HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Professional python hunters hauled in some big catches over the weekend in the Florida Everglades.
The pythons are males and females, ranging from 6 feet to 14 feet, with some weighing as much as 62 pounds.
A total of five pythons were measured Monday in Homestead, two males and three females.
Local 10 News reporter Michael Seiden spoke to one of the most prominent python hunters, Dusty Crum, who spent the weekend catching the snakes.
"The problem is that the reproduction rate on these Burmese pythons -- the big snake had 73 eggs in it, and it's explosive to the population," Crum said. "So we need to take as many as we can out, because they're harming all of our native animals and they're eliminating food sources for our native predators."
The python that had 73 eggs inside was 14 feet and weighed 62 pounds.
Crum is part of a select group of 25 hunters who were chosen to participate in a pilot program by the South Florida Water Management District.
The bounty for the snakes is $50 for a snake that's 4 feet and $25 per foot for every foot after the initial four.
The water district program will also pay each hunter the state's minimum wage of $8.10 cents an hour.