--- title: "Florida pythons climb trees in under 3% of sightings, study of 356 snakes finds; most climbers bask in winter" url: https://badiyaa.com/burmese-pythons-florida-climb-trees-usgs-study/ published: 2026-11-02T07:22:00+00:00 modified: 2026-11-02T07:22:00+00:00 section: Science publisher: Badiyaa --- # Florida pythons climb trees in under 3% of sightings, study of 356 snakes finds; most climbers bask in winter Researchers radio-tracked 188 adult and 168 juvenile Burmese pythons in Big Cypress National Preserve from 2017 to 2024; about 14% of adults and 17% of juveniles ever left the ground. Fewer than 3 in every 100 sightings of radio-tagged Burmese pythons in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve found the snake up a tree or shrub, according to a seven-year tracking study published by the US Geological Survey and partners on October 28. The climbers were mostly small, mostly young, and mostly basking in the cool months of December and January. The result settles a question that has hung over Everglades python control for years: the invaders can climb, and photographs prove it, but do they climb often enough for hunters and researchers to look up? The answer is rarely, except in winter. ## How 356 snakes were followed Researchers from the [USGS](https://www.usgs.gov/centers/fort-collins-science-center/news/branching-out-new-study-reveals-when-invasive-pythons-take), the University of Florida and the National Park Service surgically implanted VHF radio transmitters in 188 adult and 168 juvenile pythons and tracked them in Big Cypress between November 2017 and December 2024, logging more than 4,000 location records. Each time a snake was found, the team noted whether it was on the ground or in vegetation and sorted its behavior into one of six classes: basking, resting, moving, eating, brooding eggs or aggregating with other pythons. About 14% of the adults and 17% of the juveniles were seen off the ground at least once. Juveniles climbed more often than adults, and the odds of finding a python in a tree fell as body weight rose. The heaviest climbers picked sturdy supports such as Brazilian peppertrees and live oaks; adults otherwise favored cypress and coastal plain willow, while juveniles often used cabbage palms. The study, led by Lisa McBride and published in the Journal of Herpetology, documented some striking individual cases. One adult male was photographed basking on top of a Brazilian peppertree 5 meters up in February 2022, then climbing to the crown of a cabbage palm 7 meters above the ground. A female was found brooding eggs in a fallen, hollow cypress trunk 2 meters off the ground in May 2022. ## The arithmetic of a rare behavior Here is the Badiyaa working. Taking 14.4% of 188 adults gives about 27 adult climbers, and 17.3% of 168 juveniles gives about 29, so roughly 56 of the 356 tracked snakes were ever recorded in vegetation. Against more than 4,000 observations, the under-3% figure means fewer than 120 tree sightings across seven years of weekly checks, or fewer than one every three weeks for the whole study team. ## Why removal teams care Burmese pythons were recognized as a breeding population in South Florida in 2000, and the USGS says the chance of detecting any one individual can be under 5%. Hunting events show the scale of the problem: the first state python challenge in 2013 removed 68 snakes with 1,600 registered participants, and the 2023 event took 209 with 1,050. A snake draped over a willow branch in January is at least visible, which is why the authors flag the dry-season climbing window as useful intelligence for search crews. The timing matters for wildlife too. Adult pythons were most often in trees during the months that overlap with the nesting season of several wading birds, and earlier studies have recorded pythons raiding the nests of great egrets and white ibises. The new study saw no python eating a bird in a tree, and the authors stress that climbing has not been shown to drive bird declines. ## Limits All the tracked snakes lived in one preserve, so the pattern may differ in the mangroves of Everglades National Park or on the suburban fringe. Weekly checks can miss short climbs, and animals carrying implanted transmitters were caught by people in the first place, which may bias the sample toward snakes found on roads and levees. The authors also note that the study reinforces, rather than overturns, the picture of the python as a habitat generalist. The full radio-tracking dataset, including photos and video from Big Cypress, was released by the USGS on July 28, 2026, so other teams can test the winter-climbing pattern against their own snakes. ## Further reading - [USGS: Branching out: New study reveals when invasive pythons take to the trees](https://www.usgs.gov/centers/fort-collins-science-center/news/branching-out-new-study-reveals-when-invasive-pythons-take) - [Wikipedia: Burmese pythons in Florida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_pythons_in_Florida) *Image: Everglades NPS / Rodney Cammauf, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons* *This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/).*