Dustin Crum, owner of Wildman’s Pizza, Pasta and Python in Everglades City, has turned Florida’s python problem into an unlikely solution: free large specialty pizzas in exchange for dead Burmese pythons. The idea hit him after the Florida Python Challenge wrapped up, leaving hunters with snakes but no real outlet for them. Meanwhile, local kids were catching pythons but didn’t know what to do with them. Crum saw the gap and filled it, creating what he calls the world’s first place to accept snakes as currency.
What makes Crum’s operation stand out is his commitment to using every single part. The python fat becomes skincare products and snake oils. Bones transform into jewelry. The meat ends up on pizzas, though Crum has to give those pizzas away free due to food licensing laws that restrict selling wild game meat prepared outside licensed facilities. It’s a waste-nothing approach that reflects real resourcefulness—the kind of thinking that’s been part of rural communities for generations.
The urgency behind this pizza trade is real. Florida’s Everglades harbor an estimated 300,000 Burmese pythons, a population explosion that started in the 1970s when some escaped or were released into the wild. Female pythons lay up to 70 eggs at a time, and these apex predators are devastating native wildlife populations. The invasive species has become one of the most destructive problems on the planet. Crum’s pizza trade may sound quirky, but it’s doing real work to combat a genuine crisis. Have you heard of other creative solutions to invasive species problems in your area? Let us know.
About the Author
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
