A dead python will get you a free pizza at this man's restaurant. Yes, it's in Florida

According to Dusty Crum, his Florida restaurant is the only pizza place in the world that accepts Burmese pythons as currency.

It's his way of supporting the Florida Python Challenge, an annual state-sponsored invasive species program designed to protect native wildlife.

“You get any python, you get a free specialty pizza, a large pizza of your choice,” said Crum, owner of Wildman's Pizza, Pasta and Pythons in Everglades City, Fla., As It Happened hosted by Nil Kӧksal.

“It's something, you know, especially the local kids. … They hold back. They don't know what to do with them. They're hungry. They want pizza.”

'Snakin' is not easy

Every summer in the Everglades, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) and the South Florida Water Management District partner to host the Florida Python Challenge.

Participants sign up and take online training courses on how to find and ethically kill Burmese pythons, all for a chance to win cash prizes.

The person who brings in the most python carcasses wins $10,000 US.

Crum has his eyes on the big prize. An ardent hunter, he says he goes out every night, usually pulling people who don't sleep at night, looking for snakes that are full of people, but not easily found.

“Snakin' ain't easy,” he said. “It's the right place at the right time. We're looking for a 10-foot needle in a three million dollar haystack.”

It comes from India, China and tHe Malay Peninsula, Burmese python are among the largest snakes in the world.

A middle aged person Burmese python caught in Florida steps in 1.8 and 2.7 meters, according to the FWCC. The largest ever caught in the province was 5.4 meters.

Because they are so large, they have few natural predators. And they are great farmers, too. A single female can lay between 50 and 100 eggs at a time.

It is legal to kill them year round without a permit in Florida, as long as it is done humanely.

“Invasive Burmese pythons are one of the most destructive species in the American Everglades,” FWCC spokesperson Jason Schultz said the email.

“These invasive snakes threaten our precious ecosystem by preying on native wildlife, including wading birds, mammals, and other reptiles. Their ferocious attacks on native wildlife rob panthers, raptors, bobcats, and other native predators of their food.”

Schultz declined to comment on Crum's python-for-pizza deal.

Python pizza?

When Crum isn't killing the snakes himself, he feeds the pieces to Wildman's, which he calls the “unofficial center” of the Florida Python Challenge.

“There is chaos going on there right now,” he said. “Everyone meets there and exchanges stories and ideas, and enjoys good pizza.”

But Wildman's is not just a pizzeria.

Because Crum hunts year-round, the self-described “swampepreneur” also sells a variety of python products, including snakeskin jewelry and accessories, and real snake oil.

Sometimes he will serve a piece of snake, topping his pies with pieces of python marinated in garlic butter.

“There's a flavor to the game,” he said. “Good.”

Crum says he can't include python pizza on his official menu because snake meat is not prepared by a licensed butcher. But he is known to give it away for free to those who are curious to try it.

Still, as far as he's concerned, it's not an unusual pizza to try at Wildman's.

“I make a Hawaiian pizza with ham, onion and pineapple, and it's like one of my top sellers,” he said. “Maybe I'll have to try that one day…I can't push myself.”