The Florida Everglades is a weird place. It’s beautiful, sure, but it’s also a biological war zone. If you’ve been watching Swamp People: Serpent Invasion lately, you’ve probably seen the newest face in the fight—Kaylyn Glenn. She didn’t just show up for the cameras. Honestly, the girl is a 10th-generation Floridian who lives this life for real.
People online are obsessed. They call her and Ashley "Deadeye" Jones the "dream team." But behind the social media buzz and the TV drama, there is a massive, slithering problem that’s literally eating the state of Florida from the inside out. We're talking about Burmese pythons that grow twenty feet long and can swallow a deer whole.
Why Kaylyn Glenn Joined the Serpent Invasion
Kaylyn isn't some actress they dropped into a pair of boots. She’s a "Gladeswoman" through and through. Before she was ever on the History Channel, she was working as a Land Protection Manager. That's a fancy title that basically means she spends her days (and nights) trying to stop invasive species from wiping out every native animal in the swamp.
She joined the cast in Season 4, and by Season 5—which just wrapped up in early 2025—she became a staple of the crew. You’ve probably seen her out there with Bruce Mitchell. They’ve been hitting the remote spots, like that isolated island with the "gruesome past" in Season 5, Episode 4. It’s not just about the "catch" for her. It’s about conservation.
The stakes are actually terrifying.
Pythons have no natural predators in Florida. None. They breed like crazy. A single female can lay up to 100 eggs at a time. If someone doesn't go into the sawgrass and pull them out by hand, the Everglades as we know it will just... disappear. Kaylyn has gone on record saying these predators can "wipe out an entire species." She isn't exaggerating.
The Reality of Hunting Pythons
If you think it's easy, you've clearly never been bitten by a constrictor. They aren't venomous, but they have rows of razor-sharp, rear-facing teeth. Once they grab you, they don't want to let go.
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On the show, we see the highlights. The big grabs. The dramatic music. But the reality?
It's hours of boredom mixed with sheer terror. You’re wading through water where you can’t see your feet. There are alligators. There are cottonmouths. And then there’s the heat. In Season 5, we saw the team dealing with record-breaking temperatures that almost broke the hunters before the snakes did.
The "Dream Team" Dynamic
When Kaylyn paired up with Ashley Jones, fans lost it. It was a smart move by the producers, but it also made sense practically. Ashley is a legend from the main Swamp People show in Louisiana. Kaylyn knows the Florida terrain like the back of her hand. Together, they’ve been hitting areas like Bear Ridge and the old surveyor’s trails where most people are too scared to go.
- Season 4 highlights: They charged onto Bear Ridge and searched for the legendary "honey holes."
- Season 5 shifts: We saw them getting more tactical, using drones and even experimenting with new traps alongside guys like Dusty Crum.
It’s interesting to watch the "Cajun Navy" (Troy Landry and the gang) adapt to Florida. In Louisiana, they hunt gators with rifles from a boat. In the Everglades, you have to get out and wrestle. It’s a different kind of grit.
Is the Serpent Invasion Actually Working?
This is where things get a bit controversial. Some people think the show is just entertainment. Others think the hunters are barely making a dent.
Here's the truth: the 2025 Python Challenge actually saw the most snakes caught in the history of the competition—nearly 300 in just ten days. That sounds like a lot, right? But experts estimate there are hundreds of thousands of pythons still out there.
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Troy Landry said it best in the Season 5 finale: what they’re doing is just the "tip of the iceberg."
But does that mean it's pointless? No. Every large female Kaylyn or Bruce pulls out of a canal is thousands of future snakes that won't be born. It's a war of attrition.
What You Won't See on Camera
The show edits out the "boring" stuff. They don't show the miles of walking through sawgrass that shreds your skin. In Season 5, Episode 6, Bruce and Kaylyn had to fight through that stuff, and it’s no joke. Sawgrass is called that for a reason—it has microscopic silica teeth that will cut you to ribbons if you aren't wearing the right gear.
There’s also the mental toll.
You’re hunting an animal that is perfectly camouflaged. You can stare right at a 12-foot python and not see it until it moves. That kind of constant hyper-vigilance is exhausting.
Actionable Steps for the Everglades
If you're watching the show and thinking you want to help, or you just want to know more about the situation, here is the real-world breakdown of what's happening right now in 2026.
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Don't just fly to Florida and walk into a swamp. Seriously. People get lost or hurt trying to be "heroes." If you actually want to get involved, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has a formal Python Action Team. They provide training on how to identify and humanely remove these snakes.
Support Land Management. Kaylyn Glenn works in land protection for a reason. Keeping the ecosystem healthy—managing water levels and protecting native habitats—is the only way to give local animals like the Florida Panther or the Roseate Spoonbill a fighting chance against the "Serpent Invasion."
Report sightings. If you’re a local or a tourist and you see a python, don’t just take a photo for Instagram. Use the "IveGot1" app. It helps biologists track where the invasion is spreading. Data is just as important as the hunters are.
The fight for the Everglades isn't going to end next season. It's a long-term struggle for the soul of Florida’s wilderness. Kaylyn Glenn and the rest of the crew are just the front line of a much bigger story. Keep an eye on the upcoming seasons, because as the climate changes and the snakes move further north, the "invasion" is only going to get more intense.