MARATHON , Florida ( CNN ) -- Juan Lopez reads meters with one eye and looks for snakes with the other . Lopez is a member of the `` Python Patrol , '' a team of utility workers , wildlife officials , park rangers and police trying to keep Burmese pythons from gaining a foothold in the Florida Keys . Members of the Python Patrol show off a giant snake that stretched more than 20 feet . Officials say the pythons -- which can grow to 20 feet long and eat large animals whole -- are being ditched by pet owners in the Florida Everglades , threatening the region 's endangered species and its ecosystem . `` Right now , we have our fingers crossed that they have n't come this far yet , but if they do , we are prepared , '' Lopez said . Burmese Pythons are rarely seen in the middle Florida Keys , where Lopez works . The Nature Conservancy wants to keep it that way . Watch huge python wrap around a CNN reporter » . The Python Patrol program was started by Alison Higgins , the Nature Conservancy 's Florida Keys conservation manager . She describes it as an `` early detection , rapid response '' program made up of professionals who work outside . Eight Burmese pythons have been found in the Keys . `` If we can keep them from spreading and breeding , then we 're that much more ahead of the problem , '' Higgins said . Utility workers , wildlife officials and police officers recently attended a three-hour class about capturing the enormously large snakes . Lt. Jeffrey L. Fobb of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Venom Response Unit taught the participants how to capture pythons . `` There 's no immutable laws of snake catching . It 's what works , '' Fobb said as he demonstrated catching a snake with hooks , bags , blankets and his hands . `` We 're doing it in the Florida Keys because we have a lot to protect , '' Higgins said . `` The Burmese pythons that are coming out of the Everglades are eating a lot of our endangered species and other creatures , and we want to make sure they do n't breed here . '' Where the snakes are breeding is just north of the Keys in Everglades National Park . An estimated 30,000 Burmese pythons live in the park . The Everglades , known as the `` River of Grass , '' is a vast area with a climate perfect for these pythons to hide and breed . And breed they do : The largest clutches of eggs found in the Everglades have numbered up to 83 . The snakes grow like they 're on steroids . With a life span of 30 years , these pythons can weigh as much as 200 pounds . And the larger the snake , the bigger the prey . Biologists have found endangered wood rats , birds , bobcats and other animals in their stomachs . Two 5-foot-long alligators were found in the stomachs of Burmese pythons that were caught and necropsied , officials say . Officials also say Burmese pythons can travel 1.6 miles a day by land , and they can swim to reach areas outside the Everglades . This nonvenomous species was brought into the United States from Southeast Asia . Everglades National Park spokeswoman Linda Friar says biologists believe that well-intended pet owners are to blame for their introduction into the Everglades . `` These pets were released by owners that do not understand the threat to the ecosystem , '' she said . Higgins says 99,000 of the popular pets were brought into the United States from 1996 to 2006 , the most recent data available . She says they are an easy species to breed , and you can buy a hatchling for as little as $ 20 . The problem with these pets , Friar says , is that they get too big for their owners to handle . Making the owner aware of what to expect when the animal becomes full-grown is a priority . `` The pet trade is pretty supportive in educating people , '' Friar said . She hopes a `` Do n't let it loose '' message campaign makes an impact on pet owners . Florida Sen. Bill Nelson , a supporter of restoring the Everglades , has introduced a bill that would ban importing the python species into the United States . The senator saw the need after learning about the effect these snakes were having on the park . `` Finding out many endangered species are being found in the stomach of the python , '' Nelson spokeswoman Susie Quinn said , `` we need to do a better job at protecting the resources . '' In the meantime , Lopez and the Python Patrol will continue to protect the Florida Keys by capturing the snakes and turning them over to biologists to perform necropsies . The Nature Conservancy plans to expand the program to all the areas that surround the Everglades , making these predators their prey . `` I would like to find them and get rid of them , '' Lopez said .
`` Python Patrol '' aims to keep giant Burmese pythons from reaching Florida Keys . Pet owners have been dumping the snakes in the Everglades . Burmese pythons can grow more than 20 feet long and eat animals whole . The snakes `` are eating a lot of our endangered species , '' conservationist says .