A restaurant located in Everglades City, Florida, has gone viral for accepting a unique form of currency: pythons. You can step into Wildman’s Pizza, Pasta, and Pythons with a snake in tow and come away with a free pizza.
The owner, Dusty Crum, spoke with NBC local reporters about how he’s the “first place in the world to accept python as currency.”
This may sound far-fetched, but the Florida restaurant is contributing to the 2026 Python Challenge, occurring from now until July 19. The challenge encourages locals to hunt the invasive reptile species in exchange for a variety of prizes. However, anyone participating should have training. For the Wildman restaurant, their offer comes with marinara: “You can trade a python for a pizza.” Although the perks don’t stop there, as Crum explains, “We do python toppings, python pizza. It’s very good meat.”
The Florida owner feels that the pythons are “going to waste” after being killed, so he decided, “Why not try to utilize what God’s giving?” And while there are health regulations associated with ‘python’ pizza, the restaurant has found a way around them. Crum says, “Yeah, I can’t sell that stuff. I just gotta give it away for free.” However, the meat is not the only part that gets used, as Crum tells reporters, they use the bones to make jewelry and the fat to make soaps. The video has reached over 594,000 views on TikTok within just a few hours of posting, with over 73,000 likes.
Mixed Reactions To Florida Python Pizza
Some commenters are not surprised, stating, “Not always Florida, but somehow it’s always somewhere in Florida.” Another agrees, “The most Florida video I have ever seen.” However, for one commenter, they’re taking notes: “Here I am wasting my time learning C++, all the money is in Python.” Meanwhile, one commenter is just shocked: “My eyes just kept getting wider and wider.”
There’s a mixed assortment of reactions to the video, with some backing Crum 100%. One says, “This is good for the environment, btw, let this guy sell his pizza.” Most are highlighting how pythons are invasive, and this is helping the ecosystem. Meanwhile, others are concerned about the amount of mercury that is found in snakes. One commenter points out, “It’s like 100x more mercury than humanly safe, no matter the size of the snake.”
Despite the mixed reactions, everyone is fascinated by the Wildman’s restaurant, and some are even willing to try python toppings.
