iStockphoto / Madeline Rohman
As the 2024 Florida Python Challenge was taking place in South Florida over the past few weeks, removing hundreds of invasive Burmese pythons from the Florida Everglades and surrounding lands, one python hunter was stunned when he witnessed a snake riding an alligator.
I’m a born and raised Floridian myself. I was in the Boy Scouts growing up and have been an avid outdoorsmen for most of my life but I cannot, for the life of me, ever recall seeing anything like what Bobby Ruiz saw here. Seeing snakes is par for the course at night in Florida wetlands. In fact, he was specifically out there looking for Burmese pythons. The same can be said for seeing alligators, it’s to be expected in the Everglades at night. But seeing a snake riding an alligator is never to be expected… This is just wild:
Just a normal day in Florida, right?
In the video, the Wink News viewer Bobby Ruiz can be heard saying “this is the most Florida thing you will ever see” which might be true for some but for true Floridians it seems like every couple of months something so violently Floridian will just smack you in the face as a reminder that you live in God’s waiting room, one of the weirdest states in the nation.
All of this considered, and as strange as this sighting is, nothing will top the raccoon riding an alligator in Ocala National Forest years ago. Though, a snake riding an alligator is probably on par with this legendary moment:
All things considered, I could see this happening in Louisiana as well, or even eastern Texas. I just spent a few days in Venice, Louisiana and got the sense that something like this could happen anywhere along the Mississippi River at night. That said, this really is a quintessential Florida moment and you love to see it.
Weirdly, the state of Florida hasn’t released the final tally from the 2024 Florida Python Challenge yet. But rest assured I will be bringing you all those results once the data is published on who won what and how many snakes were captured this year.