s a direct result of our management efforts and the management efforts of our partners,” Kirkland said.“Like most environmental issues, a multi-pronged strategy of different efforts working in concert with each other is really the best path forward,” Kirkland said. “In the future I see the python population greatly reduced, and to a point where we can start to see a strong return of our native animal populations, which is why we’re doing all this to begin with. I’m confident that we’re going to be able to manage this species to the point where we can see our deer populations, our foxes, our possums, our raccoons, etc., restored in the Everglades.“