"Somewhere behind us in the murk of the canal comes a watery crash and the gnashing of teeth. Twelve-year-old Morgan, dozing on the bank, panics and scuttles up to safety, swinging his flashlight back and forth. The finger of light illuminates a scene that looks like a charcoal-etched daguerreotype, shades of gray and black, with buttonwood trees reflected in the silvery water. The only color is the glowing red cigarette eyes of a half dozen alligators spooked by our noisy presence.“Goddamnit!” says Allen Schneider, turning to his young son. “We might have a snake here and you’re fooling around with those gators. Get away from the water!” A tangerine waxing moon hangs in the saw grass. Schneider creeps forward to an inert S shape lying on the trail. He brandishes a snake hook that looks like a giant dental tool. It’s the least menacing of the weapons weighing down his diminutive five-foot-six frame. A 12-gauge shotgun hangs from his back. On his right hip is a 9mm pistol, on his left a .22 Magnum revolver. In case all those fail, he carries three throwing knives in a neat pouch. Schneider is a former Florida Keys charter captain who now works as a nuisance animal removal expert. I’m here in the Everglades with him and his son for the Python Challenge."